Amazon.com info for 'Apple I Replica Creation: Back To The Garage'

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Back to reviews and details of Apple I Replica Creation: Back To The Garage

Amazon.com reviews:

Rating: 5 Summary: Apple I Forever! :)
Comment Well if you're looking at this book you probably already know what it is, but just in case - this is a book that can help you to build you're own Apple 1 replica. I have read/skimmed through this book and plan to use it in the future for my own replica. Right now I'm teaching myself electronics and as a goal I want to build a replica using the information in this book. It's too advanced for me right now - but since it's an older title I wanted to get it now before it becomes to hard to find.

Rating: 4 Summary: Great reading
Comment It's a great reading for anyone have used Apple I, II series and ever dreamed about building own computer.

Rating: 4 Summary: A blast from the past
Comment It's been a long time since I've really built a computer, with a soldering iron. The glory days may be gone, but that doesn't mean you can't relive them, or at least learn a little about what they were like. This book will help.

It's really intended to serve as a companion to Vince Briel's Replica-1 kit. You order the parts from his web store, solder them together, make it actually work, and then write software for it. This book doesn't teach a whole lot on the hardware side, just enough to help you put together the kit and debug any mistakes you made in the process of assembling it. Other books are better if you're actually interested in learning the electronics.

If you can solder, though, and you just want to play with a vintage architecture, this book will serve as an excellent companion to the kit, especially once you finish the kit and want to start programming it.

If you're completely new to electronics as a hobby, read the first few chapters, then find other inexpensive kits to practice soldering before you actually plunk down the cash on the Replica-1. They're great soldering (and inevitably also desoldering) practice, and the experience will fill in any gaps left by the introductory chapters.

Rating: 4 Summary: How big is the audience for this?
Comment Gotta say, I know the hardware and software hacking craze is taking off, but this seems a little over the top. Seriously, who is going to build an Apple I? Well, someone I suppose. Anyway, this is an interesting book even if you aren't going to do the work to put it all together.

There are 50 pages on hacking the Macintosh SE. Not quite sure what that's about since it's not mentioned anywhere.

Rating: 3 Summary: For the techies
Comment "Apple I Replica Creation" starts off with a very interesting 5-page foreword by Steve Wozniak, describing the beginnings of his interest in computers and the developments that led to the Apple I. It then covers the history of the Apple I from when it became commercially available, and includes interviews with pioneer users.

For the actual building of the Apple I, author Tom Owad provides details of all the tools and materials required, digital logic diagrams and a step-by-step guide on soldering and assembling it. He follows this with two chapters on programming the Apple I using BASIC and Assembly languages.

Owad also examines at length the processor, memory and input/output aspects to ensure you fully understand the Apple I. This would enable you to write new software and modify the hardware design.

Almost one third of the book is made up of appendices. Here you will find codes and instructions, electrical engineering basics and even a chapter on hacking Macintosh (not sure why Owad included such a chapter).

The book includes a CD containing McCAD EDS-SE400, an integrated Electronic Design System which takes you through the entire design cycle: schematic capture, PCB layout, and board fabrication.

In conclusion, "Apple I Replica Creation" was obviously intended for the technically inclined and targeted at the small group of Apple I fanatics. However, Owad's easy-to-understand style and the inclusion of the many photographs and diagrams make it something that the rest of us may also find curiously interesting.