Emailing Woz (A Memory)

I thought I’d share a memory that came back to me recently.

To tell this story, I need to go back to the summer of 1999.

I had just finished 8th grade and was starting summer vacation before high school. My 8th grade principal, who also happened to be my dad’s boss and a friend of his, told my dad about a movie he had just seen. He said he thought it was something we’d both really enjoy.

That movie was Pirates of Silicon Valley.

I can’t remember the exact date we first watched it, but it had to have been within the first week after it aired. I do remember that we recorded it on VHS that night, and I’m really glad we did because I probably watched it twice a week for the rest of the summer.

Within a couple of weeks of seeing the movie, we found a copy of Fire in the Valley at a local bookstore. When I first got the book, I definitely didn’t read the whole thing. I was 13, and reading wasn’t exactly my favorite hobby. Instead, I skipped around to the chapters I found the most interesting, especially the ones about Apple and Microsoft.

(I’ve since read the entire book several times.)

Apple already meant something to me before that summer. From first through sixth grade, the computers in my elementary school were Apple //e machines, so they were the computers I learned on and spent countless hours using.

Something I never really thought about until recently was that, in 1999, I had never put together that “Apple II” meant there had been an Apple I before it. It wasn’t until the movie and the book that I realized such a machine even existed.

One of the photos in Fire in the Valley showed the Apple I schematic. Looking at it, I decided that I wanted to build my own Apple I replica.

Now, I was only 13. I knew a little about electronics. I had spent plenty of time with those Radio Shack 60-in-1 and 130-in-1 Electronics Project Labs and could build simple circuits, but taking on the challenge of building an entire computer from a schematic was a little ambitious.

(Spoiler: I never finished it.)

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about giving it another shot now that reproduction Apple I circuit boards are available.

Now for the part this post is really about.

Somewhere along the way, I found Steve Wozniak’s website. It had a contact page, and I decided it would be a great idea to send him an email. I asked him about the Apple I schematic in Fire in the Valley and told him I wanted to build my own Apple I clone.

I honestly don’t remember exactly what I wrote. I’m sure it wasn’t particularly well written. At the time, I didn’t even have my own email address anymore. I had once had a Juno email account, but that had long since disappeared. (That might be a story for another post.) So we sent the email from either my dad’s email account or a family email address.

I also don’t remember how long it took to get a response.

What I do remember is one morning my dad waking me up and saying, “Woz replied to your email.”

I don’t remember exactly what he wrote back. I’m sure it was something kind and encouraging, wishing me luck with the project.

What I remember much more clearly was the attachment.

He had sent me a collection of Apple I information that he had available, including a much cleaner schematic than the one in the book, the Apple I BASIC source code, PROM image files, and several other files that I unfortunately no longer remember.

Looking back, it’s amazing to think that one of the people who helped start the personal computer revolution took the time to reply to a random 13-year-old kid who wanted to build an Apple I.

Typing all of this out was a lot of fun. It also reminded me of just how many little moments over the years helped shape my interest in computers, electronics, and eventually a career in IT.

I’m looking forward to sharing more memories like this in future posts.

Thanks for reading.

— James