New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

I say work-alike because the one I am considering (the A-One design from Achatz Electronics) is not really a clone as it uses modern parts. No longer available as a kit but all the firmware and documentation is available at http://www.achatz.nl/catalog/links.php. The parts are readily available. Sure I could use an emulator but melting solder is good.

A real clone such as a Mimeo 1 (http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1-kit.htm)would be neat but just too expensive and hard to find the parts these days.

It's on my list.... seriously keen to give the Mimeo a go...

I haven't build an Apple 1 work-alike, but I did build a Briel Altair 8800micro, which is an Altair 8800 work-alike. Vince Briel also sells his Replica-1 Apple 1 and Micro-KIM MOS KIM kits which are modern designs based on the originals. These are not clones or replicas - they use modern components and have many enhancements such as more RAM, PS/2 keyboard port and ATX PSU connector on the Replica-1.

My experience with Vince's kits having built two of them so far (The 8800micro and the 88-DSK RAM expansion) is that his kits are well built and designed to be easily built by people of any skill level. The instructions provided were clear and easy, though the kits are so well designed that the experienced builder will probably not need the instructions at all.

At $149 USD for the Replica-1 TE (3rd Edition) full kit I'm tempted to buy one just for the thrill of building it even though I have no particular interest in the Apple 1 itself.

I looked at the Briel kit as well. After scratch building a single board Z80 with point to point wiring, I guess it is a trade off between up front cash and build/debugging time.

I am doing an SBC6120 (http://www.sparetimegizmos.com/Hardware/SBC6120-2.htm) at the moment (a DEC PDP8 work-alike) and certainly appreciate the PCB even though it is not a particularly complex circuit.

I'm sure they would be fun to build. The Altair replica that Andrew (lizardboy) built is the most interesting to me and might be something for the future.