Apple-1 Manuals re-created

[retroplace]

Hello,

I would like to share my latest project with you hoping that enjoy reading about it as much as I had persuing it. Here we go…

Researching the exact dimensions of the Apple-1 board (in order to build a case for it), I came across reprints of the Apple-1 manuals, all of which were based on the same (relatively bad) scans. I thought: This doesn't do justice to the cult of the Apple-1 at all!

So I downloaded the scans, pimped them up, and had them properly printed and bound by a professional printing company. At first glance, I was impressed by the result. However, at second glance, it became obvious: Despite the high production quality, this was way too shabby: The existing scans were simply too bad, the letters frayed, the drawings pixelated. What's more: The fold-out schematics were completely absent, and the wrong A4 format seemed like blasphemy.

I had an idea, though: What if I simply redesigned the manuals, of which only a handful (?) exist today, entirely from scratch? So instead of printing them from scans, recreate the design as accurately as possible? If I had known what mission I was about to embark on, I would have discarded this idea faster than you can spit out sour milk. But I didn't really think about it beforehand…

Without going into more details (you can find the whole story here), I would like to show you the results after more than 100 hours of work.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Best,


Armin from retroplace



PS: In case you wonder if re-creating those is legal at all – yes, it is. According to US law, work published before 1977 that does not contain a copyright notice belongs to the public domain. The manuals have been published in 1976 without a copyright notice.

 

[arn]

So I downloaded the scans, pimped them up, and had them properly printed and bound by a professional printing company. At first glance, I was impressed by the result. However, at second glance, it became obvious: Despite the high production quality, this was way too shabby: The existing scans were simply too bad, the letters frayed, the drawings pixelated. What's more: The fold-out schematics were completely absent, and the wrong A4 format seemed like blasphemy.

Came out very nice.

 

[Localcelebrity]

Very cool project.

 

[retroplace]

Very cool project.

Thanks for the feedback!

-----

There is some other news, too:

Paul Terrell, the owner of Byte Shop, gave me permission to re-create the Byte Shop logo stamp used to stamp the manuals that came with the Apple-1 sold at his stores. This is how the recreation now looks like (in comparison to the original)



Not many people realize that Paul Terrell kinda sparked the founding of Apple with his first order of 50 Apple-1 he paid 25.000 USD for on delivery. According to Paul, it has been this event that made Woz confident to quit his job at Hewlett Packard.

This is what Paul wrote to me: "Woz told me that it was that $25,000 cash on delivery purchase order that convinced him to take his hobby computer serious and quit HP to spend full time on his new company with his friend Steve Jobs."

I wonder how things would have turned out if Paul had not placed that initial order? My gut feeling tells me: Probably not better, really …

 

[retroplace]

A small update: I sent a set of the manuals to Ronald G. Wayne, the third founder of Apple and the designer of the original manuals and – he likes them! Ahhhh, bliss … endless bliss … :-D

 

[dmr727]

Very cool man! Absolutely love seeing stuff like this.