March 30, 2003

Adam Osborne and His 25-Pound Computer

Adam Osborne died last week, but he won't be forgotten by me. In 1981, he invented a 22-pound portable computer. Since I was 7 when the Osborne-1 came out, what does that have to do with me? Well, that computer, along with an Epson dot-matrix printer, let me finish many research papers in high school. For my mother, that piece of computer history was even more important because it helped her get through college.

To let you know just how primative the Osborne-1 is it has a small 5 inch screen, but you could also connect a larger monitor to it. A hard drive was non-existent. Two floppy drives (5.25 inch, not the War Games-sized floppies) provided storage, but at least that beat the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A's need for a cassette player. For an operating system, the Osborne uses CP/M instead of DOS, and WordStar is the word processor that came with the computer.

My mother will consider serious offers for her Osborne-1. If any computer collector is interested, leave a comment or e-mail me.

"Adam Osborne, Portable Computer Pioneer, Dead at 64" [via ATSDP]

"Adam Osborne, Portable Computer Pioneer, Dead at 64"

"Portable Computer Pioneer Osborne Dies"

Here are more pictures.