Posted on 04/02/2011 6:34:03 AM PDT by Clint Williams
harrymcc writes
"This Sunday is the thirtieth anniversary of the announcement of the Osborne 1 — the first mass-produced mobile computer. For years, Osborne has been most famous for its failure, traditionally blamed on the company having preannounced new products before they were available. But that's not the whole story — and Adam Osborne, its founder, was a fascinating figure who deserves to be remembered."
I remember.
The Osborne was an up grade from the Sinclair I was using.
Ah, yes
Great post.
SPECIFICATIONS:
| NAME | Visual Commuter Computer |
| MANUFACTURER | Visual Technology |
| TYPE | Luggable Business Computer |
| ORIGIN | USA |
| YEAR | 1983 |
| LAST RUN | 1986 |
| QUANTITY BUILT | |
| OPERATING SYSTEM | MS-DOS 2.11 |
| CPU | 8088 |
| SPEED | |
| RAM | 512Kb |
| ROM | |
| TEXT MODES | 16 or 15 line LCD display |
| GRAPHIC MODES | CGA Color Graphics, Composite video |
| I/O PORTS | (2) serial, parallel, IBM port |
| POWER SUPPLY | |
| PRICE | $999.00, when bundled with monochrome (amber) CRT monitor and Silver-Reed daisywheel printer |
I used a Kaypro. Supported my customers remotely.
I think the BIOS was 4KB, not the main memory.
But even the Xerox NoteTaker (upon which it was based, and prototyped years earlier) had 128KB, IIRC.
“I think the BIOS was 4KB, not the main memory.”
You must be right: I didn’t read the full article until after my post and it said 64KB. I’m assuming the reporter’s fact-checking is far superior to my memory. What I do remember is the process of having to swap out disks and the sometimes painfully slow process of its writing to those old 5-1/4” floppies.
The Osborne was my first computer. Tied it to a Royal electronic typewriter with a custom-built RS-232 connection. I was an admin clerk in the USAF then. It was the first computer system at the squadron level that inspectors had ever seen. They would come to my office, watch me work and ask questions about it. I never stood a real inspection after I got that computer.
Yeah, but the Kaypro had a 9" screen, was hundreds of early 80s dollars cheaper, and had other capabilities that exceeded the Osborne I. The IBM lasted longer in competing against "clones," but that was with the business market that Osborne couldn't crack with things like single-sided, single-density drives and little RAM.
What an amazing achievement; what an amazing failure.
And they were SS/SD floppies, too!
But then again, I have to catch myself and remember that it was better than casette tape, paper tape, or cards. It almost seems like technology improvements have slowed down since then, as those were really huge advancements.
I still have my PCjr. with monitor and memory sidecard, along with games. Maybe I could get some $$$$ for it?
...and it still mumbles incoherently...
I still have an original 128K Macintosh. Every so often I boot it from a system disk and launch MacWrite. Its primitive by todays standards, but even after 27 years I still remember how cool it was in its day. It was such a thrill using that machine. I will never sell it.
HOLLY: I was in love once — a Sinclair ZX-81. People said, “No, Holly, she’s not for you.” She was cheap, she was stupid and she wouldn’t load — well, not for me, anyway.
LISTER: What are you trying to say, Hol?
HOLLY: What I’m saying, Dave, is that it’s better to have loved and to have lost than to listen to an album by Olivia Newton-John.
CAT: Why’s that?
HOLLY: Anything’s better than listening to an album by Olivia Newton-John.
There;s a Sinclair in a box two feet from where I am sitting.
LOLOL!
As I remember I got close to $900 for it and only that because I still had all the software and manuals that came with it.
The hard drive wasn’t working and I did not know why but the fellow I sold it to collected vintage computers and told me later in an e-mail that it did not take much for him to get the hard drive working fine.
So this guy got a Lisa in very good working order for a computer 25 plus years old.
If it exists, there is a Red Dwarf of it...
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