website/content/museum/osborne-corp-osborne-1.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Osborne Corp. OSBORNE 1	Computers	Transportable	U.S.A.	1981	Zilog Z80 A	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts links oc_id source OSBORNE 1 /media/museum/photos/osborn1_1.jpg /companies/osborne-corp Osborne Corp. label value NAME OSBORNE 1 label value MANUFACTURER Osborne Corp. label value TYPE Transportable label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1981 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard with separated numeric keypad label value CPU Zilog Z80 A label value SPEED 4 MHz label value RAM 64 KB label value ROM 4 KB label value TEXT MODES 52 / 80 / 104 char. x 24 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES Only graphic characters label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND Beeper label value SIZE / WEIGHT 51(W) x 32,5 (D) x 22,5(H) cm. Weight : 10,2 Kg. label value I/O PORTS RS232, IEEE 488, Modem port, Composite Video label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 5.25'' FDD label value OS CP/M label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS Supplied with : CBasic, WordStar, SuperCalc, MailMerge, DBase II label value PRICE 3201 photos adverts links 191 title subtitle text image ANOTHER PICTURE /media/museum/photos/osborn1_2.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD LABEL Osborne 1 with dBase II keyboard layer /media/museum/photos/osborne_1_4.jpg title subtitle text image ANOTHER MODEL This model is slightly different from the original one. Surely, a later revision. /media/museum/photos/osborne_1_3.jpg title subtitle text image CLOSED ! /media/museum/photos/osborn1_3.jpg title subtitle text image STILL CLOSED /media/museum/photos/osborne_1_closed_2.jpg title subtitle text image BACK LABEL /media/museum/photos/osborne_1_label.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE OSBORNE 1 **(1)** Cathode ray tube.\ **(2)** Characters generator ROM.\ **(3)** Disk drives controler card.\ **(4)** RAM memory chips (64 Kb).\ **(5)** Brightness adjustment.\ **(6)** Contrast adjustment.\ **(7)** External power plug.\ **(8)** System init button (Reset).\ **(9)** External monitor plug.\ **(10)** Numerical keypad.\ **(11)** Keyboard connector.\ **(12)** BIOS ROM (Basic input/Output routines).\ **(13)** Modem connector.\ **(14)** Parallel IEEE-488 connector.\ **(15)** Serial RS-232 connector.\ **(16)** Motorola 6821 chipset handling the IEEE-488 port.\ **(17)** Motorola 6850 chipset handling the serial port.\ **(18)** Zilog Z80-A microprocessor.\ **(19)** Double density 1/4 height disk drives. /media/museum/photos/osborne_1_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image FIRST ADVERT Probably one of the first adverts for the Osborne 1.\ Personal Computing, February 1982. Courtesy of **[Attached](http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/)** null title subtitle text image STRONG WOOMAN(1982) Don't beleive this advert!\ Please, look carefully at the quite horizontal shoulders of the woman who carries the Osborne (about 12 Kg). Either she is a champion of wrestling, or the Osborne case is empty. /media/museum/pubs/osborne_1_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image SAME WITH A MAN Less impressive... /media/museum/pubs/osborne_1_pub_3.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT(1982) #2 /media/museum/pubs/osborne_1_pub_2.jpg title subtitle text image ENGLISH POSTER Poster in a 1982 english computer show. /media/museum/pubs/osborne_1_poster_1.jpg title subtitle text image COMPUTERS IN THE EXAM ROOM /media/museum/pubs/osborne_1_exams.jpg title url text Dave's First Computer - The Osborne O1 http://www.davemathews.com/osborne.html title url text Osborne page http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/osborne.html A bit of history... 181 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230602181528/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=181 2023-06-02

The Osborne 1 is one of the first portable computers but needs external power source. Its name comes from Adam Osborne, the man who made this computer a reality (not quite true, see end of the text).

It has a very small built-in screen (8.75 x 6.6 cm, which can display 128 columns!!) and weighs more than 10 Kg.
The first models couldn't display more than 52 columns by line, so to access to the 76 other columns, the user had to scroll among the screen thanks to the cursor keys.

It works under CP/M and was sold with Digital Research CBASIC (compiled BASIC), SuperCalc (spreadsheet), WordStar (word processor), MailMerge (mailing) and Microsoft's MBasic (MBasic source code was 100% upwards compatible with IBM PC's BASICA, source code only).

This machine would be succeeded in 1983 by the Osborne Executive, which featured a larger screen (YAHOO!) and lower-profile disk drives.

Despite its interesting characteristics, Osborne Computer Corporation suffered the competition of the first IBM PC compatibles and went bankrupt in 1983. One casualty was a planned portable computer called the Osborne PC (which, interestingly, was an MS-DOS clone). It was never released (even though prototypes exist).