Internet

Remember how we discussed the Apple II in class last night?

If you want to get your hands on the even older Apple I, you can bid on one at a Christie’s auction for about $400,000.

Corey Cohen, a vintage computer enthusiast, has been bringing these back to life and shared some insights into these machines with the New York Times.

What accounts for the soaring value of the Apple–1? The popularity of Apple?

Yes, partially because of Apple. There were only 175 made. There are only 60-odd boards that are actually known to still exist. It’s probably one of the prettiest boards that you see because it was laid out really well. The Apple–1 board is a piece of art.

How much computing power does an Apple–1 have?

It’s incredible how primitive the machines are. You were able to type commands in to do things, but they were extremely cryptic. If you wanted to add two numbers it was a fairly complicated task. You couldn’t even backspace on an Apple–1. Your iPhone is light years ahead.

Couldn’t even backspace? Was there no control-H?

Update: The computer sold for a bargain: $365,000.

Last night we surveyed the development of computer technology throughout the twentieth century.

1. The fundamentals of all computers, including bits and bytes
2. Storage media, including punch cards, magnetic and optical media
3. Processors to count the bits, including diodes, transistors, and microprocessors
4. Computers from military mainframes, corporate minicomputers, and personal microcomputers
5. Networking platforms, including military LANs and WANs, ARPANet, Ethernet, Bulletin Board Services of the 1980s, and the Internet

By 1993, a dedicated base of computers, ranging from military personal, university researchers, and computer hobbyists were using personal computers, networked together through a large computer network of networks, the Internet. The World Wide Web wouldn’t take off until after the first graphical browser, Mosaic.

But that’s not to say that some popular uses for the Internet weren’t around. People were exchanging vital documents, they were shopping for music, they were forming communities, they were accessing libraries of information, they were producing asynchronous radio programs, and they were even video conferencing.

In this 1993 episode of a long-running television series, The Computer Chronicles, we see some of the early uses of the Internet before the World Wide Web.