Power Source
Wozniak, whose passion was the circuitry, didn't concern himself with the issue of heat. But the power source necessary to keep all those circuits functioning can make a lot of heat, and that can require a fan, a low-tech contraption in itself, to disperse said heat. Steve Jobs thought fans an inelegant solution, and looked for someone who could come up with a better one.
Rod Holt is credited (for example in the Walter Isaacson biography of Jobs) with the solution. Holt employed a Switched-mode power supply design. This generated far less unwanted heat than a linear power supply, which most other home computers of the time used.
Isaacson quotes Wozniak saying that this was not something he could have done. "I only knew vaguely what a switching power supply was."
Read more about this topic: Apple II
Famous quotes containing the words power and/or source:
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