Steve Wozniak

Stephen Wozniak (born August 11 1950) (Polish: Woźniak) is a computer engineer turned philanthropist. His machines are credited with contributing greatly to the entry of computers into private homes and businesses. Wozniak created the Apple II, the last personal computer to be designed entirely by a single person.

The dawn of Apple

By 1975, Woz dropped out of the University of California, Berkeley (he would later finish his degree in 1987) and came up with a computer that eventually became successful nationwide. However, he was largely working within the scope of the Palo Alto-based Homebrew Computer Club, a local group of electronics hobbyists. His project had no wider ambition.

Related Topics:
1975 - University of California, Berkeley - 1987 - Palo Alto - Homebrew Computer Club

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Jobs and Wozniak came to the conclusion that a completely assembled and inexpensive computer would be in demand. They sold some of their prized possessions (e.g. Woz's HP scientific calculator and Steve Jobs' Volkswagen van), raised USD$1300, and assembled the first prototype in Jobs' garage. Their first computer was quite an engineering marvel within the context of 1975 computing. In simplicity of use it went years ahead of the Altair 8800, which was introduced earlier in 1975. Altair had no display and no true storage. It received commands via a series of switches and a single program would require thousands of toggles without an error. Altair output was presented in the form of flashing lights. Altair was great for true geeks, but it was not usable for a wider public. It didn't even come assembled. Woz's computer, on the other hand, named Apple I, was a fully assembled and functional unit that contained a $25 microprocessor on a single-circuit board with ROM. On April 1 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer Company. Wozniak quit his job at Hewlett-Packard and became the vice president in charge of research and development at Apple. Apple I was priced at $666.66. Jobs and Wozniak sold their first 25 computers to a local dealer.

Related Topics:
USD$ - 1975 - Altair 8800 - Apple I - Microprocessor - ROM - April 1 - 1976 - Apple Computer Company - Hewlett-Packard

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Wozniak could now focus full-time on fixing the shortcomings of Apple I and adding new functionality. Apple I earned the company close to a million dollars. His new design was to retain the most important characteristics: simplicity and usability. Woz introduced high-resolution graphics in the Apple II. His computer could now display pictures instead of just letters: "I threw in high-res. It was only two chips. I didn't know if people would use it." By 1978, he also designed an inexpensive floppy-disk drive controller. He and Randy Wigginton wrote a simple disk operating system, adapting a file system and simple command line interface licensed from Shepardson Microsystems to his unique technology.

Related Topics:
Apple II - 1978 - Floppy-disk drive - Randy Wigginton - Shepardson Microsystems

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In addition to his hardware skills, Wozniak wrote most of the software that ran Apple. He wrote a Basic interpreter named Integer BASIC, a set of virtual 16-bit processor instructions known as SWEET16, a Breakout game (which was also a reason to add sound to the computer), the code needed to control the disk drive, and more. On the software side, the Apple II was also made more attractive to a business user by the famous pioneering spreadsheet: Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston's VisiCalc. In 1980, the Apple company went public and made Jobs and Wozniak millionaires. At the age of 27, Jobs was the youngest Fortune 500 man in 1982—a very young age before the dot-com era.

Related Topics:
Basic - Integer BASIC - 16-bit - SWEET16 - Breakout - Spreadsheet - Dan Bricklin - Bob Frankston - VisiCalc - 1980 - Fortune 500 - 1982

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