This private website was created to introduce myself to like-minded individuals and hopefully foster new and interesting connections. It is entirely ad-free, does not use cookies, does not track visitors, and is hosted within the European Union.
Mike Willegal originally created the Apple-1 Registry, a comprehensive, non-profit list of all known Apple-1 computers. In early 2018, Mike entrusted the Apple-1 Registry to Achim Baqué.
The registry is the vital resource for owners, enthusiasts, Apple fans, auction houses, and the press. Apple-1 computers represent a significant and rare piece of history. The purpose of the Apple-1 Registry is to preserve detailed information about these machines, including their history, current locations, and conditions. This effort is crucial, as much information about the remaining Apple-1 computers has already been lost.
My website, The Apple-1, is dedicated to my original, fully functional Apple-1 computers. It features detailed information, pictures, and videos. The iconic Apple-1, introduced in 1976, was the very first computer offered by Apple in the year of its founding.
In 2018, I added three more original Apple-1 computers to my collection, followed by another in early 2019. And I couldn’t stop there. The latest addition joined my collection in 2023.
I now own several original Apple-1 computers. If you are interested in selling an Apple-1 or related items, feel free to contact me anytime. Simply send a message with pictures, and we can discuss it further. Rest assured, all messages and photos will be treated with complete confidentiality.
Visit my website about my Apple-1 computers.
A list of exhibitions featuring my Apple-1 computers can be found here.
After years of research, I commissioned two forensic analyses in December 2021 to examine the handwritten serial numbers on original Apple-1 computers. The groundbreaking results came in January 2022: the serial numbers were personally written by Steve Jobs.
Unveiling who wrote the serial number on some of the first Apple-1 computers
On February 10, 2022, I had the honor of publishing the results of two forensic examinations of the handwritten serial numbers on several original Apple-1 computers from the first batch.
The findings confirmed that the handwriting is indeed Steve Jobs'. Another lasting legacy of Steve Jobs.
The story is here.
My collection includes over 1,000 vintage computers, along with many other vintage items such as hard drives, software, manuals, and more. The main focus of my collection is on items from before 1984. It is dedicated to the preservation of historically significant computers and related artifacts.
Some are very rare. Like my Apple-1, some Apple II Rev. 0 (including two ventless), the one and only prototype Kenbak-1 (first ever commercially available personal computer), some Apple Lisa 1, Commodore C65, some Datapoint 2200, two Q1 computers, a Micral S, a DEC Straight-8, many Altair and IMSAI, various PDP's and so many more.
In 2021, a new favorite object came into my computer collection. Apple Disk Drive S/N 2. The case AND the Shugart disk drive both have the serial number 2. Both are directly bought from famous Wendell Sander. Thanks Wendell!
And I've got countless hard disks from 0.8 inch up to 31 inch. Since 2023 the mighty 39 inch Bryant hard disk platter is in my collection. It is the largest disk platter ever made, and just a few survived.
2024 was by far the best year for me in terms of vintage computers. There were countless new acquisitions, including many items that I no longer thought I would get. Including DEC Straight-8, Mark-8 (bought directly from the builder - 1975), JOLT (finally, one of the hardest computers to find), WANG 2200B, WANG 720 and so much more. There are also talks for other very rare computers. Some computers have already been promised to me, but these will not become my property for some time.
So far there was no time to bring a website about my vintage computer collection online.
But a website for the Apple-1s and prototype Kenbak-1 are available.
A few pictures of my vintage computers are here.
The story of Apple Disk Drive S/N 2 is truly fascinating. In early 1978, Wendell Sander was heavily involved in the engineering of the early Apple II boards. As part of this work, he focused on testing the Disk II controller card. Since the state machine PROM could not be accessed by the processor, Sander became intimately familiar with the state machine’s operation in order to develop an effective test sequence.
During this process, he discovered that Steve Wozniak, also known as 'Woz,' had miscalculated one of the timing paths by a single count. Sander reviewed the issue with Wozniak, who agreed with the correction, and Sander created updated PROMs to fix the error.
Around the same time, Apple was ramping up Disk II production. Although many drives were ready for shipment, they encountered a significant problem: the drives failed to meet the industry-standard error rate of 1 in 109, causing production delays. However, when Sander’s corrected PROMs were tested, the drives passed the error rate threshold, allowing Apple to begin shipping.
In recognition of his crucial contribution, Apple presented Sander with Disk Drive II S/N 2, which contained a Shugart floppy drive 390 S/N 2. Cliff Huston received Disk Drive II S/N 1, while Wozniak was given the Shugart 390 S/N 1.
I first saw this remarkable drive in 2018 during a visit with Wendell Sander. In December 2021, I had the privilege of acquiring this historic disk drive from him.
One of my original Apple-1 computers is on loan to the Deutsches Museum in Munich / Germany, where it is displayed for the public. The handover took place on 14 November 2017 with the Zuse 4 in the background. This is exactly where Steve Jobs personally handed over a Macintosh to the museum in 1985. It is on permanent display in the Microelectronics Department for the public.
I gave another Apple-1 for free to an art exhibition at the ZKM, Karlsruhe in Germany from July 2018 till February 2019.
Additionally, I loaned another Apple-1 to an art exhibition at the ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany, from July 2018 to February 2019.
In 2019, I traveled to the Bay Area in California with two of my original Apple-1 computers. Both were exhibited at the Computer History Museum in California, USA in Mountain View, California, USA.
More information about exhibitions of my Apple-1 are found here.
It would be nice to share more and I am open to inquiries.
Wanted: vintage computer from the 70's and early 80's
If you have a vintage computer for sale or donation, please contact me. All messages and pictures will be handled confidentially. My mission is to preserve vintage computers, including related documents, and occasionally, rare items are loaned to museums. I also purchase complete collections.
In addition, I am actively seeking items related to space exploration, such as components from rockets, spacecraft, and NASA probes. I have a wish list.
I have shipping addresses in the USA, UK, France, and Germany.
John Blankenbaker was 92 years old when he stopped maintaining his website, which eventually went offline. I had been in contact with him for years and had the privilege of visiting him twice. Finally, he gave me permission to take over the website and preserve his legacy.
John wrote to me March 4, 2022 "Yes you may have the content. I used a .net designation. Perhaps you might want to convert to a .com or a .info designation."
John Blankenbaker's original kenbak-1.net website.
Note: His website is very old and static, making it unsuitable for mobile devices. Any changes were made with great care to preserve its original state as faithfully as possible. It now stands as a piece of history.
Kenbak-1 Registry
After taking care of John Blankenbakers former webpage to preserve his legacy and the history of the Kenbak-1 I decided to make a registry of the Kenbak-1. Someone should preserve it and follow the path of the few original Kanbak-1.
I also maintain the Apple-1 Registry already. It is more effort and work than you can imagine. But the result is worth it.
The direct contact and many conversations make me feel very connected to John. It was the twist of fate that he was ahead of his time. He even planned a successor with CPU. But since the computer was only advertised in American Scientific, the commercial success was low. Who knows, maybe otherwise we would have been working with a 'Kenbak-X'?
It's amazing anyway that it wasn't Xerox that became the world's number one in computers because of the incredible developments at Xerox PARC.
From the age of seven years I was fascinated by astronomy and space flight.
As a teenager, I did an internship at the Max Planck institute for radio astronomy in the 'mm' laboratories. They actually wanted to take me to Chile, where a new ESA telescope was being built. But there were delays.
Only through contact with computers the focus shifted. Nevertheless, I am still very interested in both topics.
Many collection objects are in my possession. Among them some artifacts of the terrific Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. A few years ago I had the chance to buy the mighty Kholod Rocket. The owner contacted me, but where to put such a gigantic piece? It would have been very conspicuous on a private property and the neighbors certainly wouldn't have liked it. Now I'm hoping to find smaller rockets or jet engines that I like
Photo / Video
After the first 10 years about 100k pictures and footage were sold and my collection grew to several thousand time-lapse videos and millions of pictures in 100+ TB.
In early years of stock photography so-called macrostock was a big market. Later it changed and a tiny fraction of my portfolio is listed at some microstock agencies.
Many of my time-lapse videos are shown on tv, in motion pictures, video productions, commercials and on websites.
Pictures are used for any purpose like websites, books, magazines, advertisements etc.
Time-lapse are fascinating. Endless creativity and possibilities for the photographer.
It started as a hobby. Many years ago there were not many tools to produce time-lapse videos. Today many cameras support time-lapse photography and endless tools are available. Nowadays is easy to find all information on the Internet, and many mobile phones have a time-lapse function.
When I started time-lapse photography I had to research everything myself. Experimenting was necessary.
During traveling doing time-lapse photography is pretty time consuming, but has a very nice side effect: While doing time-lapse photography you recognize many processes in nature, urban life etc. which most people will never notice.
Clouds are a good example. Real-time movement can be very nice, but most of the time the movement is too slow to see what is going on. But in a time-lapse even ordinary cloud formations look spectacular. Notorious famous time lapse videos are being made in cities like New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo etc.
Many people have seen one of the best-known spot for time-lapse on tv, in movies etc: Diagonal pedestrian crossing in Shibuya Tokyo / Japan.
Sometimes I see a potential time-lapse scenery and get more and more engrossed, minutes turn into hours. I remember I had planned an hour or so to spend at some places, and end up staying for hours or a whole day. For example: The Shard London, the Peak Hong Kong, any skyscraper in NYC, Wills Tower Chicago etc.
Most satisfying are time-lapse of nature. I can’t get enough of it. Never.
Traveling with equipment for serious time-lapse photography is not easy. Sometimes I carry between 20 and 30 kg camera equipment with me, but on average between 15 and 20 kg. I take at least 3 different cameras only for time-lapse while traveling. Sometimes up to ten. Yep, it sounds pretty mad. But it is very rewarding!
Just in my first 10 years I got a 100+ TB collection of several thousand time-lapse videos and millions of pictures.
I was lucky to reach some very remote and amazing areas. The highest altitude for a time-lapse was 5,800+ meter (19,000+ feet) at Cerro Uturuncu in Bolivia. This mountain I drove up by myself in a Nissan Pathfinder. Some of the best scenery I found in Antarctica.
Urban time-lapse are fascinating as well. Big cities offering enormous potential for time-lapse. Sometimes combined with dramatic settings.
Traveling - the spirit of life
To travel is the best way to broaden your horizon, to see and understand different lifestyles, how to to look at life etc.
It changes your life. You meet people who grew up in different societies and under different circumstances. It teaches you some kind of tolerance, increase widely your knowledge and understanding of the people, countries and the world.
My girlfriend and I want to see as much of the world as possible, but not at any price. Many countries are not a destination for us because of wars, unrest or security problems.
The restless traveler gets countless impressions and experiences. Even negative experiences enrich what you have experienced and seen as a human being. Nobody takes these impressions away from you.
Many people in affluent countries do not appreciate the standards they enjoy. And not only in terms of money. Also, in terms of freedom, security, education, food, etc.
Those of us, who grow up in a prosperous country and enjoy the freedom to travel, will learn to appreciate this and these privileges through intensive travel.
The dissatisfaction and negative attitude of some people could vanish quickly, if they would travel a few days to the many corners of the world that are not doing so well. It would broaden their horizon and could be very educational.
The confrontation with friendly, warm, intelligent people who are denied this opportunities is humbling.
Through fortunate circumstances I was able to travel to many countries. In addition, many not everyday destinations.
When I think back to various journeys, my head is flooded with impressions. So many indescribably beautiful places, culture and people I was lucky enough to encounter in person, and saw with my own eyes.
Many times, I was asked how many countries/places I have visited?
More important for me is what I have seen, the impressions and experiences. Many countries I have visited multiple times. The goal is traveling and not counting countries. But sure, I do count. The total number depends on your standards or what you call a country or a 'place'. For example, the USA: Is a visit to the mainland, Hawaii, Alaska, American Samoa, Puerto Rico one visited country or maybe two to six countries? Or what about France, Réunion and New Caledonia? One, two or three in a travelers list?
Antarctica is not listed in the UN list of countries. For example former GDR (East Germany) is not listed anymore.
I don't aspire to visit every country in the world just to have been there. But I would like to see as many places as possible. And I have seen some pretty remote and rarely visited places like Pitcairn Island, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Niue etc. Despite all the dramatic events and all the craziness on this planet, there are fortunately still many places to visit.
In 2024 by counting UN listed countries I have been to 129 of 193, 6 non-members and 29 Dependencies. My own counting considers areas not listed or separated from the mainland which results in 184 destinations. For ex. Antarctica, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Svalbard, Réunion, Cook Islands, Canadian Arctic etc.
The Covid-19 pandemic started at the time me and my girldfriend were on our way to Micronesia. Micronesia was the first country to close the border. Even with the permission We had from the office of the President of Micronesia, we were denied entry. The world has changed dramatically since 2019. We finally made it to all the states of Micronesia in 2024, and we just by chance met the President on a flight.
It is not my goal to travel to every country in the world just to be able to say that I have been everywhere. Too many countries are a problem for political or security reasons. And just to have been there? All other corners of the world are worth exploring. Over time, however, I have come to realize that I have visited some regions several times or even very often. The most frequently visited regions are the South Pacific, Antarctica, Chile & Argentina, England, Spain and the USA.
About me
My name is Achim Harald Baqué.
I was born in 1968 in former Western Germany where I live and work most of the time.
First name:
For most people Achim doesn't sound very German. But it is the German short name for Joachim. Most native English speaker associate Achim with an Arabic country because of the pronunciation. Many pronounce it 'Akeem' (yes, like main character in the movie Prince of Zamunda). The “ch” sounds for those very harsh and is at least as hard to pronounce as the “th” for Germans. For Germans, it sounds soft.
Wikipedia about Achim.
There is even a City in northern Germany called Achim.
Last name: Baqué does not sound German either? Well, it is a French name. My ancestors left France 1789 in a hurry, eventually escaping the revolution on a float and settled in Germany. For more than 200 years this family branch lives in Germany. The other half of my ancestors can be traced back living in Germany for at least 900 years.
According to my genetics I am 99,9% European, mostly German, the rest is British and broadly Northwestern European.
Openness
Why do I tell so many private things here when most people try to remain anonymous on the Internet? I often get in touch with like-minded people and those who have a similar background. Especially when it comes to collecting computers, it's helpful not to be anonymous. Who would contact a 'user123' to negotiate the sale of a rare computer? If you would like to contact me and find out who you are dealing with:
Early years
Astronomy and particle physics were a passion of mine during my young years, and I was 100% sure this would be my work as an adult. My focus was on elementary particle physics. I bought my first book about Astronomy at the age of 7. Later I spent a lot of time with an soldering iron. Electronics was fascinating.
At school, my favorite school subjects were physics, chemistry and mathematics. Later in high school, computer science.
After that chemistry was a serious hobby. I had a huge collection of laboratory equipment and chemicals one could only dream of. Rockets and explosives were a big thing for a boy, and today you couldn’t do this without getting into real trouble.
In school, my chemistry teacher allowed me to work in the laboratory during every school hour. I didn't need to attend classes, but I needed to make a chemical presentation during the last 5 minutes of class with something 'entertaining' (colorful, burning or exploding).
Today it would be impossible for a private person to have the chemicals I had.
Many members of my family worked at the house of parliament. During my childhood, I have spent some time at the parliament building in Bonn (former German capital, nowadays it is Berlin).
For two years, I was in the nursery of the German Parliament. That was the time of terrorism in Germany (RAF).
Security forces and federal police armed with machine guns were in front of the primary school and the parliament. Nearly all children in my school had parents in the government. The terrorists had threatened to kidnap children.
We were driven with an armored Mercedes 600 and even for half a year with a armoured personnel carrier (Fuchs) between school and parliament's nursery.
It was great fun for us because we didn't see the threat.
After school, I would usually sit at Ossi's Bar in the parliament. Every day I saw the members of the parliament including some famous ministers and the chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl. I was sitting next to both chancellors while having Lunch.
One time, a convoy came to a halt with Ronald Reagan on the road B9 in Bonn next to the car of my mother and me. It was a convertible and we played loud music. Reagan laughed and waved. Usually the convey never stops and getting so close was very unusual.
My paternal grandmother, together with a scientist, founded the company ORBIT and Helatronik after her time at the parliament. They sold rocket technology, telemetry and other stuff, especially to ESA and NASA. It was even used in the Space Shuttle.
I wish I'd been older at this time. At least I was able to see the latest satellites, rockets and helicopters at Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm" in Ottobrun near Munich.
They showed me the final assembly of three-axis stabilized satellite. I think, it was EXOSAT.
Because my grandmother played some important role in parliament's history, she gave many interviews to German magazines like 'Stern' and 'Spiegel' and many times she was a guest in the famous TV politics magazine 'Monitor'.
She used to do business with Israel and Saudi Arabia (and both knew that at the time). She was invited to the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin as a guest of honor.
My maternal grandmother did something remarkable. She was hidding a Jew during the Nazi rule in her basement, and he survived! One life saved. Over the next decades my mother and I visited him many times. I thought all the time he is my uncle, until my family told me the truth when I was an adult.
As a teenager, I was lucky to work at the Max Planck institute for radio astronomy (mm laboratories).
But my main focus changed to programming when I was 17. I used to work with hex-display-computer, Apple II+, Apple IIe, Basis 108 and later the IBM PCs starting with IBM 5150.
The IBM world in the late 80's was incredible and I never used the Apple computers after that. It was only after 2015 that I came back into contact with vintage Apple computers from the 70s and 80s.
My very first own computer was 1986 an IBM 5160 with a gigantic 20 MB hard drive. Today a single image from my SLR would not fit onto this hard disk. But in early days I thought this hard disk would be big enough for the next 20 years.
I had and have zero interest in computer games and only used computers for programming.
During my first year of contact with computers, computer magazines published some of my softwares and some articles. The "Markt und Technik Verlag" offered me a contract for the distribution of one of my programs, which competed with Norton Utilities (according to the the publisher of the computer magazin only much better and unbelievable faster).
At the age of 17, too young and inexperienced to recognize this opportunity, I had little interest in this. I just wanted to keep working on it only for myself. Years later, I realized that it was a multi-million dollar offer.
A friend and I founded a software company when I was 18, for which I stopped my university studies.
Since the 80's, I have developed a software for court bailiffs / the foreclosure/judicial office in Germany. This software became the market leader and, since the 2010's, its market share is over 50%.
During the early 1990's software for food-delivery came into focus. I developed a software called foodserv that was able to show menu lists with pictures (we are talking about DOS-time) and it was even possible to add a BBS for online orders and companies could place aggregated orders.
That time wasn't right, however. That software was sold to just about 100 restaurants. This type of software with a smaller scope of features just became a pretty big business in the 2010's with smartphones.
Jumping to the 2020's: I grew up in the 70s and 80s. Germany was divided and the Iron Curtain separated the West from Eastern Europe and Russia. Then everything changed in the 90s and I visited the whole of Eastern Europe and Russia. Everything seemed to get better and better. But too many people are not interested in history and so it repeats itself. Too many are so easy to influence and manipulate. Nationalism has been flourishing almost worldwide for years. Many countries are moving backwards and quite a few countries are worse than they were 40 years ago. This is very regrettable and we can only hope that this trend will be reversed.
Fields of interest
Traveling, photography, time-lapse videography, diving, drones, vintage computers, programming, electronics, space, stock market, fast cars and convertibles. In my early years chemistry, physics, elementary particle physics, mathematics, astronomy, space.
I'm absolutely not nostalgic, just someone who loves history. Growing up in the present time or in the future would be fantastic. I would not want to live in the past.
The possibilities today are unimaginably greater than in the last century. In all aspects. Technology, food, travel, access to information, etc.
My vintage computer collection started with some computer parts and large hard disks in the late 80’s.
In the 2000's collecting vintage computer became a serious hobby. By 2018 I owned more than 1,000 vintage computers including many pretty rare and unique items.
Since 2018 I am the curator of the Apple-1 Registry and I stay in contact with many Apple-1 owners.
During late 80's and the early 90's, I was operating one of the largest BBS in the fidonet, the nibbelbox (spelling of nibble is different in German). A BBS with 25 lines and 20+ GB data, during a time when even 40 MB hard discs were big. Even the full file list was bigger than an average hard disk. The system used Novell and I programmed my own FOSSIL driver and the BBS software with enhanced file browser and a graphical interface. If users demanded files to download, my software would automatically switch the servers and provide the files. The interface of this BBS was capable to show graphical characters on DOS PCs thanks to its own terminal program. File list browsing allowed it to go backwards, which was very unusual at this time. The BBS had thousands of registered users- long before the Internet was popular.
In 2006, I started to produce time-lapse videos with self-developed circuits and SLR cameras. After the first ten years, I had a collection of several thousand time-lapse videos and millions of pictures on 100+ TB. Including all backup hard disks in a bank vault more than 100 high capacity hard disks are used.
Some time-lapse videos and pictures are for sale on microstock companies (for example footage at Pond5, shutterstock, fotolia). Several thousand time-lapse videos and pictures were sold in the first years and were used on numerous websites, for press, television and movies mostly used in the USA.
The stock market is another hobby of mine since the early 2000's.
With the rise of drones, aerial photography became a new hobby. I used different ready-to-fly drones with modifications, a self-built hexa-copter and had some very unique opportunities to fly over very special places. For example, while sailing to the South Georgia Island and Antarctica and I received the first ever permission from the Commissioner of South Georgia and an Admiral of the British Navy to fly several drones I carried with me. The result is a very unique footage, including some from over 1.200 meters = 4,000 feet high (at this time it was legal). On this expedition, we even helped the administration to spot and count rare seals.
My name is Achim Harald Baqué.