Floppy Days 91 - The Osborne 1 with Lee Felsenstein

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