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Any Osborne I gurus?

Dave: "Before you plug in the fixed power harness, you will now have to do some testing to see if there are lurking issues like shorts to pin 4 from who knows where. Old computers can be a series of complications."

Interesting that pin 4 on the board is a "dummy" pin - not connected to anything (except that strange harness plug I have). On the underside of the board, I see the circuit completely ignores that pin; etched lines go to the 3 pins on either side, but not to pin 4 - which appears as a "rivet head" on the underside of the board.

Lance - congrats on your new Osborne site. I never expected this thread to go on so long, but have to admit the information shared by forum members is certainly priceless.

Tez - I certainly hear you on "cranky with age". And that certainly applies to me as well as to my Osborne.

Lorne - yes, it might help if you could email or post a picture of the power harness connection to your Model 1 system board. Unless it looks exactly like the one you've already posted from your Model 1a.

As there were many "system improvements" from the very first version of the Osborne 1, who could ever tell why my system has that strange harness modification. Yet that's the harness that powered the computer when I first bought it several weeks ago, when it seemed to be working fine. Then I got it home and found the ram chip problem.

Cranky is perhaps a kind term for part of the aging process!
Tom
 
Thought I should bring this thread to a close with some positives vibes.

For the last two days I've been running in both DD and SD modes. Learned in passing:

- booting in DD mode allow reading of both DD and SD disks; but after about an hour of use, the reading of DD disks becomes unreliable (lots of "bdos err on x: bad sector" messages).

- repeating the process on the same disks *after an hour's cool-down* gives no errors at all.

- as of today at 4pm EST I've been able to read nearly every single SD and DD disk I've got, with no error (long as the system remains relatively cool).

- one of the biggest highs I've felt in many years was this morning when I booted from a backup copy of the original Osborne DD System 2.2, started WordStar 2.26, and opened up all the chapters of my dissertation. I hadn't seen those files opened for over 25 years.

- I still have lots to learn/remember!

- without knowing the in's and out's of solving the "heat" problem, I'm pretty satisfied with how my OC1 is running. Not perfect, but at its age, pretty darn good. Tho' I'm still not sure about when I need to use CTRL-C at a disk change.

- if anyone knows where I can download/purchase the old FOG library disks, please let me know.

Here's a picture from about 20 minutes ago. Been running perfectly for nearly an hour. I've even got the original sales invoice, documentation, and sales literature. I'm a happy camper right about now.

And none of this would have been possible without this forum, and all your help. Thanks all.

Tom
OCC1, SN A14649
 

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i'm not going to read all 11 pages right now, but has it been suggested (probably) to physically swap drive A and B?

EDIT: seems you got it working, excellent. another useless post from me woohoo.
 
NutmegCT said:
booting in DD mode allow reading of both DD and SD disks; but after about an hour of use, the reading of DD disks becomes unreliable (lots of "bdos err on x: bad sector" messages).
Click to expand...

I noticed your model does not seem to have an internal fan. As an experiment, try placing a fan by the disk drives and see if that helps.

NutmegCT said:
And none of this would have been possible without this forum, and all your help. Thanks all.
Click to expand...

It was fun.
-Dave
 
NutmegCT said:
- if anyone knows where I can download/purchase the old FOG library disks, please let me know.
Click to expand...

I've got some old FOG newsletters (not yet scanned), and all of the 17 Osborne Portable Companion Magazines (some scanned, some not yet).

If you want the Portable Companion scans, email me, and I'll put them on the FTP site for you to download (they're big as they're in color).

Same for you Tez, the other one who wanted the DD upgrade docs, and anyone else for that matter.
 
Lorne said:
Same for you Tez, the other one who wanted the DD upgrade docs, and anyone else for that matter.
Click to expand...

Sure thing, great!

Tom, on my Osborne 1a there is a flap at the back on the case on the top which you pull open when the machine is on. It uncovers venting slots presumably to cool the machine.

Does the Osborne 1 have this feature?

Tez
 
Hi Tez - the Osborne I was pretty basic. Top of the case is vent-less; one of the brochures describes the Osborne as "no fan needed - cooled by convection." The addition of that vent on the Ia must have greatly increased the convection airflow.

The Ia had a sliding vent lid, stronger case, a better logic board mount, and a more robust latch system for the keyboard. Also had a toggle switch for input voltage (115/230), and an additional fuse where the power cord enters the case.

Edit: take a look at this - a guy did a photo-shoot of dis-assembling an Osborne I. He's got the same non-standard power harness socket that I've got (the green jumper connecting 3 pins). Guess mine isn't as weird as I thought!

http://i.techrepublic.com.com/gallery/193080-500-310.jpg

http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-13636_11-193055-25.html

You can see one of the prototype Osborne I models at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzLxfN7vXhI

Tom
 
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NutmegCT said:
The addition of that vent on the Ia must have greatly increased the convection airflow.

Tom
Click to expand...

And that didn't quite do it either, because then there was the OsCool fan which mounted on top of the vetilation grille. It does quietly move some more air, but only if you remember to put it on. Seems the rest of them figured out afterward, that an actual built-in fan was the ticket.
 
Yea, I couldn't see any sign of the cooling flap in the photo, which was why I asked.

Re: the comments in the "cracking open" link you posted. It looks like those pics triggered nostalgic memories for lots of people going by the comments :)

The osborne 1 was WAY beyond my financial resources when they first came out, but I remember really wanting one. The fact you could carry your computer with you in one easy package had a lot of appeal!

The design was pretty nifty for the time really. It was those huge full height 5.25 inch drives that proved a major constraint. In the end it was Kaypro, who figured out the best way to deal with this issue (i.e. stacking them together) leaving more room for a larger screen.

I do love seeing the innovations (some successful, some less so) embodied in these old machines.

Tez
 
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