RogerArrick.com Personal Computing 1976 Show Atlantic City NJ

Personal Computing 1976 Show
Atlantic City NJ
Photographs by Harold Mauch

26 June 2023

Personal Computing 1976 Show Atlantic City NJ Apple 1 Introduction

Click images for larger view

Personal Computing 1976 was a trade show in Atlantic city NJ where the Apple 1 computer was introduced along with the SOL computer, the BABY! 1, and others. Also there was DEC running a train set, Byte magazine, MicroTrek magazine, SWTPC, Processor Technology and many others, somewhere around 100 vendors.

These slides come from the Percom preservation archives of Harold Mauch maintained by Roger Arrick.

About these images

These images are scanned from color slides taken by Harold Mauch, founder of Percom, who attended the show. Harold passed unexpectedly in '82 and never saw what ultimately became of Apple and the rest of the computer industry. I found these pictures, and many other goodies, while going through boxes to build the Percom preservation archives.

It took a while to realize the historic significance. As you can see, Harold got a really good shot of the first Apple 1 computer, along with some other very interesting shots. Here they are for all to enjoy. Please don't republish, just link to this site.

DEC (Digital Equipment Corp)

DEC had a booth running a train set from a PDP-11.

SWTPC computer

SWTPC of San Antonio Texas was a hobby computer manufacturer who made 6800 and 6809 based systems on their own bus called SS50. Here is their system running with a cassette interface. This is before floppy disk drives. And another picture.

Baby! 1 computer

I don't anything about this Baby! 1 computer but it has a wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby!_1.

Byte magazine

Byte magazine was a very big player in the early personal computer industry and had a booth at this show. Here's a picture. If you can identify these people please send me an email.

Cromemco

Cromemco had a booth with the Dazzler S100 bus video board displayed on a big screen.

SOL computer introduction

The SOL computer was a small form factor box with several S100 bus cards behind a keyboard. A monitor sat on top. All the SOL computers I've seen are blue but this one is a brown-ish color - typical of the 'earth-tone' 70s color pallet. SOL didn't become a huge hit but it was a big player in the first personal computer space. Here's a picture of the SOL booth. And another picture of the SOL computer with the cover off.

Apple 1 introduction

The Apple 1 was introduced at this show. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak attended the show but I'm not sure they are in any pictures. Wozniak worked on the Apple II software while in the hotel room. The blurry bearded man in the background is Daniel Kottke who helped the Steves. This is definitely one of the first, if not THE first Apple I in a wooden cabinet. These can sell for over $1m.

Seminars

Here are some seminar pictures. I have a few more, if you're interested email me. If you know some of these people please let me know. #1, #2, #3, #4, man

Personal Computing 1976 ShowAtlantic City NJPhotographs by Harold Mauch