GADFRAN
Experienced Member
KAYPRO, OSBORNE & COMPACT PORTABLES TALK / PAPER TCF
"Also posting here besides sales area - due to general interest - sales area post since where my other posts were"
If you are interested in these portable, personal computers [PPC’s] of the 1980’s, I am giving an hour talk at the 2008 Trenton Computer Festival [TCF] on Saturday 04/26/2008 at 3:40 to 4:35 pm in Room 221 of the Brower Student Center, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ.
The full paper of over 100 pages with numerous references will be available on the TCF CD Digest of the Proceedings of this event.
The web site is www.tcf-nj.org for much more information on this fantastic long running festival! I must say, they certainly have a very interesting and diverse program, as they do every year. If you know of them, then enough said. If you do not, it is certainly something to put on your list of very worthwhile Spring computer activities.
The abstract is posted on the web site. Basically, why did Osborne & Kaypro not make it and why did Compaq become so dramatically successful? I found some interesting data, but am open to finding much more, if it exists.
Some lessons learned from this era may help in trying to personally manage computers in our lives today.
Note – I will correct some errors in the posted web site abstract. They are my fault. As far as I know, Osborne did not work for Kaypro, but I did find some information on a “deal” he was working on with them after the Osborne Company filed for bankruptcy. Sorry for my errors and hope they do not cause any inconvenience and further confusion.
I am also setting up a very simple “information transfer” type website – www.kayprosts.org – to coordinate my interest in vintage computers, especially of this 1980 era, along with my general decades of Science, Technology & Society [STS] research on many diverse topics. The domain name is established and hopefully the site will be up and running in the next month or two. The web site developer has all the information – about 100 MB of mostly text, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations – few pictures and other more memory intensive and fancy features.
I am putting off offering on eBay my 6 working Kaypro “8” computers [modified from Kaypro II & 4’s] for a few months due to the recent many serious eBay issues that have developed. Information was previously posted under GADFRAN on this web site. In addition, I may be using them for some of my presentations in “hands-on” demonstrations of such Kaypros for some interested organizations. But they will go eventually. They have too – we must downsize a lot of our accumulated “stuff” in our retirement years.
I have begun boxing up the numerous “spare parts” in logical groups that will go with each of them as a “package,” so that they can be maintained by their new owners. An individual packing slip of these items will be included with each Kaypro when they are eventually offered on eBay.
Thanks for your time and interest!
"Also posting here besides sales area - due to general interest - sales area post since where my other posts were"
If you are interested in these portable, personal computers [PPC’s] of the 1980’s, I am giving an hour talk at the 2008 Trenton Computer Festival [TCF] on Saturday 04/26/2008 at 3:40 to 4:35 pm in Room 221 of the Brower Student Center, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ.
The full paper of over 100 pages with numerous references will be available on the TCF CD Digest of the Proceedings of this event.
The web site is www.tcf-nj.org for much more information on this fantastic long running festival! I must say, they certainly have a very interesting and diverse program, as they do every year. If you know of them, then enough said. If you do not, it is certainly something to put on your list of very worthwhile Spring computer activities.
The abstract is posted on the web site. Basically, why did Osborne & Kaypro not make it and why did Compaq become so dramatically successful? I found some interesting data, but am open to finding much more, if it exists.
Some lessons learned from this era may help in trying to personally manage computers in our lives today.
Note – I will correct some errors in the posted web site abstract. They are my fault. As far as I know, Osborne did not work for Kaypro, but I did find some information on a “deal” he was working on with them after the Osborne Company filed for bankruptcy. Sorry for my errors and hope they do not cause any inconvenience and further confusion.
I am also setting up a very simple “information transfer” type website – www.kayprosts.org – to coordinate my interest in vintage computers, especially of this 1980 era, along with my general decades of Science, Technology & Society [STS] research on many diverse topics. The domain name is established and hopefully the site will be up and running in the next month or two. The web site developer has all the information – about 100 MB of mostly text, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations – few pictures and other more memory intensive and fancy features.
I am putting off offering on eBay my 6 working Kaypro “8” computers [modified from Kaypro II & 4’s] for a few months due to the recent many serious eBay issues that have developed. Information was previously posted under GADFRAN on this web site. In addition, I may be using them for some of my presentations in “hands-on” demonstrations of such Kaypros for some interested organizations. But they will go eventually. They have too – we must downsize a lot of our accumulated “stuff” in our retirement years.
I have begun boxing up the numerous “spare parts” in logical groups that will go with each of them as a “package,” so that they can be maintained by their new owners. An individual packing slip of these items will be included with each Kaypro when they are eventually offered on eBay.
Thanks for your time and interest!
