Osborne ยท 1981
Osborne 1
An early portable business computer supplied with a substantial software bundle.
- Released
- 1981
- CPU
- Z80A
- RAM
- 64K
- Display
- 5-inch CRT showing 24 lines of 52 characters, with 32 lines of 128 characters held in RAM; external monitor connection
- Storage
- Twin 5.25-inch single-density floppy disk drives, 92K formatted capacity
- Interfaces
- Serial ports and IEEE-488, configurable as Centronics
- Software
- CP/M, WordStar, SuperCalc, CBASIC and MBASIC
- Communications
- Optional 300-baud modem
- Weight
- 30 lb (13.6 kg)
Designed by Lee Felsenstein and Adam Osborne as an integrated portable computer, the machine came with several useful business software packages. Although the company could not make enough units to keep up with demand, Osborne went bankrupt on 13 September 1983 after the press broke a non-disclosure agreement and leaked information about future developments: the Executive and the Vixen.
The Executive was an enhanced model with an 80-column display, double-density floppy disk drives and an optional hard drive. The Vixen was a smaller Osborne 1. People stopped buying the Osborne 1 because the enhanced machine was expected, but the Executive was late to market.