APPLEBOX - the Apple-1 pages
 
 

 
    
 
the Newton1  - assembly and story

 
 
  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
 
  "pre-NTI" version Newton 1   "NTI"-version of the Newton NTI
  ceramic CPU and PIA    plastic CPU and PIA
   
  ceramic disc decoupling capacitors   multilayer ceramic decoupling capacitors
   
  blue electrolytic capacitors   yellow electrolytic capacitors
   

   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 diamond
  square with the letters NTI inside of it.

   
  here the Newton-1 board without the NTI-logo   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 boards
  had 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 Newton1
  had 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 a
  solderingmask 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 the
  MIMEO. 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 50
  pieces 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. So
  even 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 itīs
  nearly 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 least
   this 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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Đ copyright: Harro Walsh 2013