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1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
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Claude Opus 5.5
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ params:
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forum_thread: 1194
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photos:
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- title: OTRONA ATTACHE
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subtitle: ''
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@@ -133,75 +134,6 @@ params:
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- title: Wikipedia - Otrona page
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url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otrona
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text: Some info here...
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comments:
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- author: Steve Gray (United States)
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date: Monday 3rd May 2021
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text: This line above annoys me "Sadly the 2001 wasn''t completely IBM PC compatible...." . Actually, the 2001 was thoroughly tested and completely IBM PC compatible. At the time the company folded there was only one progarm identified that did not run correctly, the game ''frogger$'' that woould crash under some conditions. That was being thorouhly anlyed at the time the company folded. The company folded due to cash flow issues that had norhing to do with a PC ''compatibility'' issue. It was a Catch-22. Xebec refused to ship the disk controllers needed to buld the machines that were on order unless they were first paid in cash. Revenue could not be generated without the controllers. But the banks and the VC''s had decided they would give no more money to Otrona becase they had not met revenue goals. The problem is they were blindsided by the rise of the IBM-PC .... and the 8:16 co-developed with Phoenix Software, did not have the compatibilty needed to compete in the the PC compatible
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market. So, suffeirng from the resulting revenue loss, Otrona designed and built the superior 2001 in record time, including its own BIOS, but could not generate the needed revenue to continue because they did not have the cash to buy the disk controllers needed to complete the systems. It was a very sad thing. What was the best PC compatible in existence was kept out of the market by the bean counters. Otrona should have been as big or bigger than Compaq. The Compaq PC was a tugboat compared to the 2001. Oh well.
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- author: Kerry Davis (USA)
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date: Thursday 29th January 2015
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text: |-
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I got myself a new-condition Attache with the padded case recently, on ebay. Works perfectly, but didn''t come with any software. Any suggestions or sources would be greatly appreciated. email pearled-duck@earthlink.net I saw the previous posts by Charles Raisch but the site no longer exists, and it seems like he might have passed away since then.
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I did some software development work that was intended to be used on the Otrona and Compaq portables, for utility company energy audits, in the 1980s.
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- author: Charles Raisch (USA)
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date: Thursday 11th April 2013
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text: Have original First Attache Users Group software library and some part. www.charlesraisch.com
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- author: Charles Raisch (USA)
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date: Thursday 11th April 2013
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text: Have original First Attache Users Group software library and some part. www.charlesraisch.com
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- author: Charles Raisch (USA)
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date: Thursday 11th April 2013
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text: Have original First Attache Users Group software library and some part. www.charlesraisch.com
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- author: Charles Raisch (USA)
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date: Thursday 11th April 2013
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text: Have original First Attache Users Group software library and some part. www.charlesraisch.com
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- author: Charles Raisch (USA)
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date: Thursday 21st March 2013
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text: I was FAUG First Attache Users Group. Still have software and disks. Remember?
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- author: Tim (US)
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date: Friday 26th October 2012
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text: |-
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I still have an Attache that I fire up every once in awhile - man, what a Cadillac it was in the day. It''s a very good example of how badly IBM shook up the whole market, because that company really deserved to keep going on.
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Sitting in my storeroom with the keyboard folded over the screen and the coiled keyboard hanging down, people often ask me why I have a portable heart monitor stored away!
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- author: cpubuilder
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date: Wednesday 18th January 2012
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text: '@steve I fixed it about a year ago, it was a crt controller, and a rom chip'
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- author: Steve (Boulder, CO USA)
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date: Tuesday 15th November 2011
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text: Oops.. I filled out the previous post incorrectly. It''s from me, not James Wilson. I wrote it TO James Wilson.
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- author: James Wilson (Boulder, CO USA)
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date: Tuesday 15th November 2011
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text: '@James. Funny you should mention and appreciate the keyboard. It was a custom job (of course) using high quality Cherry switches. We put a lot into that in order to get a quality look and feel. The Otrona was the Ferrari of portables and everything about it had to be top shelf.'
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- author: Steve (USA)
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date: Tuesday 15th November 2011
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text: '@cpubuilder. I just happened back across ths thread. I don''''t really know how to fix this macihine. I was a firmware/sodtware geek. Sorry.'
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- author: James Wilson (Laguna Beach, California)
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date: Saturday 15th October 2011
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text: |-
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My first computer at JPL was an Otrona, and it was a winner. I was particularly impressed with the keyboard, and was sorry that the IBM one was totally inferior. I would like to chat with anyone connected with its development.
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Thanks.
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Jim Wilson
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- author: Steven Streeper (Idaho/USA)
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date: Wednesday 14th September 2011
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text: I purchased an Attache when they were first released. It was a fabulous machine for the times. I used it to develop several software applications over a three-year period, then sold it to a friend. At the time it came on the market, it was the ideal portable computer...pretty awesome!!
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- author: cpubuilder
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date: Monday 6th December 2010
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text: do you know anything on how to fix it steve
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- author: Steve (USA)
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date: Tuesday 23rd November 2010
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text: I worked there. Employee number 8, start to finish, and wrote most of the software including the ROM code (including the 2001 BIOS), utilities and O/S ports (CP/M and DOS). Just two things. The 2001 was completely IBM compatible. At the time we folded there was only on program we could find that would not run (Frogger) and that issue was almost licked. The reason we went under is because we were shot by our own marketing dept. Well, not really. But it was the straw that broke the camel''s back. They let leak that the 2001 was coming so orders for the 8:16 dried up and so did our revenue stream. We couldn''t hit the revenue targets necessary to access our credit line so we could not by parts to build the new 2001 machines. That''s why there were so few. The first run was really more like a proto run and then we shut down. It was too bad. The 2001 was a good machine and the orders were strong. But the banks and the VC''s decided they had enough and so we closed. A real shame.
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- author: David Vohs (USA)
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date: Thursday 15th April 2010
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text: |-
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Here''s some trivia about this machine that must people don''t know about:
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NASA''s Jet Proulsion Laboratories was a large purchaser of these machines when they were new.
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An Attache even flew on the space shuttle! (before the GRiD Compass came out)
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oc_id: 1227
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source:
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url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530210241/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1227
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