Osborne 1

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Osborne 1
RAM
StorageDual 5¼-inch, single-sided, single-density floppy drives (optional dual-density upgrade)
Display5″ monochrome CRT display, 52 x 24 characters text
GraphicsTTL logic
Power37 watts max
DimensionsW: 20.5 inches (52 cm)
H: 9 inches (23 cm)
D: 13 inches (33 cm)
Mass24.5 lb (11.1 kg)
SuccessorOsborne Executive

The Osborne 1 is the first commercially successful portable computer, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation.[1] It weighs 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), cost US$1,795, and runs the CP/M 2.2 operating system. It is powered from a wall socket, as it has no on-board battery, but it is still classed as a portable device since it can be hand-carried when the keyboard is closed.

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. Competitors quickly appeared, such as the Kaypro II.

History

The Osborne 1 was developed by

Xerox PARC in 1976 by Alan Kay.[2] It was designed to be portable, with a rugged ABS plastic case and a handle.[3] The Osborne 1 is about the size and weight of a sewing machine and was advertised as the only computer that would fit underneath an airline seat.[4] It is now classified as a "luggable" computer when compared to those later "laptop" designs such as the Epson HX-20
.

The Osborne 1 was described as "a cross between a

bundled software alone was worth $1,500; as InfoWorld stated in an April 1981 front-page article on the new computer after listing the included software, "In case you think the price printed above was a mistake, we'll repeat it: $1795".[9][10]

West Coast Computer Faire attendees stated, InfoWorld said, that the Osborne 1 "represented an advancement of the price/performance ratio for microcomputers".[7] Adam Osborne agreed but emphasized the price, stating that its performance was "merely adequate": "It is not the fastest microcomputer, it doesn't have huge amounts of disk storage space, and it is not especially expandable."[9] Beyond the price, advertisements emphasized the computer's portability and bundled software.[11] The company sold 11,000 units in the first eight months of sales, and sales at their peak reached 10,000 units per month.[12]

The Osborne 1's principal deficiencies are a tiny 5-inch (13 cm) display screen, use of single-sided, single-density floppy disk drives that store 90 kB per disk, and considerable unit weight. Adam Osborne decided to use single-sided disk drives out of concern about double-sided drives suffering head damage from rough handling. A single-density disk controller was used to keep costs down.

In September 1981, Osborne Computer Company had its first $1 million sales month. Sales were hurt by the company's premature announcement of superior successor machines such as the Osborne Executive, which replaced the Osborne 1's 52 column screen with an 80 column screen.[13] This phenomenon was later called the Osborne effect. From 1982 to 1985, the company published The Portable Companion, a magazine for Osborne users.[14]

Early production

The company initially had ten prototypes produced, as described in an email by Felstenstein:[15][16]

I can confirm that this is one of the first ten prototype units built, known as the "metal case" units. I don't think they had serial numbers. The cases were made by Galgon Industries in Hayward, California but their quote for production was prohibitive, so work immediately commenced on the plastic cases. The circuit board was ready in January 1981 and these were built shortly thereafter. They were used in the first ads ("the guy on the left doesn't stand a chance") in which the veins on the hand of the guy on the right bulge as he struggles with the 30-pound weight of his transformer-powered luggable. These were the units we took to the West Coast Computer Faire and the National Computer Conference in early 1981.

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

Kaypro II; which has a larger, 9 inches (23 cm) CRT that can display 80 characters on 24 lines, and double density floppies that can store twice as much data. Osborne Computer Corporation was unable to effectively respond to Kaypro until after 8-bit
, CP/M-based computers were obsolete.

In 1981,

IBM PC, which is significantly more powerful and expandable.[3] Following the release of the IBM-compatible Compaq Portable
in 1983, the market for CP/M computers shrank and Osborne was unable to compete.

Architecture

Later model Osborne 1 with the redesigned case

The 64 KB main memory is made of four rows of eight type 4116 dynamic RAM chips, each with 16,384

Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter (ACIA); a jumper on the motherboard allows the MC6850 to be set for either 300 and 1200 baud or 600 and 2400 baud communications, but other bit rates are not available.[17]

The

card-edge connector etched on the main board, exposed through a hole in the case; any IEEE-488 or printer cable has to be modified for the Osborne.[17]

The diskette drives installed in the Osborne 1 are Siemens FDD 100-5s (MPI drives were also used later), which were actually manufactured in California by GSI, a drive manufacturer that the German firm had purchased. They utilize a custom controller board that Osborne produced, which among other things has a single connector for the power and data lines. The FDD 100-5 was trouble-prone as Osborne's quality control was lacking, and many of the controller boards have soldering defects. In addition, the drive cable is not keyed and can be easily installed upside-down, which shorts out components in the computer. There are also problems with the drive head going past track 0 and getting stuck in place. The combo power/data cable also has a tendency of overheating.[17]

The video system uses part of the main memory and TTL logic to provide video and sync to an internal 5-inch monochrome monitor. The same signals are provided on a card-edge connector for an external monitor; both internal and external monitor display the same video format.[17] The internal monitor is specified as 3.55" horizontal, and 2.63" vertical making the actual viewing size even smaller at 4.42". Osborne also provided a 12" GM-12 external monitor.

The processor, memory, floppy controller, PIA, ACIA and EPROMs are interconnected with standard

TTL devices.[17]

The Osborne 1 has bank switched memory. Unusual for a system based on the Z80, all I/O is memory mapped, and the Z80 I/O instructions are only used to select memory banks. Bank 1 is "normal" mode, where user programs run; this includes a 4 KB area at the top of the address space which is video memory. Bank 2 is called "shadow". The first 4 KB of this address space is the ROM, and 4 KB is reserved for the on-board I/O ports: the disk controller, the keyboard, the parallel port PIA, the serial port ACIA, and a second PIA chip used for the video system. All memory above the first 16 KB is the same memory as Bank 1. This is the mode of the system on power up, because this is where the boot ROM was mapped. Bank 3 has only 4 KB by 1 bit of memory, used solely to hold the "dim" attribute of the video system.

Operating system

The computer runs on the

CP/M 2.2 operating system. A complete listing of the ROM BIOS is in the Osborne technical manual.[17]

Software

The 500+ page Osborne 1 user manual contains instructions on the hardware, WordStar, SuperCalc, BASIC software and the CP/M operating system and utilities

The Osborne 1 came with a bundle of

dBASE II
was not included with the first systems sold.

Program Name Version Published by Program Type Date Part Number Number
of
Disks
CP/M 2.2 Digital Research Disk Operating System 1981 3D01140-01 1
AMCALL 2.06 MicroCall Services Communications program 2B50002-00 1
CBASIC2 Digital Research Language compiler 1979
MBASIC Microsoft Language interpreter 301002-02D 1
Adventure Game
Deadline Infocom Game 2
dBASE II
 2.41 Ashton-Tate Database
dBASE II Tutor Ashton-Tate Training for database 6
Grammatik 1.82 Aspen Software Co. Grammar checker 1981 2G04401-00 1
Proofreader Aspen Software Co. Dictionary
Nominal Ledger 2.7
PeachTree Software
 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 1.12 Sorcim Spreadsheet 1981 301002-03 or 3D01160-01 1
WordStar 2.26 MicroPro Word processor 1981 3D01150-01 1

Hardware

The Osborne 1 is powered by a wall plug with a switched-mode power supply, and has no internal battery. An aftermarket battery pack offering 1-hour run-time is available, and connects to the system through a front panel socket. OCC also sold the POWR-PAC inverter that allows running an Osborne from a 12 volt car cigarette lighter. Early models (tan case) are wired for 120 V or 240 V only.[17] Later models (blue case, AKA Osborne 1A/1B, shipping after May 1982) can be switched by the user to run on either 120 V or 230 V, 50 or 60 Hz.[17] There is no internal fan; a hatch at the top of the Osborne 1A/1B (blue case) can be slid open for ventilation.

Peripherals

Osborne and other companies produced many Osborne 1 accessories:[18]

  • External
    synch and video
    connections driven by the motherboard video circuitry.
  • Parallel Dot matrix printer. Manufactured by Star.
  • "Osborne DATACOM" 300 baud modem. Fits into the left diskette storage pocket and powered from the motherboard. Sold by OCC as the COMM-PAC which also included the AMCALL software.

Aftermarket vendors offered several other upgrades to the basic model, including third-party double density disk drives, external

RAM disk
that fits in a disk storage compartment.

Osborne Computer Corporation offered a "Screen-Pac" column upgrade that could be switched between original 52 column, 80 column and 104 column modes. Osborne 1 systems with the Screen-Pac upgrade have an

composite video monitor.[19]
This modification was developed in Australia by Geoff Cohen and Stuart Ritchie, and taken to the US by Stuart who turned up unannounced and sat outside Adam Osborne's office for two days. Osborne bought the mod and both of them worked with the company to implement the mod. As a nod toward where it came from, it was called the "Koala Project". Geoff developed other upgrades for Osborne's and was regarded as the Australian expert on the computers.

Games

ADVENT (Colossal Cave Adventure) running on an Osborne Computer c. 1982

Since, like most CP/M systems, the display of the Osborne does not support

text adventures (the 1982 game Deadline, for example, packaged in a dossier type folder and came on two 51⁄4" diskettes.). Compiled and MBASIC interpreted versions of Colossal Cave Adventure are available for the Osborne. Some type-in games use the Osborne's character-mode graphics.[20]

Reception

InfoWorld reported that Osborne's booth at the April 1981 West Coast Computer Faire "was packed for the entire show". Some attendees praised the computer, while others said that the screen was too small; many agreed "that the Osborne 1 represented an advancement of the price/performance ratio for microcomputers", the magazine said.

Caltech when Voyager 1 arrived at Saturn, "a dozen science writers were ready to go buy an Osborne 1". He reported that at the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy "I was able to type ... without disrupting the meeting at all. The Osborne 1 is quiet and efficient and not at all distracting". Pournelle said "You can't beat it for the price, under $2,000 bucks with over a thousand dollars' worth of software. An Osborne and an Epson printer will put you in the computing/word-processing business cheaper than anything I can think of",[21] and later described the computer as "the VW of the microcomputer field: It's cheap, reliable, handles standard programs well".[22] A separate review in the magazine stated "If you need a solid, well-supported, well-documented business system at a reasonable price, you should give [the Osborne 1] a great deal of consideration". The reviewer calculated that after subtracting $1,530 for the retail price of the bundled software the price of the computer was "only $265 ... in a way you are getting a software package with a computer thrown in for (almost) free". He praised the quality of the documentation, and agreed with Pournelle that the screen's size did not cause difficulty.[10] James Fallows agreed that the screen, although "the size of a postcard ... is much easier to read than that would suggest", and described the computer as "the best bargain on computer power in the business".[23]

In 1981, the daily Israeli newspaper

Creative Computing in 1984 concluded that "the main reason that the Osborne was a success was not that it was transportable, but that it came with a pile of bundled software".[25]

References

  1. ^ Spector, Lincoln (May 31, 2010). "A History of Portable Computing". PC World. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  2. ^ "Xerox NoteTaker". Computer History. Archived from the original on July 8, 2010. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Osborne 1". OldComputers.net. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
  4. ^ a b Fallows, James (July 1982). "Living With a Computer". Atlantic Magazine. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
  5. ^ "Computers: Carry Along, Punch In, Read Out". Time. Time Inc. June 21, 1982. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  6. ^ McCracken, Harry (April 1, 2011). "Osborne!". Technologizer. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c Hogan, Thom (May 11, 1981). "New Computers Cause Hardware Wars". InfoWorld. Vol. 3, no. 9. pp. 1, 6. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  8. ^ Morgan, Chris (April 1981). "New Trends in Portability: The Osborne 1". BYTE. Vol. 6, no. 4. p. 8. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Hogan, Thom (April 13, 1981). "Osborne Introduces Portable Computer". InfoWorld. Vol. 3, no. 7. IDG. pp. 1, 44. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
  10. ^ a b c Dahmke, Mark (June 1982). "The Osborne 1". BYTE. Vol. 7, no. 6. p. 348. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  11. ^ Advertisement (September 1982). "The $1795 Business Computer that is changing the way people go to work". BYTE. Vol. 7, no. 9. p. 31. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  12. ^ Grzanka, Leonard G. (January 1984). "Requiem for a Pioneer". Portable Computer. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ISBN 0-345-32063-8
    .
  14. ^ "The Portable Companion". Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  15. ^ Lee Felsenstein (February 12, 2009). "email to PBA Galleries". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ "Prototype of the Osborne One Personal Computer - PBA Galleries, Auctions & Appraisers". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h Hogan, Thom (1982). Osborne 1 Technical Manual. Mike Iannamico (2F00153-01 ed.). Osborne Computer Corporation.
  18. ^ Pournelle, Jerry (July 1983). "Interstellar Drives, Osborne Accessories, DEDICATE/32, and Death Valley". BYTE. Vol. 8, no. 7. p. 323. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  19. ^ "Screen-Pac User Guide" (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  20. ISSN 0732-7501
    .
  21. ^ Pournelle, Jerry (April 1982). "The Osborne 1, Zeke's New Friends, and Spelling Revisited". BYTE. Vol. 7, no. 4. p. 212. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  22. ^ Pournelle, Jerry (January 1983). "Burnouts, Bargains, and Two Sleek Portables". BYTE. Vol. 8, no. 1. p. 432. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  23. ^ Fallows, James (July 1982). "Living With a Computer". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  24. ^ Kline, David (July 1982). "Osborne—Behind Guerrilla Lines". Microcomputing. pp. 42–50. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  25. ^ Ahl, David H. (December 1984). "Top 12 computers of 1984". Creative Computing. Retrieved March 16, 2019.

Further reading

External links

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