iWoz by Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith Page B
Authors: Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith
Tags: Biography & Memoir
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that it had 256 bytes of RAM. (That's about the size in memory a word processor would take today to store this very sentence.)
RAM chips were almost unheard of at this time. Back then, almost all computers had a type of memory called "magnetic core memories." When you dealt with them, you had to deal with messy voltages to spike the right currents down the wires, the wires that had to go into these little round magnetic cores that looked like tiny donuts you needed a magnifying glass even to see. This was definitely not the type of electronics I had in mind. With RAM chips, though, you just plug them in and connect them to the CPU, the brain of the computer. You connect them to the processor with wires and that's that. So, as you can see, I was extremely lucky to get those eight chips that added up to 256 bytes. And as I said, even then you couldn't do much of anything in that small a space.
• o •
What Is RAM?
RAM, short for random-access memory, was a new type of computer storage back in 1970. These are chips whose contents can be accessed in any (i.e., random) order. All computers today have RAM chips inside to store data—not permanently, but while your computer is on and you're working. When the computer shuts down, the contents of RAM goes away.
That's why you need to save your programs to disk.
One day my mom called the Peninsula Times newspaper and told them about the Cream Soda Computer. A reporter came over and asked some questions about it and took some pictures. But just as he was finishing, he accidentally stepped on the power supply cable and blew out the computer. The Cream Soda actually smoked! But the article ran anyway, and that was pretty cool.
But you know what? I knew deep inside that it didn't matter that I had built this computer. It didn't matter because the computer couldn't do anything useful. It couldn't play games, it couldn't solve math problems. It had way too little memory. The only important thing was that finally, finally, I'd been able to actually build a computer. My very first one. It was an extraordinary milestone in that sense.
Five years later, companies would be building and selling computer kits that were just about at this level—they had the same amount of memory and the same awkward front panel of lights and switches.
Looking back, I see the Cream Soda Computer as kind of a jumping-off point for me. And I got there early.
• o •
One other thing: the Cream Soda Computer turned out to be the way I first met Steve Jobs. I was four years ahead of him in school so I didn't know him; he was closer to Bill Fernandez's age. But one day Bill told me, "Hey, there's someone you should meet. His name is Steve. He likes to do pranks like you do, and he's also into building electronics like you are."
So one day—it was daytime, I remember—Bill called Steve and had him come over to his house. I remember Steve and I just sat on the sidewalk in front of Bill's house for the longest time, just sharing stories—mostly about pranks we'd pulled, and also what kind of electronic designs we'd done. It felt like we had so much in common. Typically, it was really hard for me to explain
to people the kind of design stuff I worked on, but Steve got it right away. And I liked him. He was kind of skinny and wiry and full of energy.
So Steve came into the garage and saw the computer (this was before it blew up) and listened to our description of it. I could tell he was impressed. I mean, we'd actually built a computer from scratch and proved that it was possible—or going to be possible—for people to have computers in a really small space.
Steve and I got close right away, even though he was still in high school, remember, and lived about a mile away in Los Altos. I lived in Sunnyvale. Bill was right—we two Steves did have a lot in common. We talked electronics, we talked about music we liked, and we traded stories about pranks we'd pulled. We even pulled a few together.
• o •
When I met
RAM chips were almost unheard of at this time. Back then, almost all computers had a type of memory called "magnetic core memories." When you dealt with them, you had to deal with messy voltages to spike the right currents down the wires, the wires that had to go into these little round magnetic cores that looked like tiny donuts you needed a magnifying glass even to see. This was definitely not the type of electronics I had in mind. With RAM chips, though, you just plug them in and connect them to the CPU, the brain of the computer. You connect them to the processor with wires and that's that. So, as you can see, I was extremely lucky to get those eight chips that added up to 256 bytes. And as I said, even then you couldn't do much of anything in that small a space.
• o •
What Is RAM?
RAM, short for random-access memory, was a new type of computer storage back in 1970. These are chips whose contents can be accessed in any (i.e., random) order. All computers today have RAM chips inside to store data—not permanently, but while your computer is on and you're working. When the computer shuts down, the contents of RAM goes away.
That's why you need to save your programs to disk.
One day my mom called the Peninsula Times newspaper and told them about the Cream Soda Computer. A reporter came over and asked some questions about it and took some pictures. But just as he was finishing, he accidentally stepped on the power supply cable and blew out the computer. The Cream Soda actually smoked! But the article ran anyway, and that was pretty cool.
But you know what? I knew deep inside that it didn't matter that I had built this computer. It didn't matter because the computer couldn't do anything useful. It couldn't play games, it couldn't solve math problems. It had way too little memory. The only important thing was that finally, finally, I'd been able to actually build a computer. My very first one. It was an extraordinary milestone in that sense.
Five years later, companies would be building and selling computer kits that were just about at this level—they had the same amount of memory and the same awkward front panel of lights and switches.
Looking back, I see the Cream Soda Computer as kind of a jumping-off point for me. And I got there early.
• o •
One other thing: the Cream Soda Computer turned out to be the way I first met Steve Jobs. I was four years ahead of him in school so I didn't know him; he was closer to Bill Fernandez's age. But one day Bill told me, "Hey, there's someone you should meet. His name is Steve. He likes to do pranks like you do, and he's also into building electronics like you are."
So one day—it was daytime, I remember—Bill called Steve and had him come over to his house. I remember Steve and I just sat on the sidewalk in front of Bill's house for the longest time, just sharing stories—mostly about pranks we'd pulled, and also what kind of electronic designs we'd done. It felt like we had so much in common. Typically, it was really hard for me to explain
to people the kind of design stuff I worked on, but Steve got it right away. And I liked him. He was kind of skinny and wiry and full of energy.
So Steve came into the garage and saw the computer (this was before it blew up) and listened to our description of it. I could tell he was impressed. I mean, we'd actually built a computer from scratch and proved that it was possible—or going to be possible—for people to have computers in a really small space.
Steve and I got close right away, even though he was still in high school, remember, and lived about a mile away in Los Altos. I lived in Sunnyvale. Bill was right—we two Steves did have a lot in common. We talked electronics, we talked about music we liked, and we traded stories about pranks we'd pulled. We even pulled a few together.
• o •
When I met
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