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Osborne 1
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The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, released in April, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed 23.5 pounds (10.7 kg), cost US$1795, and ran the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating system. Its principal deficiencies were a tiny 5 inch (13 cm) display screen and single sided, single density floppy disk drives whose disks could not contain sufficient data for practical business applications. Its design owed much to that of the Xerox NoteTaker, a prototype developed at Xerox PARC in 1976.
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Encyclopedia
The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, released in April, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed 23.5 pounds (10.7 kg), cost US$1795, and ran the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating system. Its principal deficiencies were a tiny 5 inch (13 cm) display screen and single sided, single density floppy disk drives whose disks could not contain sufficient data for practical business applications. Its design owed much to that of the Xerox NoteTaker, a prototype developed at Xerox PARC in 1976. There were ten prototypes produced, as described in an email to PBA Galleries, a San Francisco auction house, by Lee Felsenstein, the designer of the Osborne computer, on February 12, 2009, “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 but their quote for production was prohibitive, so work immediately commenced on the plastic cases. The circuit board was ready in January of 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.”
Software
The Osborne 1 was the first microcomputer that came with application software. The WordStar word processor, SuperCalc spreadsheet, and the CBASIC and MBASIC programming languages—all software packages that were the leading applications in their respective niches at the time—had a retail value of more than $2,000. 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 | Format | Part Number | Number
of
Disks | Picture |
|---|
| CBasic/MBasic | | Microsoft | Business Software | | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | 301002-02D | 1 | | | Colossal Cave | | | Game | | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | | | | | Deadline | | Infocom | Game | | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | | 2 | | | Dbase II | | Ashton-Tate | Business Software | | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | | | | | Dbase II Tutor | | Ashton Tate | Business Software | | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | | 6 | | | Nominal Ledger | 2.7 | PeachTree Software | Business Software | 1983 | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | 2X09200-04 | 2 | | | Purchase Ledger | 2.7 | PeachTree Software | Business Software | 1983 | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | 2X09200-04 | 2 | | | Sales Ledger | 2.7 | PeachTree Software | Business Software | 1983 | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | 2X09200-04 | 2 | | | Supercalc | | Sorcim | Business Software | 1981 | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | 301002-03 | 1 | | | Wordstar | 2.26 | MicroPro | Business Software | | 5 1/4" Floppy Disk | | 1 | |
Hardware Specifications
Hardware features:
The Osborne 1 was powered by a wall plug, and had no internal battery, although an aftermarket battery pack offering 1 hour run-time was available. Early models (tan case) were 120 V only, later models (blue case) could be switched to run on either 120 V or 230 V, 50 or 60 Hz.
Peripherals
- External Monochrome Display
- Parallel Dot matrix Printer
Operating system:
- CP/M version 2.2. A complete listing of the ROM BIOS was available in the Osborne technical manual.
Superseded by
Games
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.
Peripherals
These peripherals were not part of the base computer. Peripherals may have been offered by particular vendors at various times.
- External Monochrome screen - using separate synch and video connections, driven by the motherboard video circuitry.
- Dot Matrix Parallel Printer (Made by Star)
- 300 Baud Modem - fit into a diskette storage pocket, 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 that fit in a disk storage compartment.
Aftermarket 80-column video upgrades were available for the original 52-column-only machines.
Market life
At its peak, Osborne Computer Corporation shipped 10,000 Osborne 1 units per month. The computer was widely imitated as several other computer companies started offering low-priced portable computers with bundled software. The Osborne 1 was about the size and weight of a heavily packed suitcase; one commercial humorously pointed out that it did not quite fit under an airplane seat. As such it is now classified as a "luggable" computer in comparison to later laptop designs. The Osborne's popularity was surpassed by the similar Kaypro II which had a much more practical 9 inch (23 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. A popular myth is that sales of the Osborne 1 were hurt by the premature announcement of superior successor machines such as the Osborne Executive; a phenomenon called the Osborne effect. Later Compaq delivered a portable computer (the Compaq Portable) with a 9 inch CRT, that was software compatible with the IBM PC, making it the first PC clone.
Osborne Computer Corporation filed for Chapter 11 (Bankruptcy) in September 1983.
After Chapter 11
When Osborne filed for Chapter 11 protection it was working on the Osborne Vixen, which when announced hampered the sales of the Osborne 1. In 1985 the Osborne-4 (Vixen) was released a smaller machine with the keyboard permanently fixed which acted as a stand. This model didn't sell in great numbers.
External links
- – At the Obsolete Technology Website
- – At the Bunker of DOOM
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