On the back of quite a number of original Apple 1s is scribbled with a felt tip marker, a number, typically 01-00XX. For a long time, it was said that these were supposed to be added by the Byte Shop. A couple of years ago, I ran across a machine purchased from Ray Borill’s Data Domain shop in Indiana, that also had those numbers. This and the fact that the numbers go higher than the 50 that were supposedly sold to the Byte shop made me question the origin of those numbers.

I had recently heard from a source that Data Domain had purchased machines from the Byte Shop, which could explain how those numbers got on Data Domain computers.

At last week’s Apple and Homebrew computer club reunion, I happened to start talking to Thom Hogan, who was associated with the Data Domain shop back in the day. I asked him about where they obtained their computers. He said that at some point, they bought Apple 1’s from the Byte Shop, because that Apple would not sell them more computers. They needed more Apple 1’s, because they were selling them into practical applications. They even had one installed at Churchhill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby. He thought that it was installed near the starting gate for some purpose, though he didn’t exactly remember what it’s function was.

This explains why the Byte Shop serial numbers could be found on systems purchased from the Data Domain. These two independent sources pretty much remove my uncertainty about the source of the “Byte Shop” numbering.