I realized that I have never posted a photo of my complete Apple 1 setup. My setup includes my Apple 1 motherboard, my custom Apple 1 keyboard, a Panasonic RQ-2102 cassette player, and an Apple IIe monitor. The monitor isn’t shown here in the photo, but it is shown in the video below: »
After building my cassette interface and loading programs successfully from an iMac, I wanted to try loading programs from a cassette player. Thanks to Wendell Sander, we now know that the Steve’s used a Panasonic RQ-2102 cassette player. Luckily these exact players are still made today and I was able to get a new one very easily. After finding the right cassette player, I wanted to create some authentic-looking tapes. A few tapes were included in a recent eBay auction so I have something to model after. »
When I needed a keyboard for my Apple 1, I did what many others did. I got a standard Apple II keyboard, created an adapter, and hooked it up. This comes along with several challenges and considerations. First, it is very easy to hook up backwards and blow a 7404. Second, you will still have to hook up separate clear switch. You could do what I did and build a clear and reset on power on circuit, but you won’t have a manual clear switch. »
Today I replaced a couple key switches on my Apple II keyboard. The L and , keys stopped working and I was unable to revive them. I was very lucky to be able to find a couple new key switches thanks to John Woodall, otherwise I would have to resort to pulling some from an old keyboard. The process of pulling the broken key switches was actually very simple thanks to a spring loaded solder sucker which cleanly sucked the solder off each pin of the switch. »
After many months my Apple 1 is now 100% finished. I have had it running since January, but have swapped out a few pieces like the LM323K and 555 since then, and only installed the card connector yesterday. Here is the final result. As you will notice, this one is autographed by Woz himself. I had him sign it, and he said that he had never seen or signed a replica. »