Serial #216 (John2)

Provinence:  John Blankenbaker never sold this computer - he kept it in his attic along with 2 others until he heard about The Computer Museum in Boston hosting a contest to find early personal computers in 1986.  He was not actively following computer news, so only heard about this through his long term friend, Montgomery Phister.  He needed to find a working computer, so went through his attic and got this one.  The other two were his prototype, and a non-working one.  So he shipped this off to Boston to enter their contest.  The Computer Museum in Boston kept this on display until they closed in 1999, and this computer, along with much of their collection, was sent to the upcoming "Computer History Museum" in Mountain View, California.  Somewhere between the time it was donated in 1986, to the time it was in storage in Moffat Field, California, awaiting the finishing of the new museum, the aluminum handles on the sides were lost.  Below is a photo taken in 2001 by Bruce Dahmer of Digibarn, showing it in it's old aircraft hanger storage, without the handles.  These handles were finally replaced with "true-to-life" reproductions in February, 2023, and it remains a prominent part of the museums permanent collection. 

This is labeled on the back the serial number 216 sticker, suggesting it was the very last of the run of 50 computers (numbered 167 to 216.)  However, close internal examination shows it was actually one of the very first computers he made.  It is one of only two very early "Revision A" printed circuit boards, produced right after the prototype, and before the "Revision B" production machines.  Neither of the two "Rev A" were ever sold to customers.  And while his production machines usually had the serial number stamped on the printed circuit board and labeled on the back, this computer doesn't have any number stamped on the circuit board.  It seems most likely that Blankenbaker applied his last serial number sticker just before he mailed it to Boston, to make it look complete.

Through the generosity of the Computer History Museum, they sent several professional high resolution photos for use on this web site.  I especially thank Aurora Tucker who put up with many questions and requests.