Silentype

The Silentype, stylized as silentype, is the first printer to be marketed by Apple Computer. It was announced in June 1979 and became available in March 1980 for users of Apple II series computers.

Description
The Silentype derived its name from its very quiet operation, which was made possible through. It was based on a rebranded Trendcom 200 printer; the company also produced a narrower Trendcom 100 printer for the Apple II. An Apple II expansion card was made available to provide a serial interface to connect to the printer. The Apple III included these serial ports, which were labelled for use by joysticks.

Development
Writing the firmware of the Silentype was the first project of Apple engineer Andy Hertzfeld. The controller board had been redesigned by Apple to eliminate costly electronics and to move processing duties into the Apple II computer. The Silentype also lacked the vents from the original Trendcom 200 design, which was consistent with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs insisting on the removal of vents from products because they were "not elegant".