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As explained in the Apple-1 page there have been only 250
mainboards made from the Apple-1 and that amount had been
split in two runs, of
which the first run consisted of 100 pieces ( later called the
"preNTI-version ) and the second run - which had been made
by the NTI-company and
that models from the second run have been called later the
"NTI-version" of the Apple 1.
Allthough the layout of the leads and traces havenīt been changed in that
second run, the assembly and the used components did
slightly differ
from the earlier "preNTI-version". In main the decoupling capacitors on
the second run have been more modern multilayer capacitors,
while in the
first run "old-fashioned" ceramic disccapacitors have been used. Another
change in assembly had been, that the majority of the
pre-NTI boards
still had been populated with the white ceramic version of the 6502 CPU
and the violett ceramic version of the 6820 PIA while in the
later NTI-
version nearly only the CPU and PIA with the plastic-case had been used.
And in the later NTI-version there have been different kinds
of small
electrolytic capacitors used ( ones in yellow cases instead of the blue
cased ones that have been only used in the "pre-NTI
version".
Differences between "pre-NTI"
version Newton 1 and the "NTI"-version of the
Newton NTI board
if populated like original Apple-1
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"pre-NTI"
version Newton 1 |
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"NTI"-version of the
Newton NTI |
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ceramic CPU and
PIA |
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plastic CPU and PIA |
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ceramic disc
decoupling capacitors |
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multilayer ceramic decoupling
capacitors |
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blue electrolytic
capacitors |
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yellow electrolytic capacitors |
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a remark to the pictures
above: the different shades of green silkscreen on the boards is
partially also caused by dirt or bleaching of the sun !
But the very first remarkable difference to common users had been the
fact that NTI set itīs factory logo below the label from Apple
Computer - a
diamondsquare with the letters NTI inside of it.
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here the Newton-1
board without the NTI-logo |
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and here the Newton NTI board
with the NTI-logo |
The Newton1 is ( similar to
the MIMEO ) an replication of the "pre-NTI version"
of the Apple-1 out from the first run. The reproduction of the
mainboard was carried out by Michael Ng, who also runs a computer museum.
In fact it seems to ms that the manufacturing of the Newton1 was
a
reaction to the fact that after Mike Willegal had made his īfirst limited
edition of the MIMEO ( which was also a reproduction of the
pre-NTI version
of the Apple-1 ) and that boardshad been sold out after very short period
of time and then for a long period the community of Apple freaks
had
been quite a while waiting - the Newton1had been made to solve the still
not completely satisfied complaints on more replications of the
Apple-1
mainboard.
Another reason was surely also that Michael Ng was experimenting / trying
to get a board "finish" with a coating getting closer to the
original by
color and surface. The Finish of the Newton-1 is a very little bit darker
green than
the MIMEO. This sounds simple, but it isnīt, because
itīs today
very difficult to get asolderingmask with same color as used in the mid
seventies.... ao in very tiny specific details the Newton1 is
closer similar to
the original Apple-1 than theMIMEO. But in the meantime after the last
boards of the Newton-1 have been sold out - itīs nowadays
difficult to get
"hands-on" one of those boards.
Maybe some day in the future Michael Ng will raise another limited run of
that boards.
Just to tell this clear: All series of replication boards from the
Apple-1 have been made only in restricted and limited amount of
pieces ( some runs
had 50pieces like those from Michael Ng and others like the MIMEO ( now
the second run availiable ) from Mike Willegal have runs with
about only
100 units. Soeven replications are still quite rare and there are quite
some order waiting lists for future runs. And among the
replications there is a
wide spread of authenticity. Specially if the user wants to populate the
board with as similar as possible parts the "true" facsimiles
are rather rare.
In the meantime itīsnearly impossible to get the TI-sockets used on the
original boards and a lot of other obsolete parts are also very
difficult to
get.
While waiting for the MIMEO board to arrive in October Michael NG
announced the release of a replication of the "NTI-version" of
the Apple-1.
I set myself on the waitinglist for that board an in December when
the Newton NTI finally arrived i was surprized that i
also received a bare board
of the Newton1 ( which is the replication of the "preNTI-version of the
Apple-1 ) too.
A very close compare of the Newton1 to the MIMEO that i had
received in the meantime too ended up with the following
conclusions:
The "finish" of the Newton1 is quite a bit closer to the original
Apple-1 than the MIMEO. This surely results from the fact that
the MIMEO is
ordered from a large US-PCB company by Mike Willegal and the fact
that they didnīt try to "redo" the board in the "old-fashioned"
way.
The silkscreen and the green soldering stopmask covering is rather
modern and the green shade is darker than it was in the original
processing as well as the material used as basematerial. It seems
to me that Michael Ng had tried to find a manufacturer, who
really tried
to get similar shade of green of silkscreen and soldering stopmask
very close to the original. But this seems to be a result only
to be recognized
by insiders in very close examination and compare.
In fact while further progress
by assembling the Newton1 board happens i will add up
pictures documenting the assembly and focusing on such
slight differences.... in this
specific case because i have made for
the Newton NTI and
the MIMEO transparent cases of
lexan i now intend to - at
leastthis time - make a case similar to the "old fashioned" ones
made by customers in those days and therefor furnish a
wooden case out of
plywood....
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