While the most recent Apple-1 auction failed to close with a successful sale – bidding on the non-functional unit didn’t meet the $80,071 minimum price – another unit is scheduled to hit the auction block in November.  This particular Apple-1 is not only complete and working, but  comes with several original peripherals including a 9″ Sanyo monitor, a Datanetics ASCII keyboard, and a transformer.  The original documentation is included with the lot, though the cassette interface and tapes are listed as “reproductions”.  It would also appear that the MOS 6502 chip currently in the unit is not the original ceramic CPU.  Read more about the auction here. 

Vince Briel is having what is now an annual ‘I can’t solder sale‘ with significant savings on his assembled retrocomputing products. If you’ve been considering a Replica-1 (or any of the other cool kits), now is your opportunity for major savings. Sale ends 09/16.

AOL’s DailyFinance News reports that another original Apple-1 computer is to go on the auction block at Christie’s on October 9.  This particular machine, which comes from the estate of former Apple employee Joe Copson, is expected to fetch as much as $127,000 USD, though it may go for much more.  The Inquirer notes that this is Apple-1 serial number 22.

Joe’s machine is listed on Mike Willegal’s Apple-1 Registry, where it is noted that it was put up for auction on eBay back in December, 2011 and failed to sell with a starting bid of $170,000.

Update: Mike Willegal wrote in with the following information about Apple-1 serial numbers:

Apple 1’s did not have unique Apple serial numbers.  The Byte shop labelled the units they sold with a sharpie on the back.  Other units have numbered stickers on them, that were possibly added during the manufacturing process.

Vince Briel has put up a preorder page for those that want to join in on the initial beta run for his cassette interface board for the Replica-1. The total run is limited to 25 units, so head on over if you want to live on the bleeding edge of Apple 1 technology and help test the board.

Mike Willegal posted via his blog that the Mimeo Apple 1 replica kit will soon be available again. Some changes in how the kits are obtained are in the works though. Instead of providing everything Mike will sell the Mimeo mainboard, but the components will be available as a pre-picked kit package from Unicorn Electronics. You can get all the details here.

Or, you could go this route. ¡Ay, caramba!

The stars must be in alignment, as not one, but TWO original Apple 1 computers are available for sale. The eBay auction is from the collection of early Apple employees Dick and Cliff Huston. The listing description has a detailed account of how the computer was acquired (as well as some great side history). The starting bid is $35,000. Corey adds further details on its condition over on the Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists message board. The unit hasn’t been powered on in 20 years.

The Sotheby’s auction is scheduled for June 15, 2012 with an estimated end price of between $120,000 and $180,000. This is a working unit, which is even rarer.

Another interesting auction is an IMSAI 8080 computer, which is also being sold by the Huston Brothers. This historic machine was used to bang out some of the early development code (it may have saved Floating Point Applesoft, as we know it) and ROMs for several Apple products. The auction offers a fascinating read detailing some of Apple’s early history.

Howard Cantin is the artist who laid out the PCB designs for the Apple-1 and the first Apple IIs, as well as several early Atari products for Nolan Bushnell.  Mike Willegal, creator of the Brain Board and the Mimeo 1 Apple-1 replica kit (among other things), interviewed Cantin by phone yesterday.  While the conversation wasn’t recorded or transcribed, Mike has posted extensive notes on his blog.  Definitely worth a read if you’re interested in the design of very early Apple boards.

Mike Willegal has announced that as of today, a limited quantity of bare Mimeo PCBs is available for hobbyists who want to put together their own Mimeo 1, Mike’s Apple-1 replica.  Full kits are expected to be available later this summer.    A bare PCB can be had for US $150.  More details are available at Mike’s Mimeo 1 page here.

Mark. S Ressl has updated his OpenEmulator program to version 1.0.2.  The highlight of this release is, “1977 Apple II” support.  Here’s a short feature list:

• Emulates the 1977 Apple II
• Joystick/mouse support with programmable axis and button mapping, sensitivity, reversal, and joystick auto detection
• Supports PAL/NTSC video generation and crystal frequency (14.31818 MHz vs 14.25 MHz)
• Cycle-accurate video emulation
• Support for several character sets
• Emulates the floating bus
• Support of the Apple II cassette interface
• Support for Apple II revision 0 and 1 or later.
• Added the AppleColor Composite Monitor.

Download OpenEmulator 1.0.2 here.

Egan Ford recently announced Codebreaker! for the Apple 1. His Usenet post is attached.

Hello,

I had a bit of time last night so I thought I’d finally get around to playing with OpenEmulator and cc65 and see what I could do. The result was a game call Codebreaker! It’s a Mastermind ripoff. I didn’t want to reuse the name since it already exists for the Apple 1. However, IMHO, mine is better. :-)

I posted a video of the AWESOME OpenEmulator loading and playing the game here:

http://user.xmission.com/~egan/OpenEmulatorCodebreaker.mov

The code is mostly C with some ASM. I had to use ASM to track elapsed time (cycle counting) and to generate a random seed. Time is tracked internally in 59 cycle increments. The timer is invoked anytime the game prompts for input. This provides enough randomness to extract the initial seed.

There are two modes, Novice and Pro. Novice is based on the original Mastermind, where Pro is based on Super Mastermind.

The monitor and audio formatted binary can be had here. Use the video for load instructions.

http://user.xmission.com/~egan/codebreaker.aif
http://user.xmission.com/~egan/codebreaker.mon

BTW, you’ll a 16K Apple 1. However, if pushed I can create 8K and 4K versions. A 4K version would not have embedded instructions. Or, you can just solder in an extra 16K yourself. If you are running BASIC on your Apple 1, then you probably already have a 16K version.

I’ll be tweaking the code a bit from time to time and will eventually post it, but if you want it now, just send me an email. I do plan on writing an article or perhaps a video blog on how I used cc65 to create Codebreaker! and how I was able to translate the binary into a cassette sound file for easy loading.

Apple 1 forever!!!

UPDATE:

Ok, I think I am done with this project for now. I’ve posted the latest version with source here: http://xmission.com/~egan/codebreaker.zip

Changes:

1. Added “Master” level–same as “Pro” but with 60 second time limit.
2. Added a score board on exit.
3. Fixed a memory(stack) leak.
4. Built for 8K Apple 1.

To Load/Run:

C100R
280.1AB9R
280R