Questions about Osborne upgrades

[ef1j95]

I was wondering if anyone out there was an Osborne-1 owner when they came out in the early 80's. I'm curious what the early owner / user experience was like with these machines and upgrades.

I have two early S/N OCC's (a tan case 1 and the harder shell 1A) that have had multiple upgrades... SCREEN-PAC (80 column), double-density drive upgrades, etc. I'm guessing that these machines were bought with the original single density drives and early revision motherboards, but that these were exchanged at some point. One of my machines has the black and white screen, the other has a green phosphor screen.

eric

 

[smp]

In the early '80s, I turned 30, so I was there and of the right age during the time. I was nowhere near flush enough to purchase any of the Business-oriented machines in competition at the time, hence I ended up with a TRS-80 Color Computer. It was hack-able and upgrade-able, but even with this machine, I quickly lost my ability to spend money on upgrades. This all to underscore why I am in this vintage computer hobby now - I can now afford to purchase many of the machines I lusted over in the past, and play around with them now.

However, to get back on point, my brother was fortunate enough to be a PHd student at the time, and got a grant (or something) and purchased the second version of the Osborne-1 (the one with the "better" case). Sadly, he, too was not flush enough to go any further with upgrades. He wasn't a computer nut like me, he simply wanted to use the machine for writing his papers, and crunching his data. I'm lucky to have that machine now, saved from the dumpster years ago, so to speak.

I'll be interested in how many folks answer up with their experiences beyond my kind.

smp

 

[kyodai]

While the Osborne-1 was a pretty cool machine (The first computer to fit under an airline seat). But it did have its flaws. Like the modem for example, that bugged me so much. The original (early) cases had "modem" (so i thought) slots under the floppy - so you could buy an overprized "Connectivity pack" for it - which was basically a technically disappointing bell 103 clone that looked like it would fit in the slot under the floppy. Well it did fit, but if you insert it and read the manual you'll be surprised - there are no connectors at all in that slot, you have to attach a cable that comes out of the front to the modem port. Talk about bad design. I always wondered if these slots were originally planned as disk shelves and then they were like "hey we wanna sell it to executives and most of them asked if it has a modem, sooo..."

 

[ef1j95]

There are all sorts of crazy requirements in the SCREEN-PAC and DD according to the install instructions. For instance, on to p123 of Osborne field service manual, double density upgrade requires:

Rev G or higher logic board
Rev J or higher drive board

and the Rev 1.44 Monitor ROM came with SCREEN-PAC... but SCREEN-PAC requires Rev K or higher logic board due to the AMP sockets used for the Z-80 and 24-pin character generator ROM.

It seems like there must have been a lot of prior revision motherboards heading back to Osborne. I can't imagine that a year-old company at the time would have in place a good supply chain and ability to deal with these changes. It all sounds incredibly fubar for the OCC owner, but maybe that was par for the course at the time.

Interestingly, I have a rev F logic board in one OCC-1A machine with the double density installed. Both of the machines I have with SCREEN-PAC are rev K motherboards, probably replaced at the time of the upgrade.

Actually, Re: the modem design, I'm sure it did keep costs down, since all of the ports come off the logic board along the front edge and the front casing is just a molded piece of plastic. I like the design simplicity, especially when getting them apart. Although it's not as simple as an Apple II, the OCC seems way ahead of some of its contemporaries. The TRS-80 III, for instance, has so many machine screws and separate parts...

e

 

[EvanK]

While the Osborne-1 was ... The first computer to fit under an airline seat

That's far were true. There were several other computers from the late-1970s to early-1980s of similar or smaller size. They just weren't as popular nor as well integrated as Osborne.

 

[kyodai]

That's far were true. There were several other computers from the late-1970s to early-1980s of similar or smaller size. They just weren't as popular nor as well integrated as Osborne.

At least that was their tag line in advertisements back in the days. I think they also advertised it as "the ONLY computer you can take everywhere". I never had an IBM 5100, but i guess if the Osborne fits under an airline seat then the IBM would fit as well. And the IBM was a few years earlier...

 

[EvanK]

The 5100 is just one example of many. Greater point is nobody should treat a company's advertisements as historical fact. :D

Commercial plug ... in my book (linked in the SIG below), there's a whole section about Osborne-like computers that came long before Osborne.

 

[lisa2]

The IBM 5100 and the O1 have a connection, the 5" CRT assembly is the same on both systems. Apparently, in the late 1970's several suppliers had geared up in the hope of selling many 5100 displays to IBM and at the time the O1 was developed their was a glut of these displays available. More info here:

http://fonly.typepad.com/fonlyblog/2009/10/

Even if it would fit under the seat, if you ever had picked up a heavy 5100, you would understand why nobody was carrying them on planes very often.
Rick