Osborne-1 with prototype-based motherboard

[Jules Richardson]

On 12/29/18 6:59 PM, Brad H via cctalk wrote:
> And then other boards used a 3Axxxx-xx number instead of the 2A2001 number.
> Kind of confusing.

For what it's worth, looking at a photo, my[1] machine's board looks more 
like "3P10083 REV A" down by the front edge of the board, unless there's 
some dirt or other debris making it look like a 'P' rather than an 'A'. 
Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the entire board, so I'm not sure 
what the serial number top-left is (and if the data there typically differs 
from the data along that front edge). IC date codes appear to be early 
1982, and the case is one of the more rugged 1a ones.

[1] At least I think it's mine :-) I picked up two machines from another 
collector a few years ago, and one of them went off to another list member, 
so it's possible that the photo I've got is of that one.

Interestingly the main Wikipedia article for OCC says that the first 
machines went out in July and they sold 11,000 in the eight months after 
that - but the article specifically for the Osborne 1 seems to suggest that 
systems went out in April (but again with 11,000 sold in the eight months 
after).

The main article mentions a 10-15% failure rate, which seems incredibly 
high - presumably pressure to meet demand and repair faulty systems was 
enormous, which could explain how a prototype / early board found its way 
out into the wild.

Jules