Thanks for the info, Mike.
The Computer Land in Virginia didn't open until the Apple II came out,
late 1977 or early 1978 as I recall.
In fact, it was the Apple II that made Computer Land in the area.
One doesn't think of Washington DC as a technology haven of any sort. But
between Rockville, MD and Springfield, VA there was a little piece of
Silicon Valley and I do recall MITS being there as well a the shop in
Rockville,
called the Computer Workshop that sold me my SWTPC 6800. They also,
sold, Vector Graphics, IMSAIs, and Polymorphics systems.
Eric
Michael Holley wrote:
> These were the first two assembled units. Chet Harris went down the Apple
> factory in Cupertino to pick them up. He had some kind of business
> relationship with Mike Markala. He got Mike Markala to come to his store to
> demo the Apple II computers. I sat at a table with him for several hours
> demonstrating the Apple II.
>
> We had Apple II boards for several week before that. Apple had difficulty
> with the plastic case. I think they were flying the tooling back and forth
> from Los Angles to San Jose. The factory was in one place and the tool
> designer was in the other. I don't think the first cases had the vent holes
> in the side.
>
> Computer Land was call Computer Shack before Radio Shack got on them. The
> store in San Leandro was open before the Apple II came out. In the January
> 1977 Byte magazine there is an ad for Computer Shack.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Chomko" <vze2wsvr_at_verizon.net>
> To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Monday, December 24, 2001 9:25 PM
> Subject: Re: Apple II serial number 2000?
>
> >
> >
> > Michael Holley wrote:
> >
> > > The Apple II computers started at serial number #1. When I was going to
> the
> > > College of San Mateo in 1976 and 1977 I worked at a local computer
> store,
> > > Allied Computer, run by Chet Harris. The owner was trying to set up a
> chain
> > > like the Byte Shops and Computer Land. I got to meet some interesting
> people
> > > then, like a field trip to Bill Godbout's where we met Bill and George
> > > Morrow.
> > >
> >
> > I.m pretty sure I sold the first Apple II computer in Virginia before
> > Computerland ever existed.
> > It was a demo. I suspect that if it wasn't a single digit SN, then it was
> a low
> > two digit SN.
> >
> > I worked for a company called 'The Computer Systems Store' in McLean, VA.
> We
> > sold Commodore PETs and SOL 20s, 1976-1978. Computerland put us out of
> buisness.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Chet had tried to interest Mike Markala in investing in his enterprise
> but
> > > Mr. Markala was going with Apple. Allied Computer was a distributor for
> > > Apple and we sold Apple II main boards before the plastic case was
> ready.
> > > (It took several design iterations before the injection molds worked
> > > correctly.)
> > >
> > > One Saturday Chet came in with the first two Apple II computers built,
> > > Serial number 1 and 2. He sold #1 to a friend of his and I took #2 home
> with
> > > me. I hooked it up to our color TV and loaded various games. I showed
> the
> > > system to friends for a week or so until the power supply died. It went
> back
> > > to Apple and I never saw it again.
> > >
> > > One of the customers at Allied Computer was Bill Kelly. He was working
> for
> > > Regis McKenna Advertising on the Apple II introduction. He has a web
> page
> > > that talks about the early days at Apple Computer.
> > >
> > > http://www.kelleyad.com/Histry.htm
> > >
> > > -----------------------------------------------
> > > Michael Holley
> > > www.swtpc.com
> > > -----------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
Received on Wed Dec 26 2001 - 16:07:55 GMT