Daniel Kottke and Steve Jobs met at Reed College in 1972. They became friends, bonding over the seminal book on yoga and meditation “Be Here Now” and later made a trek together to India, in search of spiritual enlightment. In 1976 they even shared a house together, with Jobs’ then girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, mother of Lisa (after which the 1983 computer was named).
Kottke initially went to Columbia College studying music but after being asked by Jobs to help assemble the Apple he got interested in technology and in 1977 became officially the 12th employee of Apple Computer, Inc.
As an electrical engineer Kottke debugged circuit boards and built prototypes, working on the hardware of almost all of Apple’s first computers, including the Macintosh, as his signature in the interior of the first versions of the Mac’s case attests.
I contacted Daniel Kottke with some questions and he was so kind to answer, shedding some light on his years and colleagues he worked with at Apple.
Please keep in mind that this interview was originally conducted in 2011 and some info could be outdated.
At Apple you were responsible for hardwiring, putting together and/or testing prototypes. Can you tell us more about it? Did you work with Woz?
Well I never worked with Woz directly, hardly anyone did, probably only Randy Wiggington when they were getting the first DOS working. The Apple I and II prototypes were completely Woz’ work — what I did was to prototype lots of the Apple II expansion cards and the Apple III and the Mac.
Did you work with Macintosh hardware engineer Burrel Smith?
Yes, of course, we shared the same office for the first year or two of the Mac project (1981-2)… although like with Woz, Burrell didn’t really work ‘with’ anyone, [but] did a lot of his work late at night or at home.
Burrell wasn’t easy to work within that sense but he was immensely talented and hard-working and I was happy enough just to be part of the Mac team. My main design contribution on the Mac was the detached keyboard (hardware and software), which Ed Riddle did the primary work on and then turned over to me when he left Apple, I think in 1982.
What are your recollections of the work on the Macintosh and with the rest of the team? How hard was the schedule?
The schedule was constantly being revised, it was originally a one-year project that stretched into 3 years… during which time the team grew to 100+ people. Very exciting times though I wasn’t a primary contributor the way Burrell was… I was still learning engineering myself… lots of late nights! Very colorful team dynamics, what with Burrell and Andy Hertzfeld and Brian Howard and Steve Capps…
Andy’s book “Revolution in the Valley” documents the software side well. He pretty much left me out of the book inexplicably, saying it was covering the software not the hardware but then Burrell was featured quite a bit in the book.
What do you remember about the Apple III development?
A great deal since I built all the prototypes for that first year. That was really where I learned digital electronics. It was a complete pleasure working with Wendell Sander and Walt Broedner who were the designers of the Apple III. They would give me sketches and I’d fill in the pin numbers and details and build each new part and test it… that went on for most of a full year.
You left Apple in 1984. Why did you leave?
I really just needed a break and Apple didn’t have a sabbatical program yet so I went on an indefinite leave of absence… I’d turned 30 and had been working at Apple since college graduation in June ’77… I went on a 3 month tour around Europe which I really enjoyed… then when I got back I started getting contracting work right away so didn’t have much motivation to go back to work full-time.
Do you still own any Apple prototypes or Apple memorabilia you cherish?
When I left Apple there was no place to put the prototypes so I took them lest they end up in a dumpster. I still have the original Apple III and one of several Mac wirewrap protos that we made. Not quite accurate to say I cherish any of it but I bring them to events on occasion and expect they’ll end up at the Computerhistory.org museum eventually. I now do regret I never kept an Apple I but it didn’t seem that useful at the time once the Apple II came along!
Note: the two pictures are taken from the great DigiBarn Computer Museum website. The Apple III image, taken from a 1981 promotional leaflet, is “courtesy of Apple”. The Macintosh schematics are also copyright by Apple.
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