Work is moving forward on the silk screen layer. I was hoping that I could directly leverage fonts created for the Apple II rev 0 replica. The Apple 1 fonts are different enough from the Apple II fonts, that I am not satisfied with the default results of just porting the A2 fonts over. Therefore I’m working on improving the match with the original Apple 1 fonts. One other challenging aspect of the silk screen is my CAD program doesn’t support proportional character spacing. This is going to cause me some extra work in order to get the character spacing right, as it did on the Apple II rev 0.

With the exception of the gold finger connector, which hasn’t been added, the copper layers are pretty good right now, probably good enough for most people. However, I can see some areas, particularly on the front of the PCB that I’ll revisit once the silk screen has had a first pass. Keep in mind that my goal is 10 mill (1/100″) accuracy of reproduction.

I also did some rough pricing of PCB fabrication and found that the gold finger connector will cause a surprising cost increase over the Apple II rev 0 PCB, despite the similar board size. The cost of the Stancor transformers and caps for the power supply are also driving up cost. Despite a somewhat smaller parts count, his project is definitely starting to look more expensive than the A2 rev 0.

Once I get all the parts kitted, I plan to offer a complete parts kit to Obtronix bare PCB owners. Eventually I’ll offer bare PCB boards, and parts for Apple 1’s, similar to what I’ve offered to those interested in the Apple II rev 0 kit.

regards,
Mike Willegal