Private website of Achim Baqué

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.



Apple-1 Registry

Visit the Apple-1 Registry.



My original Apple-1 computers

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.

PSA provided a certificate of authenticity. It is even possible to validate the authentication online.

Classic Computer Museum

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.


Sharing my passion for vintage computers

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's former website kenbak-1.net

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.

Visit the Kenbak-1 Registry.

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.


Space and Astronomy

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.

Some examples of my work

Footage: pond5shutterstock
Stock photography: shutterstockadobe stock / fotolia



Time-lapse

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.






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.





About me

Achim BaquéMy name is Achim Harald Baqué.
I was born in 1968 in former Western Germany where I live and work most of the time.






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.



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.



A few pictures

Some pictures of vintage computung.
Some travel / private pictures.




Contact

E-Mail