Floppy Days 91 - The Osborne 1 with Lee Felsenstein

May 30, 2019

The Osborne 1 with Lee Felsenstein

Welcome to episode 91 of the Floppy Days Podcast for May, 2019.

In the timeline for personal computer introductions, we are now in the year 1981.  For this episode we are going to be talking about the Osborne 1.

The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation (OCC).  It was powered by the Z80 CPU at a blazing 4MHz, weighed 24.5 lb, cost US$1,795, and ran the CP/M operating system. It was powered from a wall socket, as it had no on-board battery, but is a portable device since it can be hand-carried when packed.  The computer shipped with a large bundle of software that was almost equivalent in value to the machine itself.

The Osborne 1 was the brain child of Adam Osborne and was brilliantly engineered by Lee Felsenstein.  So, who better to have help me talk about the machine than Lee Felsenstein himself! For this show, we’re going to spend some time with Lee talking about the history surrounding the Osborne 1.  Finally, Lee will leave us and I will cover the usual computer topics such as tech specs, emulators, Web sites, and more.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

• VCF Southeast April 27, 28, Roswell, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
• VCF East May 3-5, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
• TI-95 Stats Library - https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instrument-Statistics-Guidebook-Cartridge/dp/B00PHOS6SW
• Oric Atmos cassette cable - https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIC-1-ORIC-ATMOS-CASSETTE-TAPE-RECORDER-CABLE-LEADS/321775032876
• Atari 800 S-video cable - https://www.8bitclassics.com/shop/computers/atari-8-bit-computer/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/
• Nunchuk 64 - https://github.com/djtulan/nunchuk64

Upcoming Shows

• June 8-9 Pacific Commodore Expo NW (PaCommEx) at The Living Computers: Museum + Labs, Seattle, Washington - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex, discussion is on the forum at https://www.commodore.ca/forum/viewforum.php?f=14
• KansasFest, July 15-21, 2019, Kansas City, MO - https://www.kansasfest.org/
• VCF West, Aug 3-4, Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, California - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
• Fujiama 2019 - Monday, August 26, 2019 to Sunday Sep. 1, 2019 (ONE WHOLE WEEK.  Fujiama 2019 will be held at the Schützenhaus, Lengenfeld, Germany. Visit atarixle's Fujiama page, Krupkaj's parties photos or mathy meetings page.
• VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - Sep. 14-15, 2019 - http://vcfmw.org/
• Tandy Assembly - Springfield, OH, Sep. 28-29, 2019 - http://www.tandyassembly.com
• Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 18-20 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
• Chicago TI International World’s Faire - Nov 2, 2019 - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/ - The 37th annual Chicago TI International World Faire will take place on the weekend of November 2, 2019, in Evanston, IL

Feedback

• HT1080Z, the Hungarian School Computer - http://zimix.hu/ht1080z-the-hungarian-school-computer/

Popular Magazines/Newsletters

• Portable Companion - http://www.vintage-computer.com/portablecompanion.shtml (Bill Degnan)

The entire run is on archive.org - https://archive.org/details/theportablecompanion

Also at Yesterbits - https://yesterbits.com/scans/the-portable-companion-magazine/ (Paul Hagstrom)

Books/Manuals

• in 1984, Adam Osborne and computer industry author and columnist John C. Dvorak coauthored a book about the experience, from Adam Osborne's point of view - Hypergrowth: The Rise and Fall of the Osborne Computer Corporation.
• Using the Osborne 1 computer Paperback – 1983 by T. G Lewis - https://www.amazon.com/Using-Osborne-computer-T-Lewis/dp/083598141X
• Technical manual - http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/osborne/o1techm.pdf
• User’s Reference Guide - http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/osborne/osborne1/Osborne_1_Users_Reference_Guide_1981.pdf
• Field Service Manual - http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/osborne/2F00040-00_Service2ndEdition_1983.pdf
• Osborne CP/M User Guide by Thom Hogan - https://archive.org/details/osborne-cpm-users-guide_2nd-ed/page/n45

Ads and Appearances

• EZ Money (2005)
• Maniac - Season 1 (2018)  

User Groups

• FOG info at bitsavers.org - http://bitsavers.org/bits/Users_Groups/FOG/
• FOGhorn collection at Computer History Museum - https://www.computerhistory.org/search/?q=foghorn

Modern Upgrades

• If you really want to replace the drives, there are several designs, kits or ready to use flash-to-Shugart replacements available.  An example is the Floppyflash.
• HxC Floppy Emulators supported machines/compatibility list - https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_drive_emulator/support.htm where it lists the Osborne 1
• Video showing GoTek floppy emulator in Osborne 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZdQVYXK2PM
• Osborne 1 “Portable” Computer Reborn with a Raspberry Pi - https://blog.hackster.io/osborne-1-portable-computer-reborn-with-a-raspberry-pi-51fa82682f3a

Emulation

• Z80-CP/M emulator - http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/sim/z80mu52b.zip
• Z80-CP/M simulator - boots CP/M - http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/sim/myz80cpm.zip
• For Rasperry Pi you need to download the CP/M Emulator software https://github.com/jhallen/cpm
• http://www.archive.org  in-browser emulation
• MAME - https://www.mamedev.org/

Community

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/690000664701397/
• Forums
• • AtariAge - in the Classic Computers section - http://atariage.com/forums/forum/116-classic-computing/

Current Web Sites

• Osborne Computer Corporation. David H. Ahl. - CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 10, NO. 3 / MARCH 1984 / PAGE 24 - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n3/24_Osborne_Comptuer_Corporat.php
• Osborne! The machine, the man, and the dawn of the portable computing revolution.  By Harry McCracken
• Video of Osborne 1 computer on YouTube by David Larsen
• The Osborne 1. As seen in Tezza's classic computer collection - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_FufKMd-lU
• Osborne 1 (1981) – when the personal computer became portable - By RICCARDO BIANCHINI - 2018-08-05 https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/osborne-1-1981-when-the-personal-computer-became-portable/
• Osborne 1 - Complete History of the Osborne 1 Computer - https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Personal/Osborne.html
• Dave’s Old Computers - Osborne - http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/osborne/index.htm
• Osborne 1 3D Model - https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/osborne-1-67f8eafe7a3a4372bde130f31a6b1776
• Retrocomputing Archive - http://www.retroarchive.org/maslin/disks/osborne/index.html
• Transferring files to the Osborne 1 - http://www.toniwestbrook.com/archives/80
• The Computer Chronicles - Computer Entrepreneurs (1984) - https://archive.org/details/Computer1984_5
• VCF1 - Lee Felsenstein and Bob Marsh (1997) - https://archive.org/details/VCF1-LeeFelsensteinAndBobMarsh
• TOSEC Collection at Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/Osborne_OSBORNE_1_and_Executive_TOSEC_2012_04_23

References

• https://www.patreon.com/lfelsenstein
• Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine - https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Valley-Making-Personal-Computer/dp/0071358927
• Stan Veit’s History of the Personal Computer - https://www.amazon.com/Stan-Veits-History-Personal-Computer/dp/1566640237 by Stan Veit