Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 44 i Woz
Ethan Jones had actually already realized that Steven Levy and his group might not really want to cause trouble for Jobs and his group. Their biggest demand was simply to find someone to scapegoat for the failure of Altair 8800, attempting to prove their innocence in this way. After all, it was in their hands that problems arose in this valuable machine.

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

When they arrived, the owner was not at home. After some asking around, they found him in a nearby post office.

After a brief negotiation, the owner understood their intention and gladly accepted the proposal to repair it.

Before taking everyone home, the chubby-cheeked guy apologized to Steve Jobs and his friends, "Oh, Steve, I'm so sorry. If I hadn't been so busy these days and needed to get my personal files in order and mail them to the SSA, I would have taken the Altair apart for inspection."

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

"Maybe because the items are quite valuable, their emotions were a bit extreme, please forgive me."

After hearing these words, Jobs and others felt much more relieved.

The other group of people pursed their lips and said nothing.

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

He took the initiative to extend his hand and said, "Ethan Jones? The inventor of Snake Game? Oh, I've read the report in the Los Angeles Times and played the game you made. It's great! I like it very much! But the game you designed is a little too difficult. I spent more than ten dollars but didn't succeed. This really makes me sad..."

"Really? That's really a pity."

Ethan smiled and shook my hand back, saying, "Of course, thank you for liking it, and thank you for liking my game."

Since the owner is so friendly, the next step is very simple.

After returning to the owner's home, under his guidance, the group met Altair 8800 in his study.

It was an iron box about the same size as a modern computer mainframe, but it was placed horizontally. There were many joysticks designed on the front panel, and there was 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 found the problem with the machine.

That is the third joystick from the left to the right, and no matter how you fiddle with it, the indicator light on top will not light up.

"We don't know if it's a problem with the joystick or the indicator light," said Steven Levy. "Because we haven't come across this before and it's very expensive, we can't use our experience to troubleshoot it."

This fact made the owner Gordon nod slightly, and he looked at Jobs' friend with clear eyes.

After feeling the other person's gaze, the fat man asked directly: "Do you have a teletypewriter?"

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

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

Following his actions, the group moved to the next room. Under their gaze, the fat man used a black wire to connect Altair to a teletypewriter. After completing this step, he connected the two machines to power. As he fiddled with them, the indicator light on Altair's panel 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." said the little fat man.

This result made him dismantle the machine directly.

As the screwdriver continued to fly in his slightly plump hands, Ethan also got a clear look at the inside of the microcomputer of that era.

Inside the steel box, five circuit boards were neatly arranged.

Although Ethan didn't know what each board did, the fat guy was still mumbling about the function of each motherboard while checking the current with a multimeter. "Parallel interface board, normal, serial interface board, normal, teletypewriter interface board, normal, 8080 processor board, normal, memory board...Oh Fxxk, why is the current of this thing abnormal?"

Although there was some doubt in his words, his actions were faster than his mouth.

He turned off the power, pulled out the main circuit board, and motioned for everyone to find a desk lamp and shine it on the circuit board. After searching for a while, he shouted, "Oh, it turns out that the solder pad has fallen off. What a rubbish job!"

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

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

"Of course!"

The fat guy shrugged and said, "Only a few pads are broken off. Just re-solder them. It's quick to do..."

"This is the 4096 memory version, and it costs almost three hundred dollars!" Someone expressed his concern.

The owner smiled at the man, as a way of thanking him for the reminder.

Then he said to the fat boy, "Stephen, please help me."

Since the original owner of Altair has spoken, naturally no one else will say anything.

The fat boy didn't waste any time.

Take out the material and clean off the original solder.

Then reapply solder to solder the pad to the circuit board.

A puff of green smoke drifted by, and the fat man reinstalled the circuit board.

After tightening the screws and connecting the teletypewriter, the fat boy fiddled with it in an orderly manner and the typewriter suddenly made a creaking sound. When a long roll of paper came out of the typewriter like an earthworm, cheers were heard at the scene.

"Oh Fuck, it's really fixed?"

"This is incredible!"

“As expected of Stephen!”

The sudden praise made the fat boy smile proudly.

Steve Jobs raised his head and emphasized again: "I said, this is not our problem!" "You just slandered me!"

The words of accountability made everyone present feel a little awkward, but Ethan, who witnessed it all, patted Jobs on the shoulder.

"Steve, I don't think they did it on purpose. No matter who it is, when they find that a valuable item 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, an instinct that cannot be changed."

The guys who had previously accused Jobs froze.

They opened their mouths and tried to speak, but no one succeeded in making a sound.

This look made Jobs snort lightly, and he glanced at his friend. After seeing the fat man shaking his head, he said, "Since Ethan is speaking for you and Stephen doesn't want to pursue this matter, I'll let you go this time!"

"I'm telling you, if you keep talking nonsense next time, I'll just smash your car!"

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

"Let me see which is harder, my fist or your head!"

Ethan didn't know whether to laugh or cry when hearing the street urchin's threats.

He waved his hand and said goodbye to everyone, then he took Jobs and the others away from the owner's house.

Just as Ethan was wondering why Steve Jobs had such a bad temper.

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

"Oh Ethan~ Thank you~ Actually I don't want to fight with them, it's just that their words were too much. If you hadn't suddenly appeared, I think we might not be able to solve this problem for a while."

'so?'

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he had become the nice guy he hated the most.

However, before Jobs finished speaking, the fat boy next to him said, "It can actually be solved."

This statement attracted the attention of the two people.

"Like Ethan said, as long as I lose money, I can afford it."

'? '

Such an extremely simple answer made Ethan Jones' eyes twitch.

Steve Jobs rolled his eyes and punched him in anger, "Oh! Fxxk! Are you sick? We can't pay for this kind of thing! Paying money means we admit our mistakes! But we didn't make any mistakes!"

"But who cares?"

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

'...'

This indifferent attitude almost choked Steve Jobs to death.

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

"Ethan, I'm sorry, this guy is just like that, don't take it personally."

At the same time, he explained with his hands and feet dancing, "Don't look at me like a gangster, but what he did was actually worse than mine. When I met him, he boasted to me about his achievements. He said that he made a bomb in middle school 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 a signal jammer and blocked all public signals in the school! Then I hid next to the signal tower. When someone came to repair it, I turned off the jammer. After the repairman left, I turned it on again, and performed a real-life movie of ghosts for the whole school!"

At this point, Steve Jobs just shook his head.

Ethan looked at the little fat boy with surprise, "Wow~ Brother, are you so awesome?"

Ethan's surprise made the little fat boy look proud, "Yes! I did all this!"

"May I have the honor of knowing 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 fat boy's narcissistic behavior made Ethan laugh and nod. "Oh~ I think, after hearing about your deeds, no one will fail to give you a thumbs up for your excellence. After all, everyone should have had the idea of ​​blowing up a school, but only when you really blow it up, when the sound of Boom~ is heard, that feeling should be very great!"

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

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

Not only that, he happily showed off his triple chin.

He raised his eyes and stretched out his right hand.

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

"Like Steve, my name is also Steve, but his last name is Jobs and mine is Wozniak, so, to make it easier to distinguish, you can call me Stephen or Woz, but it doesn't matter, right? No matter what you call me, as long as I know you are calling me, that's enough."

Thanks to [book friend 20221023233116964] for the reward of 100 Qidian coins.

Note: ①Steve Wozniak's name is quite interesting, because he has three names. On his birth certificate, it is 'Stephan Gary Wozniak', but his mother said that she wanted to give him 'Stephen' at the time, and later this name became the name that people close to him called him. But after hanging out with Jobs, because the two names sounded similar, people who knew them later called them 'Steve', that is, Steve Jobs' Steve, and called them two 'Steves'. Wozniak thought this name was okay, and then he kept spelling it that way, even in formal occasions. When he published books, established his own official website, and established Wikipedia, he used it.

Steve Wozniak is considered the most correct name, and in his own words, it is his friendship with Jobs, and the name on his birth certificate has never been used.

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(End of this chapter)