8 Feb
2014
8 Feb
'14
9:11 a.m.
On Sat, 8 Feb 2014, allison wrote:
Its really about being first vs later and more
refined.
for some meaning of "first"
There is also that Osborne put MONEY into release. WCCF with >2000 square
feet of chrome and black plexiglass (across from our 10x10 peddling the
Elcompco portable computer (halliburton case based, with 80 column 5" CRT
and double density drives))
Kaypro's first computer faire booth was another 10x10 with a couple of
cardboard signs.
Having both I can say Osborne was first and also
because of the publishing
work better known is some areas. But as a machine it was old before it
was on the street. Kaypro, was next generation and over the life of the
Z80 based machine had it grow in performance plus it had a far more
readable screen at 80 chars (VS osborne 50 char).
OB_nit: 51? and scrolling to give the effect of reading a newspaper
through a little hole in a piece of cardboard
The greatest limitation
was the drives were slow and low density.
Although they did, indeed start off single density (10 256 byte sectors
per track), it was not VERY long before they switched to double density,
and 80 column screen.
FYI for those that have NOT used CP/M sure you could
run a system with an
80K disk but by time you add utilities and desired programs your out of
disk!
Experience said that around 250K was ok and 360K was better (per drive).
Well, that at least reduced the juggling to something more tolerable.
more likely to succeed over those that were marginal.
This contributed
to Osborne going down with Kaypro growing.
I remember people saying, "I was going to buy it, but the next model is
going to be so much better that I should wait and get it, instead."
Did they ever release that battery pack?
I remember an EARLY interview where Lee was asked about the size and
weight for a battery pack. Lee responded, "How big is your CAR? The 12V
input is not for use while carrying."
(Lee had a gold colored Honda Accord at the time; it did not have any
non-stock power ports)
Adam simply could not resist making announcement promises.
When press badgered him with "PC compatible??",
Adam answered, "Our next model will be."
I remembered when Adam announced that their NEXT model would be able to
read and write "EVERY DISK FORMAT IN EXISTENCE". A few days later I had a
quick presentation at PC Faire. There was a local Osborne dealer heckling
me with the news that THEIRS was going to handle EVERY format,
including hard sectored, single density, and GCR, not just MFM!
What can you say, other than, "May we live so long."
Sure 'nuff, only days later, my publisher (may they rot in pieces) told me
that they had just been contacted by OCC about bulk licensing of XenoCopy!
To me, THAT was always OCC's big weakness.
After the fall of OCC, I used to see Adam occasionally, such as peddling
external hard drives at a swap/show. He was always the showman, and never
failed to greet me effusively, although I doubt that he ever had reason to
know who I was. It was sad to hear of his passing, but apparently it was
at least peaceful
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com