Osborne 1
Encyclopedia
The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable
microcomputer
, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation
. It weighed 10.7 kg (23.5lb), cost USD
$ 1795, and ran the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating system
. The computer shipped with a large bundle of software that was almost equivalent in value to the machine itself, a practice adopted by other CP/M computer vendors.
Its principal deficiencies were a tiny 5 inches (12.7 cm) display screen and use of single sided, single density floppy disk
drives which could not contain sufficient data for practical business applications.
, a prototype developed at Xerox PARC
in 1976 by Alan Kay
. The Osborne 1 was developed by Adam Osborne
and designed by Lee Felsenstein
. It was first announced in April, 1981. Adam Osborne, an author of computer books, decided he wanted to break the price of computers.
The computer was designed to be portable, with a rugged ABS plastic case that closed up and a handle. The Osborne 1 was about the size and weight of a sewing machine and was advertised as the only computer that would fit underneath an airline seat. It is now classified as a "luggable" computer when compared to later laptop designs such as the Epson HX-20
.
Despite its unattractive design and heavy weight—it resembled "a cross between a World War II field radio and a shrunken instrument panel of a DC-3", and Felstenstein confessed that carrying two units four blocks to a trade show "nearly pulled my arms out of their sockets"—in the first eight months after April, 1981, when the Osborne 1 was announced, the company sold 11,000 units. Sales at their peak reached 10,000 units per month. In September 1981, Osborne Computer Company had its first US$1 million sales month. Sales of the Osborne 1 were hurt by the company's premature announcement of superior successor machines such as the Osborne Executive
, a phenomenon later called the Osborne effect
.
From 1982 to 1985 the company published The Portable Companion, a magazine for Osborne users.
, the Osborne 1 designer.
It weighed 10.7 kilograms (23.6 lb) and cost USD
$1795.
II which had a much more practical 9 inches (22.9 cm) CRT that could display the standard 80 characters on 24 lines as well as double density floppies that could store twice as much data. Osborne Computer Corporation was unable to effectively respond to the Kaypro challenge until after the market window
had closed and the day of the 8-bit, CP/M-based computer had ended. IBM
had also released new IBM PC
, which ran the competitive and increasingly popular DOS
operating system. In January 1983 Compaq
began shipping the Compaq Portable
with a 9 inches (22.9 cm) CRT. Priced at USD $3590, its software was compatible with the IBM PC
, making it an early PC clone
.
, a smaller machine with the keyboard permanently attached, which also acted as a stand. However, unable to beat its competition in the marketplace, Osborne Computer Corporation filed for bankruptcy
in September 1983. It released the Osborne-4 (Vixen) in 1985, but it didn't sell in great numbers.
. A complete listing of the ROM
BIOS
was available in the Osborne technical manual.
Main memory was eight rows of model 4116 16,384 x 1-bit dynamic RAM chips, shared between CPU memory and video memory. No parity was provided and no provision for memory expansion existed on the motherboard
. The boot program loader and significant parts of the BIOS were stored in a 4 kilobyte EPROM
, which was bank-switched
. A second EPROM was used as a fixed character generator, providing upper and lower case ASCII characters and graphic symbols; the character generator was not accessible to the CPU. The eighth bit of an ASCII character was used to select underlined characters. Serial communications was through a memory-mapped Motorola MC6850 Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter (ACIA); a jumper on the mother board allowed the MC6850 to be set for either 300 and 1200 baud or 600 and 2400 baud communications, but other bit rates were not available.
The floppy disk
drives were interfaced through a Fujitsu 8877 disk controller integrated circuit, a second-source of the Western Digital 1793. The parallel port
was connected through a memory-mapped Motorola MC6821 Peripheral Interface Adapter
(PIA) which allowed the port to be fully bidirectional; the Osborne manuals also claimed the port implemented the IEEE-488
interface bus but this was rarely used. The parallel port used a card-edge connector etched on the main board, exposed through a hole in the case; any IEEE-488 or printer cable had to be specially manufactured for the Osborne.
The disk drives used either Siemens or MPI full-height single-sided drive mechanisms, but the drive electronics board was replaced by an Osborne-designed board, which allowed both power and signal connections to be carried on the same ribbon cable from the motherboard. The power connections used lines that standard drives reserved for ground.
The video system used part of the main memory and TTL
logic to provide video and synch to an internal 5-inch monochrome monitor. The same signals were provided on a card edge connector for an external monitor; both internal and external monitor displayed the same video format.
The processor, memory, floppy controller, PIA, ACIA and EPROMs were interconnected with standard TTL
devices.
. The WordStar
word processor
, SuperCalc
spreadsheet, and the CBASIC
and MBASIC programming languages were the leading applications in their respective niches at the time. The bundle had a retail value of more than USD$1500. The exact contents of the bundled software varied depending on the time of purchase; for example, dBASE II was not included with the first systems sold.
The Osborne 1 was powered by a wall plug
with a switched-mode power supply
, and had no internal battery, although an aftermarket battery pack offering 1 hour run-time was available. Early models (tan case) were wired for 120 V or 240 V only. Later models (blue case, shipping after May 1982) could be switched by the user to run on either 120 V or 230 V, 50 or 60 Hz.
A small set of aftermarket vendors offered several other upgrades to the basic model, including third-party double density disk drives, external hard disks, and a battery-backed RAM disk
that fit in a disk storage compartment.
The Osborne corporation offered a "Screen Pac" 80-column upgrade that could be switched between original 52 column and 80 column modes. Osborne 1 systems with the 80-column upgrade have an RCA jack installed on the front panel to allow users to connect an external composite video monitor.
Since the display of the Osborne did not support bit-mapped graphics, games were typically character based games, like text adventures (the 1982
game Deadline
, for example, packaged in a dossier type folder and came on two 5 1/4" diskettes.). Compiled and MBASIC interpreted versions of Colossal Cave Adventure
were available for the Osborne. Some shareware games made good use of the Osborne's limited character-mode graphics.
(1984), sitting on a desk inside a USMC base. In the same scene also a Commodore 64
is visible in the foreground.
Portable computer
A portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another and includes a display and keyboard. Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers. Portable computers, because of their size, are also commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers...
microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation
Osborne Computer Corporation
The Osborne Computer Corporation was a pioneering maker of portable computers.-The Osborne 1:After Adam Osborne sold his computer book-publishing company to McGraw-Hill in 1979, he decided to sell an inexpensive portable computer with bundled software and hired Lee Felsenstein to design it...
. It weighed 10.7 kg (23.5lb), cost USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$ 1795, and ran the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. The computer shipped with a large bundle of software that was almost equivalent in value to the machine itself, a practice adopted by other CP/M computer vendors.
Its principal deficiencies were a tiny 5 inches (12.7 cm) display screen and use of single sided, single density floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drives which could not contain sufficient data for practical business applications.
Market life
The Osborne's design was based largely on the Xerox NoteTakerXerox NoteTaker
The Xerox NoteTaker was an early portable computer. It was developed at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, California, in 1976. Although it did not enter production, and only around ten prototypes were built, it strongly influenced the design of the later Osborne 1 and Compaq Portable computers.The NoteTaker...
, a prototype developed at Xerox PARC
Xerox PARC
PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and co-development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems....
in 1976 by Alan Kay
Alan Kay
Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."He is the president of the Viewpoints Research...
. The Osborne 1 was developed by Adam Osborne
Adam Osborne
Adam Osborne was an American author, book and software publisher, and computer designer who founded several companies in the United States and elsewhere.- Computers :...
and designed by Lee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer...
. It was first announced in April, 1981. Adam Osborne, an author of computer books, decided he wanted to break the price of computers.
The computer was designed to be portable, with a rugged ABS plastic case that closed up and a handle. The Osborne 1 was about the size and weight of a sewing machine and was advertised as the only computer that would fit underneath an airline seat. It is now classified as a "luggable" computer when compared to later laptop designs such as the Epson HX-20
Epson HX-20
The Epson HX-20 is generally regarded as the first laptop computer, announced in November 1981, although first sold widely in 1983...
.
Despite its unattractive design and heavy weight—it resembled "a cross between a World War II field radio and a shrunken instrument panel of a DC-3", and Felstenstein confessed that carrying two units four blocks to a trade show "nearly pulled my arms out of their sockets"—in the first eight months after April, 1981, when the Osborne 1 was announced, the company sold 11,000 units. Sales at their peak reached 10,000 units per month. In September 1981, Osborne Computer Company had its first US$1 million sales month. Sales of the Osborne 1 were hurt by the company's premature announcement of superior successor machines such as the Osborne Executive
Osborne Executive
The Osborne Executive was the planned successor of the already commercially successful Osborne 1 portable computer by Osborne Computer Corporation. The Executive was a collection of the good features from the Osborne 1 and fixed some of its predecessor's flaws....
, a phenomenon later called the Osborne effect
Osborne effect
The Osborne effect is a term referring to the unintended consequence of the announcement of a future product ahead of its availability and its impact upon the sales of the current product....
.
From 1982 to 1985 the company published The Portable Companion, a magazine for Osborne users.
Early production
The company initially had ten prototypes produced, as described in an email by Lee FelsensteinLee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer...
, the Osborne 1 designer.
It weighed 10.7 kilograms (23.6 lb) and cost USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$1795.
Competition
The computer was widely imitated as several other computer companies began offering low-priced portable computers with bundled software. The Osborne's popularity was surpassed by the similar KayproKaypro
Kaypro Corporation, commonly called Kaypro, was an American home/personal computer manufacturer of the 1980s. The company was founded by Non-Linear Systems to develop computers to compete with the then-popular Osborne 1 portable microcomputer...
II which had a much more practical 9 inches (22.9 cm) CRT that could display the standard 80 characters on 24 lines as well as double density floppies that could store twice as much data. Osborne Computer Corporation was unable to effectively respond to the Kaypro challenge until after the market window
Market window
A market window is a government-owned or directed institution claiming to operate on a commercial basis, but that benefits from some level of government support.In trade policy, esp...
had closed and the day of the 8-bit, CP/M-based computer had ended. IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
had also released new IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
, which ran the competitive and increasingly popular DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
operating system. In January 1983 Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
began shipping the Compaq Portable
Compaq Portable
The Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq Computer Corporation brand . It was the first IBM PC compatible portable computer...
with a 9 inches (22.9 cm) CRT. Priced at USD $3590, its software was compatible with the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
, making it an early PC clone
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
.
Bankruptcy
The Osborne Computer Company announced a successor to the Osborne 1 In 1982, the Executive model OCC-2 and in early 1983, the company announced the more advanced Osborne VixenOsborne Vixen
The Osborne Vixen was a "luggable" portable computer announced by the Osborne Computer Corporation in November 1984, as a follow up to their Osborne 1 and Osborne Executive system....
, a smaller machine with the keyboard permanently attached, which also acted as a stand. However, unable to beat its competition in the marketplace, Osborne Computer Corporation filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in September 1983. It released the Osborne-4 (Vixen) in 1985, but it didn't sell in great numbers.
Specifications
Operating system
The computer ran on the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. A complete listing of the ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
was available in the Osborne technical manual.
Main memory was eight rows of model 4116 16,384 x 1-bit dynamic RAM chips, shared between CPU memory and video memory. No parity was provided and no provision for memory expansion existed on the motherboard
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
. The boot program loader and significant parts of the BIOS were stored in a 4 kilobyte EPROM
EPROM
An EPROM , or erasable programmable read only memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages...
, which was bank-switched
Bank switching
Bank switching is a technique to increase the amount of usable memory beyond the amount directly addressable by the processor. It can be used to configure a system differently at different times; for example, a ROM required to start a system from diskette could be switched out when no longer...
. A second EPROM was used as a fixed character generator, providing upper and lower case ASCII characters and graphic symbols; the character generator was not accessible to the CPU. The eighth bit of an ASCII character was used to select underlined characters. Serial communications was through a memory-mapped Motorola MC6850 Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter (ACIA); a jumper on the mother board allowed the MC6850 to be set for either 300 and 1200 baud or 600 and 2400 baud communications, but other bit rates were not available.
The floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drives were interfaced through a Fujitsu 8877 disk controller integrated circuit, a second-source of the Western Digital 1793. The parallel port
Parallel port
A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
was connected through a memory-mapped Motorola MC6821 Peripheral Interface Adapter
Peripheral Interface Adapter
The Peripheral Interface Adapter is a peripheral integrated circuit providing parallel I/O interfacing capability for microprocessor systems. Common PIAs include the Motorola MC6820 and MC6821, and the MOS Technology MCS6520, all of which are functionally identical but have slightly different...
(PIA) which allowed the port to be fully bidirectional; the Osborne manuals also claimed the port implemented the IEEE-488
IEEE-488
IEEE-488 is a short-range digital communications bus specification. It was created for use with automated test equipment in the late 1960s, and is still in use for that purpose. IEEE-488 was created as HP-IB , and is commonly called GPIB...
interface bus but this was rarely used. The parallel port used a card-edge connector etched on the main board, exposed through a hole in the case; any IEEE-488 or printer cable had to be specially manufactured for the Osborne.
The disk drives used either Siemens or MPI full-height single-sided drive mechanisms, but the drive electronics board was replaced by an Osborne-designed board, which allowed both power and signal connections to be carried on the same ribbon cable from the motherboard. The power connections used lines that standard drives reserved for ground.
The video system used part of the main memory and TTL
TTL
TTL may refer to:* Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor, a state-owned manufacturer of cigarettes and alcohol in Taiwan* Through-the-lens metering, a feature of cameras capable of measuring light levels in a scene through their lens...
logic to provide video and synch to an internal 5-inch monochrome monitor. The same signals were provided on a card edge connector for an external monitor; both internal and external monitor displayed the same video format.
The processor, memory, floppy controller, PIA, ACIA and EPROMs were interconnected with standard TTL
Transistor-transistor logic
Transistor–transistor logic is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors and resistors. It is called transistor–transistor logic because both the logic gating function and the amplifying function are performed by transistors .TTL is notable for being a widespread...
devices.
Software
The Osborne 1 came with a bundle of application softwareApplication software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
. The WordStar
WordStar
WordStar is a word processor application, published by MicroPro International, originally written for the CP/M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early to mid-1980s. Although Seymour I...
word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....
, SuperCalc
SuperCalc
SuperCalc was a spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980, and originally bundled as part of the CP/M software package included with the Osborne 1 portable computer....
spreadsheet, and the CBASIC
CBASIC
CBASIC is a compiled version of the BASIC programming language written for the CP/M operating system by Gordon Eubanks in 1976–77. It is an enhanced version of BASIC-E, his master's thesis project.-History:...
and MBASIC programming languages were the leading applications in their respective niches at the time. The bundle had a retail value of more than USD$1500. The exact contents of the bundled software varied depending on the time of purchase; for example, dBASE II was not included with the first systems sold.
| Program Name | Version | Published by | Program Type | Date | Part Number | Number of Disks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBASIC CBASIC CBASIC is a compiled version of the BASIC programming language written for the CP/M operating system by Gordon Eubanks in 1976–77. It is an enhanced version of BASIC-E, his master's thesis project.-History:... 2 |
Digital Research Digital Research Digital Research, Inc. was the company created by Dr. Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related products. It was the first large software company in the microcomputer world... |
Language compiler | 1979 | |||
| MBasic | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Language interpreter | 301002-02D | 1 | ||
| Colossal Cave Colossal Cave Adventure Colossal Cave Adventure gave its name to the computer adventure game genre . It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and caving enthusiast who based the layout on part of the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky... |
Game | |||||
| Deadline Deadline (computer game) Deadline is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1982. Written by Marc Blank, it was one of the first murder mystery interactive fiction games. Like most Infocom titles, Deadline was created using ZIL, which allowed the easy porting of the game to popular computer platforms... |
Infocom Infocom Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone.... |
Game | 2 | |||
| dBase II | Ashton-Tate Ashton-Tate Ashton-Tate was a US based software company best known for developing the popular dBASE database application. Ashton-Tate grew from a small garage-based company to become a multinational corporation... |
Database | ||||
| dBase II Tutor | Ashton Tate | Training for database | 6 | |||
| Nominal Ledger | 2.7 | PeachTree Software Peachtree Accounting Peachtree Accounting is business management software published by Sage Software and sold primarily in the United States. There have been several generations of software sold under the Peachtree Accounting name.... |
Business Software | 1983 | 2X09200-04 | 2 |
| Purchase Ledger | 2.7 | PeachTree Software | Business Software | 1983 | 2X09200-04 | 2 |
| Sales Ledger | 2.7 | PeachTree Software | Business Software | 1983 | 2X09200-04 | 2 |
| SuperCalc SuperCalc SuperCalc was a spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980, and originally bundled as part of the CP/M software package included with the Osborne 1 portable computer.... |
Sorcim Sorcim Sorcim was an early start-up company in Silicon Valley, founded in June 1980 by Richard Frank, Paul McQuesten, Martin Herbach, Anil Lakhwara , and Steve Jasik - all former Control Data Corporation employees working in the Language Group in Sunnyvale, CA... |
Spreadsheet | 1981 | 301002-03 | 1 | |
| Wordstar WordStar WordStar is a word processor application, published by MicroPro International, originally written for the CP/M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early to mid-1980s. Although Seymour I... |
2.26 | MicroPro MicroPro International MicroPro International Corporation was the publisher of WordStar, a popular early word processor for personal computers.-History:Seymour I. Rubinstein was an employee of early microcomputer company IMSAI, where he negotiated software contracts with Digital Research and Microsoft... |
Word processor | 1 |
Hardware
- Dual 5¼-inch, single-sided 40 track floppy diskFloppy diskA floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drives ("dual density" upgrade available) - 4 MHz Z80Zilog Z80The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes...
CPUCentral processing unitThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in... - 64 kilobyteKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
s main memory - Fold-down 69 key detachable keyboardComputer keyboardIn computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
doubling as the computer case's lid - 5-inch, 52 character × 24 line monochromeMonochromeMonochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
CRTCathode ray tubeThe cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
display, mapped as a window on 128 × 32 character display memory - IEEE-488IEEE-488IEEE-488 is a short-range digital communications bus specification. It was created for use with automated test equipment in the late 1960s, and is still in use for that purpose. IEEE-488 was created as HP-IB , and is commonly called GPIB...
port configurable as a ParallelParallel portA parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
printerComputer printerIn computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a text or graphics of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most new printers, a...
port - RS-232RS-232In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
compatible 1200 or 300 baud Serial portSerial portIn computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
for use with external modemModemA modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s or serial printers
The Osborne 1 was powered by a wall plug
Mains electricity
Mains is the general-purpose alternating current electric power supply. In the US, electric power is referred to by several names including household power, household electricity, powerline, domestic power, wall power, line power, AC power, city power, street power, and grid power...
with a switched-mode power supply
Switched-mode power supply
A switched-mode power supply is an electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator in order to be highly efficient in the conversion of electrical power...
, and had no internal battery, although an aftermarket battery pack offering 1 hour run-time was available. Early models (tan case) were wired for 120 V or 240 V only. Later models (blue case, shipping after May 1982) could be switched by the user to run on either 120 V or 230 V, 50 or 60 Hz.
Peripherals
Additional peripherals were available by different third-party vendors at various times during the life of the Osborne 1.- External MonochromeMonochromeMonochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
display. This used separate synchronous and video connections driven by the motherboard video circuitry. - Parallel Dot matrixDot matrixA dot matrix is a 2-dimensional array of LED used to represent characters, symbols and images.Typically the dot matrix is used in older computer printers and many digital display devices. In printers, the dots are usually the darkened areas of the paper...
printer. Manufactured by Star - 300 baudBaudIn telecommunications and electronics, baud is synonymous to symbols per second or pulses per second. It is the unit of symbol rate, also known as baud rate or modulation rate; the number of distinct symbol changes made to the transmission medium per second in a digitally modulated signal or a...
modemModemA modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
. Fit into a diskette storage pocket and powered from the motherboard.
A small set of aftermarket vendors offered several other upgrades to the basic model, including third-party double density disk drives, external hard disks, and a battery-backed RAM disk
RAM disk
A RAM disk or RAM drive is a block of RAM that a computer's software is treating as if the memory were a disk drive...
that fit in a disk storage compartment.
The Osborne corporation offered a "Screen Pac" 80-column upgrade that could be switched between original 52 column and 80 column modes. Osborne 1 systems with the 80-column upgrade have an RCA jack installed on the front panel to allow users to connect an external composite video monitor.
Games
1982 in video gaming
-Events:* December 27 - Starcade, a video game television game show, debuts on TBS in the United States.-Notable releases:*October 13 - Mystique releases the Custer's Revenge adult video game for the Atari 2600 home console....
game Deadline
Deadline (computer game)
Deadline is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1982. Written by Marc Blank, it was one of the first murder mystery interactive fiction games. Like most Infocom titles, Deadline was created using ZIL, which allowed the easy porting of the game to popular computer platforms...
, for example, packaged in a dossier type folder and came on two 5 1/4" diskettes.). Compiled and MBASIC interpreted versions of Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure gave its name to the computer adventure game genre . It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and caving enthusiast who based the layout on part of the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky...
were available for the Osborne. Some shareware games made good use of the Osborne's limited character-mode graphics.
In popular culture
The Osborne appears briefly in a scene of the movie The Philadelphia ExperimentThe Philadelphia Experiment (film)
The Philadelphia Experiment is a 1984 science fiction film. It is directed by Stewart Raffill and stars Michael Paré, Bobby Di Cicco, and Nancy Allen.-Overview:...
(1984), sitting on a desk inside a USMC base. In the same scene also a Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
is visible in the foreground.
Further reading
- Adam OsborneAdam OsborneAdam Osborne was an American author, book and software publisher, and computer designer who founded several companies in the United States and elsewhere.- Computers :...
, John Dvorak Hypergrowth: the rise and fall of Osborne Computer Corporation, Idthekkethan Pub. Co., 1984 ISBN 0918347009