The Apple-1 Registry

Description

Current owner kindly shares a lot of information about the board:
It was deliberately kept in a fairly clean room, sealed in plastic bags to prevent moisture access.
The owner is from Canada, but the Apple-1 is in a bank vault in Florida.
The video connector was already removed by the previous owner because it didn’t fit properly in the case due to the positioning of the board. As the adhesive dried up over time, it naturally came loose. The keyboard connector was replaced by Corey Cohen.
The pins protruding from the upper two keyboard pins show how the original owner worked around the keyboard he acquired to address the power difference between Version D and the designed Version B that Corey was accustomed to and could not get to work using the B pinouts, which he expected to work. I got it to work with the only change being the +5V connection moved on the connector—no board modification required.
You can clearly see the “77” on the lower right corner; I use this to name the board A77.
The back of the board is as perfect as could be, nothing needed besides soldering the era-valid video connector by Corey! The darkened area in the upper left is a natural effect of use. Apple-1s are notorious for running hot due to the demand on the LM323K for +5V caused by the power requirement of the original (non-CMOS or L designation for low power versions of TTL) chips.
The keyboard indicates Version D rather than the more common Version B, which Corey and Mike did not know existed. The difference is the connector pin for +5V is pin five versus pin four on Version B. Once I moved the cable, the board and all the keys functioned perfectly, undoing Corey’s cable. The fact that all worked sparked the thought of it being a military version and a prototype, as the board is all hand-soldered.

More information will be available later, including more pictures and possibly a video.
Corey Cohen, along with me observing, completely verified and tested my unit at the lab he uses in NJ for this purpose, meeting midday Aug 4th and ending midday Aug 5th, 2015. I am Canadian and in the industry.
The transformer area on the case was reinforced in October 2019 to prevent damage because the adhesive deteriorated. This has happened to other Apple-1s as well.

History

Current owner kindly shares the history of this Apple-1:
In 1978, a customer came to a computer store asking if they were part of the program Apple was offering to trade up from his Apple-1 in a wooden case and was sent to me. At first sight, I knew it would have a place in history, verified it worked, and sold him a repaired Apple II for a couple hundred dollars, which he was happy to get as Apple was no longer supporting the Apple-1. Apple was not extending the trade-up outside the USA.

The Apple-1 spent its life in my controlled environment basement along with all my other artifacts, being powered at least once or twice a year. I heard the story on the radio while driving in Florida on my birthday in 2015, about a lady in California who was being sought to be paid. I called my sons immediately in Montreal (Canada) to go get it… with renewed care. I searched and found Corey Cohen, as I would be an unknown entity, met up with him, and we took a gig of videos and pictures, which I can provide if you need. Corey could not fix my keyboard, which I ultimately did. There was nothing wrong, except he assumed it to be a Version B but it really is a D. I conjectured with others that it may have been a military version under development.
It was on exhibition at Vintage Computer Festival West 2019 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Achim Baqué verified it and took pictures. The owner is known to Apple-1 Registry curator Achim Baqué.
In October 2019, the Apple-1 was for sale on eBay.

Auctions

no auction
(see History for more information)

Components

White ceramic MOS 6502 CPU (0376), plastic Synertek SY6520 PIA (7630), 8 KB plastic Mostek MK4096N-11 DRAM (7634), 4 blue and 4 yellow capacitors.
CPU was probably changed. Ceramic 0376 matches the first batch of Apple-1 boards. The green slots look good and are not broken. Part number and date code 05 76 are correct.

Equipment

Original Apple Cassette Interface, Datanetics keyboard BD 02-1661-01 Rev D from 1976 (Insp. stamp Sep 21, 1976). Original Byte Shop wooden case with TRIAD transformers from ’75 and ’76!

State

Very good. TV connector was missing and has been replaced. Excellent-looking back.

Remarks

Printed number 77 in the lower right corner can be found on other Apple-1 second batch as well but only on a few.

Stories

About the current owner:
I started in microprocessor technology the early 70s and still enjoy what I do. I built, tested and “Played” with them including Altair, Imsai 8080, clone of the Altair S100 bus systems publish in Popular Electronics in late 74. It stuck with me. I was a student repairing Radio Control equipment affording me to be in my hobby and micros and I still fly. In Early 77, the electronics store I bought parts decided to start selling Apple 2s. No one knew anything about them and had to ship back to Apple in California for warranty repairs, which took a month. The 2s were covered under warranty, but they paid shipping at $45 each. I offered to repair them and pay me the $45. Within a year I became the main repair center for Apple in Montreal as other stores joined the Apple revolution while adding Turbodos networking and CPM systems.

Last update

Jul 27, 2025

Change log (since March 20, 2018)

Aug 28, 2018: Newly added to the Apple-1 Registry
Aug 29, 2018: 7 picture(s) added
Aug 29, 2018: Components. Equipment. Description
Aug 29, 2018: Additional infoAug 29, 2018: Owner added
Oct 06, 2018: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Nov 14, 2018: 9 picture(s) added
Nov 14, 2018: Components
Nov 24, 2018: Components. Equipment. 1 picture(s) added
Feb 15, 2019: Geo location added
Jun 15, 2019: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jun 18, 2019: 1 picture(s) added
Jun 23, 2019: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jul 12, 2019: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Aug 09, 2019: 3 picture(s) added
Aug 09, 2019: Equipment. History
Aug 10, 2019: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Aug 10, 2019: Verification info. Last verification
Sep 18, 2019: Equipment. History
Sep 18, 2019: 1 picture(s) added
Sep 18, 2019: Components
Oct 25, 2019: 2 picture(s) added
Oct 25, 2019: Description
Oct 20, 2021: Additional information
Nov 03, 2021: Component detail added
Nov 16, 2021: Working condition
Nov 16, 2021: Labels / stamps added. Additional information
Jul 27, 2025: Components. State. Equipment. Description. History

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