Osborne Executive

The Osborne Executive was the second portable computer model of the company Osborne Computer Corporation from 1983 and successor of the legendary Osborne 1 Compared to its predecessor, the Executive especially on a larger screen and an enlarged to 128 kilobytes of RAM memory possessed. He was particularly in competition with portable computers such as the Kaypro II, which was equipped with a 9- inch screen and was offered reasonably priced.

In September 1983, Osborne was forced to declare bankruptcy. Therefore, the Executive was only in limited numbers on the market. As a possible reason for the bankruptcy was the so-called " Osborne effect": successor models were publicly touted, long before they were available. While the customers already waiting for the better "Executive", remained the " Osborne 1" in the camps are and prices fell. Employees of Osborne, however, refer to the high competition from better -equipped and better models of the manufacturer Apple and Kaypro.

Hardware

  • 4 MHz Z80 CPU
  • 128 kilobytes of RAM
  • 69 -key keyboard with 12 keys including numeric
  • 7-inch CRT monitor, 80 characters × 25 lines, monochrome amber
  • Two 5 ¼ - inch floppy disks in a half-height
  • IEEE -488 interface, for use as a Centronics printer port
  • Two RS-232 serial interfaces 50 to 9600

Software

The Osborne Executive was delivered with a software package, in addition to the operating system CP / M 3.0 (CP / M Plus) included the word processing program WordStar, the spreadsheet program SuperCalc, the programming languages ​​and CBASIC MBASIC as well as some other programs.

Compatibility

The Osborne Executive supported several disk formats, including

  • Osborne 1, single and double density
  • IBM PC ( CP/M-86 )
  • DEC VT 180
Electronic visual display Electronic keyboard Centronics (disambiguation) Baud VT180
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