Osborne 1
Osborne 1 | |
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Osborne 1 with opened keyboard |
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Manufacturer | Osborne Computer Corporation |
Sales start | April 1981 |
Technical specifications | |
processor | Zilog Z80 4.0 MHz |
random access memory | 64 kB RAM |
screen | 5 ″ |
Current operating system | CP / M 2.2 |
Connectivity | |
connections |
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measures and weight | |
Weight | 11 kg |
The Osborne 1 was the first commercially available portable computer . Its inventor was Adam Osborne .
description
The computer was introduced to the market in April 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation . The computer weighed 11 kg, which is why he compared to later laptops in English mostly as luggable computer , so as schleppbarer Computer (German pun Schlepptop is called). The introductory slogan was: “Our computer fits under every aircraft seat.” When it was launched, it cost US $ 1,795 in the USA . In Germany the price was just under DM 6,000 at the beginning of 1983.
In the computer, a working Zilog-Z80 - CPU with 4.0 MHz, on a memory of 64 kB RAM could access. In addition to the CP / M 2.2 operating system, the scope of delivery also included the MBASIC programming language . Its design was based on the Xerox NoteTaker from Xerox PARC , which was developed in 1976 based on a concept by Alan Kay , but never went into series production.
A keyboard with 69 keys (today's keyboards have around 100) and a 5 ″ screen that could display 24 lines of 52 characters were integrated in the collapsible computer.
Successor to the Osborne 1 was the Osborne Executive , before the manufacturer finally went bankrupt in September 1983.
hardware
- Two single-sided 5¼ " floppy disk drives with 40 tracks
- Zilog-Z80-CPU with 4 MHz
- 64 kilobytes of RAM
- 69 key keyboard
- 5 ″ display, 52-character × 24-line monochrome tube monitor
- IEEE-488 interface, can be used as a printer connection
- Serial RS-232 connection with 1200 or 300 baud , for external modems or serial printers
software
The Osborne 1 was delivered with a package of user software, the composition of which varied. The program dBASE II was not included in the first computer version. CP / M 2.2 from Digital Research served as the operating system .
Program name | version | Published by | Program type | date | Order number | Number of disks |
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MBASIC | Microsoft | basic | 301002-02D | 1 | ||
Colossal Cave | game | |||||
Deadline | Infocom | game | 2 | |||
dBase II | Ashton-Tate | Database | ||||
dBase II tutor | Ashton Tate | Training program for database | 6th | |||
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 | Sorcim | Spreadsheet | 1981 | 301002-03 | 1 | |
WordStar | 2.26 | MicroPro | Word processing | 1 |
The Osborne 1 in the film
The Osborne 1 or its successor, the Osborne Executive , can be seen briefly in the film The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). In the same scene you can also see a Commodore 64 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zeitschrift Computer Personal, Issue 9 of April 20, 1983, advertisement page 101, price 5978, - DM.
- ↑ How the suitcase computer almost became a bestseller - Spiegel Online from November 11, 2009
Web links
- Osborne 1; Information and photos - on the Obsolete Technology website
- Osborne 1; Photos and boot-up video - at Bunker of DOOM
- The Osborne 1 at old-computers.com