FIND] Original Lisa 1 (Twiggy) from Apple Engineer’s estate – French AZERTY unit

[Grimftw]

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out to this community to share and get advice on a very special machine. I recently recovered my father’s Apple Lisa 1 from 1983. He was an engineer at Apple France, and this machine was part of his personal collection.

The Specs:

* Original Twiggy setup: Dual 5.25" drives (dated July 11, 1983) with the correct Lisa 1 bezel and State ROM (341-0138).

* Localization: Fully French AZERTY model, including the "Tall-boy" mouse.

* Extensions: Includes a Parallel Interface card (A6BB101) and an external Apple ProFile hard drive.

* Software: A complete library in French on both original Twiggy disks and 3.5" disks (Lisa Office System).

Current Condition:

The machine was working perfectly when last stored about 15 years ago. I recently pulled the cards and noticed some battery leakage on the I/O board (near R29-R33). I have already removed the NiCad batteries and performed a preliminary neutralization with white vinegar to stop the acid. The CPU and RAM boards look very clean.

I would love your expert feedback on the following:

* Assessment: Based on the photos, what do you think of the general state of conservation, especially the I/O board?

* Preservation: What are your top recommendations for storing or cleaning it further to prevent any more damage?

* The "To Sell or Not to Sell" dilemma: Given its rarity (Twiggy + AZERTY + Engineer provenance), does it make sense to have it professionally restored before a sale, or is it better to sell it "as-is" to a collector who wants to do the work themselves?

* Restoration: Who would you recommend for high-end restoration for a machine of this caliber?

I’ve attached some photos of the boards, the Twiggy drives, and the software. Looking forward to your insights!

Best regards,

Stephane.

 

[stepleton]

Congratulations on your rare find! You have had some very good luck, although if this was part of settling your father's affairs (as you've said "was") then my condolences.

I am not so certain of how to advise about preparing this computer for sale. Treating the corrosion damage was a good thing to do, but a fair amount of cleaning will remain. The motherboard and I/O boards look distressed but recoverable at a glance, but they will be a project. Whether you undertake this yourself should depend on your assessment of your own skills and the equipment you have to hand. That said, none of the logic boards you need to fix are uniquely and distinctively Lisa 1 boards: they are basically the same boards as what you find in a Lisa 2/5. It would be preferable if you could restore these boards skillfully and with a minimum of cosmetic damage, but they are not as irreplaceable as your Twiggy drives.

You may wish to look around for the Lisa 1 front faceplate, which you will need if you want to fit your Twiggy drives and close up the front of the machine. These faceplates are worth quite a lot in their own right, if you are considering selling the system.

The Twiggy drives are the most collectable single component, with drive cage pairs like yours fetching high prices by themselves even without verification of their function. Naturally you should look after those. An operating computer would be necessary to tell if they work, of course.

From a hardware perspective, the only aspect of this Lisa that is uniquely French is the keyboard. Everything else is the same as it would be in any market (EXCEPT for the power supply; see note in follow-up post). What the Lisa would do on boot is query the keyboard for its language: if it said it was a French keyboard, then the system would know that it should be French. If you swapped in an American keyboard and used American software, then the machine would give no hint of once being French.

The software is another story. So far as I know (although I could well be wrong), there is NO archived copy of version 1 of the French-localised Office System (as found on your Twiggy disks, version 1.1F). It would be a service to archive these disks onto modern media. I would be happy to help you with this. I live in the UK and have the equipment to read the disks, though like many Twiggies they have likely degraded somewhat in the past 43-or-so years. If you are in North America I can put you in touch with someone there who has done a lot of archival work himself.

You may wish to save the contents of your father's hard drives. As he was an Apple engineer, there may additionally be details of the Lisa story on the drives as well, if you were interested in sharing those. I am happy to help you out with this, too.

The ROM IC is the I/O ROM for operating the Lisa with the Twiggy drives fitted; it will have been replaced with the ROM that is currently on your I/O board in order to support the 3.5" drive. Some resistors will also need to be restored to the I/O board if you wish to revert this Lisa to being a Lisa 1.

Returning to your keyboard: the foam-and-foil key pads in its Key Tronic-supplied mechanism will have largely perished by now. You will need to source some replacements, for which most people go to TexElec. Though you can fabricate them yourself if you wish.

I can't really speak to preservation and reconditioning of the metal frame: it's not something I've ever had to do. It is probably advisable, but if I stumbled across this computer I would consider that a "get round to it" item while fixing the electronics would be my top priority.

I hope this is helpful. There is always more to say, but for now, congratulations again on your find.

 

[stepleton]

Important addendum, as I incorrectly indicated that there is no hardware distinction between this machine and an American (or other market) Lisa except for the keyboard: I forgot about the power supply!

Do not attempt to plug your French Lisa into an American wall outlet --- your Lisa wants 220-240 VAC, not American 115 VAC.

If you need to plug your Lisa into the 115 VAC mains, it is possible to adapt your power supply to this, but it will not be ready for that out of the box.

 

[luRaichu]

Yeah this member is in France I'd think they'd be hard pressed to find 120 volt mains