First Apple computer could fetch $500,000 or more

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130621/DA7290T02.html

By VERENA DOBNIK

NEW YORK (AP) - It's the kind of electronic junk that piles up in basements and garages - an old computer motherboard with wires sticking out.

But because it was designed and sold by two college dropouts named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it could be worth more than half a million dollars.


This undated photo provided by Christie’s Auction House shows an “Apple 1” prototype computer, built in 1976, accompanied by an operation manual and schematic as well as a photo of its inventors, Steve Wozniak, left, and Steve Jobs. One of the very first Apple 1 computers, it goes on sale later this month at Christie's auction house, the latest in a recent run of vintage tech sales that have attracted some eye-popping prices. (AP Photo/Christies Images Ltd. 2013)


An Apple 1 from 1976, one of the first Apple computers ever built and forerunner of today's MacBooks, IPads and IPhones, goes on the auction block at Christie's next week. The bidding starts at $300,000, with a pre-sale estimated value of up to $500,000.

"This is a piece of history that made a difference in the world, it's where the computer revolution started," said Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist who owns the old Apple and has kept it stashed away in a cardboard box at his home outside Sacramento, Calif.

FULL story at link.

[Nye Bevan]

1. Anyone else remember typing "3D0G" on the Apple II after accidentally hitting the "Reset" button?

(Showing my age a bit here).

[Doc_Technical]

2. Control/Reset 7 Control/P "Return"

Was what we had to type in the Apple II to load the
floppy disk on the Bell and Howell barcode sorters
c. 1988.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. I remember working with computers back in the 60's

.
.
.

they were the reel to reel type, the size of refrigerators, and to program them, you had to go behind them and move all sorts of wires from plug a to plug b and so on.

Information was fed into them by what were known as "punch cards"

they were cards a little bit smaller than a regular envelope that were made on a special typewriter that punched rectangular holes in various patterns - quite a long process.

THEN - they had to be sorted before they went to the computer/refrigerator.

It - the computer room, although in a large government building, was the only room with air conditioners.

This was the sixties - so AC was not that common - but the heat that came off of those monsters made it mandatory - otherwise the computers would fail.

In response to the OP

I think I'll just get a new laptop for under $800

Bank balance says so . . .

CC