The Last Apple Lisa Dealer: Inside the History, Hacks & Hardware with John Woodall

From the Apple Lisa documentary film, "Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa" Watch the film at no cost:    • The Apple Lisa: The Machine That Invented ...   In this exclusive interview, John Woodall of VintageMicros.com shares his journey as "The Last Lisa Dealer," offering a deep dive into the historical significance, hardware nuances, and community preservation efforts surrounding the Apple Lisa. John recounts his first encounter with a $9,000+ Lisa 1 in the mid-1980s, his transition to affordable setups through Sun Remarketing, and how he eventually built a massive operation refurbishing and selling over 150 Lisa systems. He tackles long-debated vintage tech questions, including the technical difference between a Lisa 2/10 and a Macintosh XL, and details the visual consequences of the infamous "screen mod." Finally, John shares how he partnered with engineers like James MacPhail to create the solid-state X-Profile and details ongoing efforts with Sapient Technologies to completely recreate and preserve Apple Lisa hardware for future generations. [00:13] The Leap from Command Lines to a Bitmapped Miracle [01:03] Encountering a $9,000 Lisa 1 & Sun Remarketing Saved the Day [02:25] Living with the Lisa as a Primary Home Computer in the '80s [03:59] Dual Booting: Lisa Office System vs. Early Mac Works [04:53] Repackaging the Failure: The Rise and Fall of the Macintosh XL Sticker [06:01] The $10,000 Pricing Killer & Cancelled Apple Enhancements [07:09] Becoming a Competitor: Buying Out Groups of Abandoned Lisas [08:40] Scoring Massive Stock from the Carrollton, Texas Apple Plant [09:25] Buying Out Sun Remarketing & Storing 150+ Computer Systems [10:13] Refurbishing the Lisa: Rectangular vs. Square Pixels and the "Screen Mod" [11:24] Solving the Floppy Drive Nightmare: 400K, 800K, and the Copal Drive [12:38] How the Macintosh was Inarguably a Derivative of the Lisa [13:48] Partnering with James MacPhail & Running System 7 via MacWorks Plus II [15:13] Eliminating the Noisy Widget: Co-Inventing the Solid-State X-Profile [16:38] Preserving the Hardware: Sapient Technologies Project to Recreate Lisa Motherboards [17:59] Demystifying the Hardware: Lisa 1 vs. Lisa 2 vs. Macintosh XL [20:58] The Dealer Screen Mod Kit: Eliminating Lisa Office Support Forever #AppleLisa #ComputerHistory #DanKeller #DavidGreelish #VintageTech #AppleHistory #RetroComputing #Documentary #MacintoshOrigins #GUI #TechHistory #apple50