I
f circumstanceshadbeena little
different,engineerEdSmithcouldhave
beena householdname.In the1970s,
Smithlefttheimpoverishedprojectsof
Brownsville,Brooklyn,toenteranelectronics
careerthatwouldseehimattemptingtogotoe
totoewiththelikesofAtariandApplein the
homecomputerbusiness.Hisworkonthe
APFImaginationMachine,though,is largely
unremembered,whichSmithhopestoaddress
withthisbookonthesubject.
If you’relookingfora detailedanalysisofthe
ImaginationMachineandthecartridge-based
MP1000gamesconsole– codenamed‘Spock’
- whichprecededit, however,you’vepicked
upthewrongbook.Thisisn’ta bookaboutthe
ImaginationMachine;it’sa bookaboutSmith,
andhisplacein anindustryin which– tothis
day– African-Americanengineersarewoefully
underrepresented.
In the140-pageself-publishedtome,the
MP1000’sdevelopmentisn’tstarteduntil
p68,andbyp84,thedevicehasshipped.The
ImaginationMachine,anadd-onsystemthat
wouldturntheMP1000intoa fullyfledged
homecomputer,beginsdevelopmentonp85
andlaunchesonp93.
Oneparticularanecdotestandsout:Smith,
returning from his career in electronics and proud
of what he had achieved that day, is mugged at
gunpoint at the transit terminal for a week’s pay
and an LCD wristwatch.
Smith’s autobiography is difficult reading, but
not entirely owing to its content. The book is self-
published through Amazon’s print-on-demand
service, and doesn’t appear to have had the
benefit of professional editing, typesetting, layout
or even proofing. The book is set in a tiring sans-
serif font and written as one long document;
chapters flow into each other with nothing more
than a bold line to separate them.
There are multiple typographical errors,
heavily pixelated (and often uncredited) images,
spelling mistakes and, more concerningly, factual
errors. It’s easy to overlook Smith’s reference
to Atari co-founder ‘Norman’ Bushnell – it’s not
the first time Nolan Bushnell has been referred
to as such – but it’s harder to overlook his claim
that Apple’s Steve Wozniak left Apple following
the release of the Apple IIe in 1983, when his
departure actually came in 1985 after the release
of both the Apple Lisa and Macintosh.
Smith’s story is interesting and certainly
worth telling; a second edition, fact-checked
and edited, would be easy to recommend.
Imagine That! is available to buy now from
amazon.co.uk for £9.16 (VAT exempt.).CUSTOMISATION / HOBBY TECH
REVIEW
Imagine That!
That’s not to say there aren’t interesting
snippets of detail to be found in those scant few
pages. Smith’s approach to storytelling is like that
of a friendly uncle, heavy on personal anecdotes
and diverging frequently from the central
topic, but fundamentally honest. Smith has no
hesitation in admitting to acting as a kind of Robin
Hood figure for his friends and family back in
the Brownsville projects, liberating around 20
MP1000 consoles the company had taken as
returns. He personally refurbished them before
walking them out in his briefcase and distributing
to people who, in many cases, were getting their
first taste of microprocessor technology.
Smith is also very clear about his role in the
development of both machines, and the wildly
unsuccessful Imagination Machine II follow-up –
much reverse-engineering of existing products,
from the Fairchild Channel F to the Apple II.
The bulk of the book, however, is about
Smith’s life both before the Imagination Machine
and afterwards. For those who didn’t grow up in
Brooklyn’s projects in the 1970s, there’s tough
reading to be found. Smith talks about growing
up in an area ‘riddled with troubles’, ranging from
aggressive white police to gangs that would turn
the area ‘into a warzone during blackouts’.Gareth Halfacree is a keen computer hobbyist, journalist, and author. His work can be found at freelance.halfacree.co.uk @ghalfacree
Imagine That! is a fascinating story, and one that
deserves to be told with considerably more polishThe book’s infrequent imagery is, at its worst,
almost entirely illegible – and always uncredited