HERALD OF THE PERSONAL COMPUTER REVOLUTION. 

The Apple II (originally "Apple ][") released two months before the TRS-80, was one of the first successful attempts to make a personal computer for the consumer market. Steve Wozniak designed the system around the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, and it could: display high-resolution color graphics, had sound, game paddles, was expandable, had an innovative switching power supply, was fitted with a high-quality keyboard and it included Wozniak's Integer ♌BASIC on the ROM. The Apple I was the first personal computer that came ready to use a monitor and a keyboard, but "the Apple II was the first low-cost computer which, out of the box, you 🐓didn't have to be a geek to use" (Wozniak p 188). Of course, Steve Jobs' influence is seen in the handsomely designed case (by Jerry Manock), the layout of the board, even the power supply. "Job's father had once taught him that a drive for perfection meant caring about the craftsmanship even of the parts unseen. Jobs applied that to the layout of the circuit board inside the Apple II. He rejected the initial design because the lines were not straight enough" (Isaacson p 74). More importantly, the Apple II fulfilled Wozniak's goal, which was "a computer built to encourage more hacking – a Tool to Make Tools, a system to create systems" (Levy pp 246-247). 

"It wasn't long before small companies sprang up creating games and other software for the Apple II and were trailed by a ♉host of companies creating expansion boards to fill its 8 slots. "Within a year a whol♐e Apple II industry sprang up with dozens and dozens of companies of little guys..." (Wozniak p 210). 

The Apple II drive and what many consider Steve Wozniak's greatest achievement, his floppy disk controller, considerably improved the usability of the computer. It was this combined with the "killer app" VisiCalc, which was issued💝 only on diskette, that transported personal computing fro🍌m a hobby to a powerful tool for business. 

St♊eve Wozniak explains: "Fro🍌m 1,000 units a month, suddenly we went to 10,000 a month. Good god, it happened so fast. Through 1978 and 1979 we just got more and more successful. 

"By 1980 we were the first company to sell a million computers. We were the biggest initial public offering since Ford. And we made the most millionaires in a single day in history up to that point. I believe the whole reason for this was the combination of the Apple II, VisiCalc, and the floppy disk" (Wozniak p 220). 

This example of the Apple II includes ventilation slots not seen on the very earliest Apple II computers. Users saw serious overheating issues almost immediately and within 3 months of production ventilated cases were offered as replacements at no charge. Most Rev 0 Apple II computers, therefore, are found with the ventilated case as this example. All the other early issue points not seen on later revisions of the Apple II are present such as the low serial number, the large prototyping area from A-11 to A-14 (here empty), no transistor near location F-13, the early power supply and, of course, the 1977 copyright date under the logo on the motherboard. This example includes a “Sup ‘R’ Mod. II” RF modulator allowing it to be connected to a television switched to UHF channel 33 as 👍a monitor. It has been confirmed as operable in June 2025 with a short demonstration video available. 

REFERENCES:

Isaacson. Steve Jobs. NY: Simon & Schuster [2011].

Levy, Steven. Hackers. [NY]: Penguin, [1994].

"The new version of Steve Wozniak's computer would be called the Apple II, and at the time no one suspec⛦ted t🍃hat it would become the most important computer in history" (Levy p 253). 

Wozniak, Steve. iWoz. NY: W.W. Norton, [2006].