Today I made a minor upgrade to my Apple 1. One part that had been silently nagging me on my Apple 1 was the 555 used in the video section. I made a great effort to find all Signetics parts for my Apple 1. Not just Signetics parts, but vintage Signetics parts. I had succeeded in doing so, and was able to find 1976 or earlier in every case but the 555. »
Tonight I’ve posted the first release of my version of the pom1 Apple 1 emulator. This emulator needed a number of modifications in order to turn it into an applet, but it is now in working form. Next steps are to add reset and clear functions, then try to get BASIC running. »
As you know, maintaining accuracy with my Apple 1 replica has been a high priority. I had been able to find nearly every component used on the original Apple 1 computers with one major exception: the LM323K Voltage Regulator. Vintage LM323Ks were created with a gold base. This had a drastically different aesthetic from the steel ones sold today. I looked everywhere for a vintage LM323K but had zero luck. This was really the last remaining component that I could not find for an accurate Apple 1. »
With my keyboard interface still incomplete I haven’t been able to do a full test of my Apple 1. However, I was able to enter the test program from the Apple 1 operations manual. The program ran just as expected. At this point I am waiting for my replacement ATMEGA8515 for my IIe interface to arrive from Jameco. I figured out that I had accidentally connected D6 to pin 7 on the keyboard socket which is 12V+. »
My effort to find the right keyboard for my Apple 1 was a long and relatively fruitless process. Since the original Apple 1 did not supply a keyboard, a variety of keyboards were used. The requirement is that the keyboard needs to provide an ASCII interface that you can wire into the Apple 1 keyboard socket. A common choice for this was a Datanetics keyboard. As it turns out, datanetics and every other variety of ASCII keyboards have become very tough to find. »