Rebirth of America, this is my time

Ethan Jones has actually figured out that people like Steven Levy may not really want to cause trouble for Jobs and the others. The biggest demand of these people is just to find someone to take the blame for the Altair 8800 failure. , trying to use this method to prove their innocence. After all, this valuable machine had problems in their hands.

Therefore, when Ethan Jones slammed the table and said, "I have money," Steven Levy and the others immediately fell silent. The few of them huddled together to discuss for a while, and then removed Ethan Jones and the others. Brought to the owner's home in Menlo Park.

When we arrived, the owner was not at home. After some inquiries, we found him at a nearby post office.

After a short negotiation, the owner understood their purpose and readily accepted the repair proposal.

Before taking everyone home, this guy with round cheeks said apologetically to Steve Jobs and his friends: "Oh Steve, I'm so sorry, if it wasn't for my few... It’s such a busy day and I need to sort out my personal files and mail them to SSA, so I will definitely take them apart and check the Altair.”

"I always thought it would be a small problem that could be fixed with a little time."

"Maybe the items are relatively expensive, and their emotions are a bit extreme. Please forgive me."

These words made Jobs and the others feel much more comfortable.

The other group of people pursed their lips and did not speak.

This situation also made the owner smile and turn his eyes away. When he looked at Ethan, a smile also appeared on his face.

He took the initiative to reach out and said: "Ethan Jones? The inventor of "Snake Game"? Oh~ I have read the report in the "Los Angeles Times"~ and even played the game you made~ It's great! I like it very much! It's you The game I designed was too difficult, and I spent more than ten dollars without success, which really made me sad..."

"Really? That's really a shame."

Ethan smiled and shook his hand back, saying: "Of course, thank you for liking me. Thank you for liking my game."

Since the owners are so friendly, the next step is very simple.

Returning to the owner's home, under the leadership of the other party, the group met Altair 8800 in his study.

It was an iron box about the same size as a modern computer host, but it was placed horizontally. There were many joysticks designed on the front panel, and there were one or two red indicator lights on each joystick.

After plugging in the power, under the operation of Steven Levy and his team, everyone quickly discovered the fault of the machine.

That's the third joystick from left to right, and no matter how you fiddle with it, the indicator light above it won't light up.

"We don't know whether this is a problem with the joystick or the indicator light." Steven Levy said: "Because we have not come into contact with this before and it is very expensive, so we have no way to troubleshoot it based on experience. Fault."

This fact made the owner, Gordon, nod slightly and look at Jobs' friend with sweeping eyes.

After feeling the other party's gaze, the little fat man asked directly: "Do you have a teletype machine?"

"Yes, in the next room." Gordon said.

"Then let's move Altair there." The little fat man made a decision.

Following his movements, the group of people moved to the next room. Under their gaze, the little fat man used a dark thread to connect Altair and a teletype machine. After completing this step, he He just connected the power supply to the two machines, and as he fiddled with it, the Altair's panel lights kept flashing, but unfortunately...

No matter what he did, there was no response from the teletype machine.

"Then it's not a problem with the indicator light." The little fat man said.

This result made him dismantle the machine directly.

As the screwdriver kept flying on his chubby hands, Ethan also saw clearly the inside of the microcomputer of this era.

Inside the steel box, there are five circuit boards neatly placed.

Although Ethan didn’t know what each board’s function was, the fat boy used a multimeter to check the current while mumbling the functions of each motherboard, “Parallel interface board, normal, serial interface board, normal, Teletype interface board, normal, 8080 processor board, normal, memory version... Oh Fxxk, why is the current of this thing abnormal?"

Although there was confusion in his words, his movements were faster than his mouth.

He turned off the power, pulled out the circuit board, and then asked everyone to find a desk lamp for him, and shined it on the circuit board. After some searching, he yelled: "Oh, it turns out that the solder pad has fallen off." Oh, what kind of rubbish craftsmanship is this!”

"You still want to make money with this skill? Just study for a few more years!"

The confident words prompted the owner to ask: "Did the solder pad fall off? Is the problem serious? Can it be repaired?"

"certainly!"

The little fat man shrugged and said, "Only a few solder pads have fallen off. Just re-solder them. It's done very quickly..."

"This is the memory version of 4096, it's almost three hundred dollars!" Someone expressed their concern.

The owner smiled at the man, thanking him for the reminder.

Then he said to the little fat man: "Stephen, I'm sorry to bother you."

Now that the original owner of Altair has spoken, others will naturally not say anything.

The little fat man didn't waste any time.

Take out the material and clean off the original solder.

Then reapply the solder and solder the pads to the circuit board.

A burst of green smoke drifted by, and the little fat man also reinstalled the circuit board.

After tightening the screws and connecting the teletype machine, the typewriter suddenly made a creaking sound after the little fat man fiddled with it in an orderly manner. When the long roll of paper came out of the typewriter like an earthworm, the scene also sounded. There was a burst of cheers.

"OhFxxk, is it really fixed?"

"This is incredible!"

"As expected of Stephen!"

The sudden praise made the little fat man smile proudly.

But Steve Jobs held his head high and emphasized again: "I said, this is not our problem!"

"You just slandered me!"

The words of accountability made everyone present a little embarrassed, and Ethan, who witnessed all this, patted Jobs on the shoulder.

"Steve, I don't think they did it on purpose. No matter who it is, after discovering that a valuable thing is broken, they will try their best to find the person responsible. This behavior has nothing to do with right or wrong, it is just a person's instinct. Instinct that cannot be changed.”

The guys who had previously accused Jobs looked stiff.

He opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but no one succeeded.

This look made Jobs snort and glance at his friend. After seeing the little fat man shaking his head, he said: "Since Ethan is speaking for you and Stephen doesn't want to pursue this matter, then this time Let you go!"

"I'm telling you, if you talk nonsense next time, I will smash your car right away!"

"If you don't believe it, you can come and try it!"

"Let's see which one is stronger, my fist or your head!"

Hearing the threat like a street kid made Ethan dumbfounded.

After waving his hands and saying goodbye to everyone, he pulled Jobs and the others out of the owner's home.

And just when Ethan was wondering why Steve Jobs had such a big temper.

The guy who regained his innocence laughed, opened his arms, and hugged Ethan.

"Oh Ethan~ Thank you~ Actually I didn't want to fight with them, but their words were too much. If you hadn't suddenly appeared, I think we might not have been able to solve this problem for a while."

'so? ’

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he had become the good old man he hated most.

However, before Jobs could finish his words, the fat man beside him said, "It can actually be solved."

This statement attracted the attention of the two people.

"Like Ethan said, just pay, I can afford it."

‘? ’

The extremely simple answer made Ethan Jones' eyes twitch.

Steve Jobs rolled his eyes and punched him angrily, "Oh! Fxxk! Are you sick? You can't pay for this kind of thing! Compensating means we admit our mistakes! But We made no mistakes!”

"But who cares?"

The little fat man spread his hands and said, "It's not like I haven't made compensation before. If paying money can solve the problem, then I will gladly accept it, because then we won't waste so much time."

‘…’

The indifferent attitude would have choked Steve Jobs half to death.

After staring at his friend for a long time, he waved his hand and admitted defeat.

"Ethan, I'm sorry, this guy has this kind of character, don't take it to heart."

At the same time, he explained happily: "Don't think I look like a gangster, but what he did is actually worse than me. When I met him, he showed off his achievements to me. What can I say? When I was in middle school, I made a bomb and tried to blow up the school. Of course, it was a fake bomb that used an electronic metronome to simulate the sound of a bomb!"

"When I was in college, I made some kind of signal jammer and blocked all the public signals in the school! Then I hid on the edge of the signal tower. When someone came to repair it, he turned off the jammer and the repairman left. After that, he turned on the shield again and directly staged a real ghost movie for all the teachers and students in the school!"

At this point, Steve Jobs shook his head.

Ethan, on the other hand, looked at the little fat man full of surprise, "Wow~ Brother, are you so powerful?"

Ethan's surprise made the little fat man show a proud look on his face, "Yes! I did all of these!"

"Then can I be lucky enough to know your name?" Ethan asked with a smile.

"Of course!" The little fat man raised his eyebrows, and then added, "If you really think I'm awesome."

"Hahaha~"

The little fat man's narcissistic behavior made Ethan laugh and nod, "Oh~ I think after hearing your deeds, no one will not give a thumbs up for your excellence. After all, the idea of ​​bombing the school should be considered by everyone. Everyone has it, but only you really explode. When the sound of Boom~ sounds, the feeling should be very good!"

"Oh~Oh~Oh~Ethan~~I like your description~"

The little fat man's round face was full of wrinkles when he smiled.

Not only that, he also happily exposed his three layers of chin.

The corners of his eyes raised, and he stretched out his right hand.

The little fat man said happily: "Since you think I did a great job, then we will definitely become friends."

"Like Steve, my name is Steve, but his last name is Steve Jobs, and mine is Wozniak, so for the sake of distinction, you can call me Stephen. ), or Woz, but none of that matters, right? No matter what you call me, as long as I know you're calling me, that's enough."

Thanks to [book friend 20221023233116964] for the 100 starting coins.

Note: ① Steve Wozniak's name is quite interesting, because he has three names. His birth certificate is 'Stephan Gary Wozniak', but his mother said that she wanted to name him 'Stephen' at the time. Later, this name became the name that people close to him called him. But after playing with Steve Jobs, because the two names had similar pronunciations, everyone who knew them later called them 'Steve', which is Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs' Steve, and called them both 'Steves'. As soon as Wozniak heard that the name was acceptable, he kept spelling it like this, even in formal occasions. When he published a book, his official website, and Wikipedia, he spelled it like this.

Think of Steve Wozniak as the most correct name, and in his own words, it was his friendship with Steve Jobs, and the name on his birth certificate was never used.