Chapter 902 901. Apple-1 (5/5)

Chapter 902 901.Apple-1 (55)

The two parties disagreed again on the point of cleaning the garage, and Hans asked the lawyer to write on it that they would throw away the garbage in the garage. As long as the wall was not damaged, Abel could not hold them accountable.

After signing the contract and paying the rent, Li Du and the others can move in.

As soon as the homeowner left, Hans couldn't wait to ask, "Hey, what's in the garage?"

Li Du opened the warehouse door, went in and opened a tattered wooden box, and said, "This is it. I don't know if it was left by the previous tenant or Abel forgot to be here."

The wooden box was opened, and a set of shabby little machines appeared inside, including obsolete big-ass monitors, old-fashioned keyboards, motherboards and chips.

Among them, the keyboard inside is very individual, there is no edge protection cover, it seems that some plastic keys are inlaid on a plastic plate, which looks very original.

Clearly, this is an ancient computer, as outdated by the times as the big-ass monitor.

It is worth noting that there is a very famous symbol in modern times on the accessories of this ancient computer: a gnawed apple!

Hans' eyes lit up when he saw it, and he shouted, "Apple-1?! The first generation of Apple? Jobs and Steve Gary Wozniak's Apple-1?!"

On December 8, 1975, Paul Terrell opened the first computer retail chain in the United States and the world in Mountain View, California.

In 1976, two young people visited this computer retail store with a computer they tinkered with. They wanted to launch a product that they had carefully designed in order to make some money.

At that time, no one could have imagined that the wheel of history was speeding up at this moment, and the legendary stories in the history of science and technology unfolded here.

These two young people are Jobs and Steve Gary Wozniak. They called their machine Apple-1, the grandfather of the Apple series, which is what they saw.

Hans knew the value of Apple-1, he carefully picked up the motherboard, chip, and monitor, looked at it, and said happily: "Great, we found a treasure."

Sophie looked puzzled and asked, "Is this a part?"

Hans turned back and said: "Yes, Apple-1 is a DIY kit. After buying it back, customers have to solder the corresponding chips to the motherboard, and then match the power supply, motherboard and display."

Sophie exclaimed: "Wow, that's really a big project. If you sell it to me, then I don't know how to assemble it, and they will be scrapped in my hands."

Li Du said thoughtfully: "Perhaps the people who bought this computer are just like what you think. They don't know how to assemble it, so they left it as a waste."

Seeing Hans and Lu Guan fiddle with this set of computer parts, Sophie asked curiously: "Is it still usable? The Apple-1 should have been born for many years. If it has been useless, maybe it can't be used?"

"Whether it can be used or not, this thing is very valuable, at least enough to pay our rent. If it can be used, it will be even better." Hans said enthusiastically.

Apple-1 is very valuable, he is the only limited edition of Apple's mainstream products.

Jobs pitched Terrell at the time, and Terrell expressed interest, but told Jobs he wanted a fully assembled computer.

So, as Terrell wished, Jobs provided him with 50 fully assembled Apple-1s.

But because the computer market was still small at that time, Jobs and the others had to sell it by themselves, so there was this kind of component Apple-1, which was specially sold to enthusiasts at that time.

The difference between the two is that the latter is sold by Jobs himself, selling parts, and equipped with a wooden chassis, keyboard and power supply. In order to get more profits, the former only sells the mainframe and display, and the other needs to be configured by customers themselves.

The Apple-1 in the hands of Li Du and the others is the Apple-1 that Jobs himself made for sale, as can be seen from the matching keyboard without a case.

How much Apple-1 did they sell themselves at the time? A total of 200 units were produced, and 25 units were not sold in the end. The number of Apple-1 assemblies that appeared on the market was 175 units!

This number is quite good for the Apple-1, which has not been on the market for a long time, and it strengthened the determination of the two of Jobs to continue working.

However, for the current market, this number is too small, and it seems that Apple-1 is too precious.

After Li Du discovered the Apple-1, he took advantage of the time to search the Internet. According to Internet information, Apple has counted the registered Apple-1s, and there are only 66 Apple-1s in the world.

This is because when Apple was just starting to develop, the only person who could provide technical support for Apple-1 was Wozniak. At that time, there were few machines, and Wozniak was able to keep busy.

However, since the release of the Apple II in 1977, the number of Apple users has soared. In order to relieve the pressure on Wozniak, Apple set up a dedicated technical support team.

In order to shift the direction of technical support, Apple strongly encourages users to upgrade their devices, and many Apple-1 devices are also destroyed as users upgrade, resulting in a further reduction in the number of surviving machines.

Hans and Luguan took out the parts and cleaned them, which were covered with a thick layer of dust. Fortunately, the weather in Phoenix was hot and dry, and the machine was not corroded by moisture, which is the most important thing.

When cleaning, Luguan saw the solder joints on the main board and said, "It's not that it has never been used, someone used it, and then took it apart."

Li Du asked, "Is there any loss in its value?"

"As long as it works, who cares who used it?" Hans replied.

After cleaning it up, the two used electric welding to reassemble the computer.

In Li Du's view, this is a very complicated process, but for Hans and Lu Guan, it is too simple. They found a tutorial from the Internet, followed the tutorial and assembled it as easily as assembling building blocks.

After plugging in the charger, Hans rubbed his hands expectantly and said, "Come on, let's...damn it!"

Lu Guan flicked the switch, originally he wanted to experience this experience, Apple-1 is one of the gifts that people of their age most want to get in their childhood.

When the switch was activated, a green light at the bottom of the small screen suddenly lit up, and soon, characters on the screen began to jump!

Seeing this scene, Hans and Luguan excitedly clapped their hands and shouted: "Yeah, hooray! It works! This is a working Apple-1!"

Apple-1 started to run the program, but the speed was very slow. Li Du asked, "Why haven't you turned it on for so long?"

Hans waved his hand and said, "Be a little patient. This is the BASIC language, which is cumbersome and complicated. Give it some time."

As more and more characters jumped on the screen, finally, the classic Apple-1 black interface appeared in front of them.

Hans clenched his fist and shouted, "YES! At least $600,000, here we are!"

Six hundred thousand is the current market price of an Apple-1 that can be used. At the beginning of its birth, its price was 666.66 US dollars, and now its value has increased by a thousand times!