The article didn't have pictures but it would not surprise me if it was this (or something similar):
Posted on 05/25/2013 10:32:55 AM PDT by oxcart
BERLIN (AP) -- An auctioneer says one of Apple's first computers - a functioning 1976 model - has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000).
German auction house Breker said Saturday an Asian client, who asked not to be named, bought the so-called Apple 1, which the tech company's founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built in a family garage.
Breker claims it is one of only six known remaining functioning models in the world. Breker already sold one last year for 492,000 euros.
It says the computer bears Wozniak's signature. An old business transaction letter from the late Jobs also was included.
The Apple 1, which was sold for $666 in 1976, consisted of only the circuit board.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Cure the “Apple is Overpriced” droids...
insane, how many of those are in junkyards?
That would be “cue” for those of you speaking English...
The article didn't have pictures but it would not surprise me if it was this (or something similar):
I would have sold him mine for 256k
I wonder how often it will happen again going forward now that we are in the age of "helicopter parenting" where parents over-supervise every activity their children are engaged in. Kids today can't even go to Little League practice without their hovering parents sitting out there in lawn chairs cheering every time they properly field a ground ball. Then after practice, it's right into a mini-van for the obligatory trip to a ice cream stand where the parent carefully selects a treat that conforms to some specific caloric value that the parent deems appropriate.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs were basically left to their own devices and did not get a lot of parental interference as they tinkered away and began to build their business.
More like 500 times as much.
The following is from One Giant Leap: The Apollo Guidance Computer
Instruction Set: Approximately 20 instructions; 100 noun-verb pairs, data up to triple-precision
Word Length: 16 bits (14 bits + sign + parity)
Memory: ROM (rope core) 36K words; RAM (core) 2K words
Disk: None
I/O: DSKY (two per spacecraft)
Performance: approx. Add time - 20
s
Basic machine cycle: 2.048 MHz
Technology: RTL bipolar logic (flat pack)
Size: AGC - 24" x 12.5" x 6" (HWD); DSKY - 8" x 8" x 7" (HWD)
Weight: AGC - 70 lbs; DSKY - 17.5 lbs
Number produced: AGC - 75; DSKY: 138
Cost: Unknown.
Power consumption: Operating: 70W @ 28VDC; Standby 15.0
The Droid RAZR has a 1Ghz processor -- about 500 times faster -- the computational speed (since it is geometric) of your PDA is probably about 5,000 - 10,000 as fast. And they used storage in KB. We do GB so you probably have millions more storage capacity than the Apollo 11 (AND ALL ITS GROUND BRETHEREN).
Today’s smart phones have more computing power than the Apollo. They’ve surpassed it. Faster processors and graphics abilities as well.
or 512k if the number of bidders was doubled.
The typical cell phone now probably has more computing power than all of NASA's ground computers in 1969. The Apollo 11 computer had 4 kB of RAM, 72 kB of ROM and ran at a break neck speed of 2 MHz. A typical smart phone will have tens or hundreds of megabytes of RAM, gigabytes of flash memory and run at around 1 GHz, all on top of having a wider bus width, fewer cycles per instruction and more powerful individual instructions. So roughly the cell phone will typically have 32,000x the RAM, 50,000x the permanent memory (or vastly more if you stick in a 32 GB card) and run at a few thousand times the speed.
Today’s cellphones have more power than yesterday’s Crays and VAXen. And what is that power used for? Displaying pretty pitchers, pinging phone towers, saving battery power. There is no comparison, because it’s not about power, it’s about functionality. All that power of cellphones is wasted.
Yeah but try to hope in your cell phone and blast off to the moon
That’s funny.
I thought it was overpriced in ‘76 for what it did (just another DEC bigot at the time...).
But it really was a great machine for its architecture, and Wozniak doesn’t get enough credit for what he did. Some of my former colleagues worked with him on the IWM (Incredible Woz Machine, the disk drive) and they said he was a great Engineer and a good guy...unlike his dark, moody buddy...the other Steve.
This is why I chuckle at the flame wars between apple/ Android/ windows/ Linux. They are all amazing devices.
we can’t even get to the ISS today.
Somewhere in someone’s attic or storage unit sits one of these babies waiting for me to find it...when the unwitting owner sells it at a yard sale for $5.
He was the Apollo GNC guy.
Click on the "News and Notes" link. It describes the whole process they had to go through to get the Apollo autopilot to work.
He used to do a road show called "Confessions of Columbus' Shipbuilders" where he presented all of this.
Enlightening if you're a Controls guy, entertaining if you aren't, he's a good speaker.
It would amaze people from the 1960s or so (think Darrin Stephens) if you were to say, "In my hand I am holding a device about the size of a deck of cards that has access to the sum total knowledge of all humanity from the beginning of time. I use it to argue with strangers, tell people when and where I am going to the restroom and look at short movies of cure cats."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.