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    Osborne Portable

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    • ? This user is from outside of this forum
      Guest
      last edited by

      Anybody remember this green screen beauty…My Dad was proud of this machine when he got it.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1

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      • D Offline
        divsys
        last edited by

        Yah, worked on some of those and the various copies that arose.
        I even wrote a full accounting system that ran on Kaypro (640K Ram dual floppies, no HD woohooo).

        My favorite was the Zenith models that came out, their promo literature had a cartoon of two Burly guys in camo gear with a unit on their shoulders.

        They had to call it a "Transportable" at 25+ lbs  ::)

        Moore's Law was still young back then, it took a whole year or more for the next generation of computing technology to arrive…...

        -jfp

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        • H Offline
          heper
          last edited by

          gots 2 of em … neither are in working condition afaik ;)

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          • D Offline
            divsys
            last edited by

            I'm sure they're in perfect working condition.
            They make wonderful door stops  ;)

            -jfp

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            • H Offline
              heper
              last edited by

              doorstops ought to be easily moved in/out of positions. these first gen 'laptops' need a forklift to move :-)

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              • J Offline
                jwt Netgate
                last edited by

                @Phishfry:

                Anybody remember this green screen beauty…My Dad was proud of this machine when he got it.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1

                I had one.  I gave it to my ex-wife in the divorce.  (Yes, I'm that old.)

                The screen wasn't green.  Kaypro had a green screen.  The Osborne 1 was white (more grey, really) on black.

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                • A Offline
                  abit
                  last edited by

                  @Phishfry:

                  Anybody remember this green screen beauty…My Dad was proud of this machine when he got it.

                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1

                  I would not, actually remember but…
                  The years prelude me by 10 - the earliest I recall is DOS 5, circa 1990, Intel 286 nevertheless...

                  Wiki is fucked you know, it keeps begging for money, for MONEY period or for MORE MONEY period --

                  It is going to go down in history like this:
                  123 - show excel sheets wikipedia

                  Maybe I am NOT the right guy for this.

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                  • D Offline
                    derwood
                    last edited by

                    Sure do remember it.. My dad had bought one right when it came out with a daisywheel printer and paid me to type up a 30 page document in WordStar.
                    The keyboard was OK.. The screen sucked compared to my Commodore computer I had in my room.

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                    • ? This user is from outside of this forum
                      Guest
                      last edited by

                      My childhood bedroom got invaded by a Commodore PET. I wrote a basic chess program on it line by line from a book. Luckily it had a mass storage device(cassette tape) As I remember the program did not compile on the first go around.

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                      • ? This user is from outside of this forum
                        Guest
                        last edited by

                        I was trying to find the article i copied from and ran across this:
                        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers

                        Straight out of Austin Texas

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                        • J Offline
                          jwt Netgate
                          last edited by

                          Back in the day, Austin was a wonderful place.

                          Now we have Yuppies and Republicans in SUVs.

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                          • M Offline
                            MontTech
                            last edited by

                            Why do I remember the screen being orange…?    :o

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                            • G Offline
                              GomezAddams
                              last edited by

                              @Phishfry:

                              I was trying to find the article i copied from and ran across this:
                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers

                              Straight out of Austin Texas

                              I loved Freak Brothers comics in my teen years. Unfortunately, the state of Kentucky classified them as "paraphernalia", and my local record store had to stop carrying them. I still have every one of them 40 years later!

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                              • H Offline
                                heper
                                last edited by

                                Fired one of them up. A couple of filter caps exploded & shits started smoking (expected)
                                After a trip to the nearest electronics shop & some soldering, it works again :D :D

                                eCkqXqy_resize.jpg
                                eCkqXqy_resize.jpg_thumb
                                hYM0XCs_resize.jpg
                                hYM0XCs_resize.jpg_thumb
                                0ILIxqF_resize.jpg
                                0ILIxqF_resize.jpg_thumb

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                                • KOMK Offline
                                  KOM
                                  last edited by

                                  Reminds me of the first clone PC portables ("luggables' is more like it) that I used to sell back in the late 80's.  Weighed around 20-30 lbs, stood as tall as your knees, but you could carry it around.  Likely a ripoff of the IBM 5155 or Compaq Portable.

                                  ibm5155-case.jpg
                                  ibm5155-case.jpg_thumb

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                                  • K Offline
                                    kpa
                                    last edited by

                                    There was also a Commodore 64 built with a similar design:

                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_SX-64

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                                    • KOMK Offline
                                      KOM
                                      last edited by

                                      Looks more like the Oscilloscope 64, with optional keyboard  ;D

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