Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Lawrence Zeitlin writes: > You are probably too young to remember the history of the Osborne 1 > portable computer. The 1981 Osborne was the first "laptop" computer. > It was about the size of a portable typewriter, weighed 20 pounds, > with a screen the size of a playing card, and a handle to carry it > around. But, if you remembered to bring your battery pack with you, > it was the first computer you could use without plugging in. It sold > like hotcakes. Businessmen bought Osbornes because they could take > them home or to a hotel room. It was an excellent computer, on a par > with the best contemporary desktop computers. But, there were a lot > of complaints. Too heavy, too big, unreliable, the screen was too > small to read easily, the screen aspect ratio was wrong, etc. You are forgetting a lot of things. The Osborne was not a laptop, it was a computer where the screen disconected from the case with a cable still there (and I never weighed the thing... but I think it was closer to 35 lbs).. It was introduced after IBM brought out their PC. The OS was CPM which was a derivative of "Microsoft-IBM DOS. Since the IBM desktops were selling at close to $3,000 at the time... and the 5.25 inch disks were about $5 each... and since the IBM PC was open architecture, programs that would run on the IBM would and sometimes on the Osborne (many programs were written calling on hidden parts of the OS - like "out985 which with the IBM OS would reset the screen colors to green on black which was very nice when using Lotus 123 or Wordperfect). Also remember that none of the OS's would support file pathing). BORLAND LIVES!!! Actually, CPM peeps versus IBM or Microsoft peeps remind me a lot of the arugment you are making. And can you remember the "cube" which was later... but is a concept that is now in vogue? However I have no idea why you are making this argument... don't buy an M8 if you don't want to...I have never recommended that anyone buy an M8. Regards, early adopter - who in the hell wanted to do punch cards...