World's smallest Apple IIe replica is 3D printed, uses $2 microcontroller

Tiny Apple Potato: While criminals are working hard to turn retro gaming into a viable (though unlawful) business venture, law-abiding fans of everything retro are using 3D printers to replicate their favorite classic machines. The Adventures in Retro Computing (ARC) channel created a fully-functional, micro-sized Apple IIe model, which the YouTuber said would be a perfect gift for vintage computer enthusiasts and 3D printing hobbyists.

A YouTube channel focused on retro computing is showcasing a unique Apple IIe replica. The 3D printed, microcontroller-based "computer" has been described as the smallest working Apple II computer by many outlets, and deservedly so.

According to comments ARC provided in his video, the replica effort is based on an ESP8266 microcontroller, manufactured by the Shanghai-based company Espressif Systems. Espressif began selling the chip in 2014 as a low-cost Wi-Fi microcontroller with built-in TCP/IP networking capabilities. The chip costs just a few dollars and proved to be quite popular within the "maker" community – so much so that Espressif had to translate its Chinese documentation and software SDK into English to cater to a larger audience.

The ESP8266 chip includes a 32-bit RISC microprocessor core running at 80 or 160 MHz, 80 KiB of user-data RAM, and support for several expansion interfaces, such as 17 GPIO pins, SPI, and UART. ARC used an Apple II emulator, created a few years ago for the ESP8266, and added a "proper" screen (taken from an Apple Watch), two USB ports, and a rechargeable battery.

The mini Apple IIe is "100 percent compatible and usable," ARC said, with proper support for SD card readers, allowing Apple II disk image files to run. The device, manufactured by MFA Shop in Hong Kong, uses a 3D-printed case based on an option8 design. The original design was later modified and resized to accommodate the screen and a mockup of two floppy drives.

Adventures in Retro Computing plans to produce a few units of the Apple IIe and sell them, though no pricing information has been provided yet. The Apple II replica was introduced to the public a few days ago during the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 19 in Chicago.

The real Apple IIe was the third model in the Apple II series of home computers developed by Cupertino. Released in 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus, it had quite a run during its 11 years on the market. The IIe is considered the longest-lived computer in Apple's history, and it can now even be emulated on a 30-year-old toaster, thanks to its 6502 (or 65C02) CPU running at 1.023 MHz.