The Osborne Executive is the successor of the already commercially successful Osborne 1 portable computer by Osborne Computer Corporation.
The Executive consists of a collection of the good features from the
Osborne 1 and fixes some of its predecessor's perceived flaws.
The Osborne Executive, like the Osborne 1, comes with application software. The WordStar word processor, SuperCalc spreadsheet, and the CBASIC and MBASIC
programming languages—all software packages that were the leading
applications in their respective niches at the time—had a retail value
of more than US$2,495.
The disk drives and built-in 7-inch amber CRT are covered by the
keyboard when snapped on to the main case for transportation. Like the
Osborne 1, the Executive can be supported by the keyboard at a
convenient viewing angle. The Executive includes a cooling fan, unlike the Osborne 1, and a tiny air filter for it.
Osborne 1
After
Adam Osborne sold his computer book-publishing company to
McGraw-Hill in 1979, he decided to market an inexpensive portable computer with bundled software and hired
Lee Felsenstein to design it. The resulting
Osborne 1 featured a 5 inch (127 mm) 52-column display, two floppy-disk drives, a
Z80 microprocessor, and 64
KB of
RAM. It could fit under an airplane seat and survive being accidentally dropped. The bundled software package included the
CP/M operating system, the
BASIC programming language, the
WordStar word processing package, and the
SuperCalc
spreadsheet program. It also included project management software with
PERT and GANTT charts, and communications software for a 300 baud modem.
Osborne obtained the software in part by offering stock in the new
Osborne Computer Corporation,
[2] which he founded in January 1981. For example,
MicroPro International received 75,000 shares and $4.60 for each copy of WordStar Osborne distributed with his computers.
We will cover 100 dollars on the shipping.
The Executive is the successor of the Osborne 1, from which it keeps the
good points and correct its flaws. More memory, bigger screen, more
powerful software and... higher price.
When closed, the Executive looks like a sewing machine! Once opened, the
detachable keyboard is connected to the main unit through a quite short
coiled cord. The keyboard can be tilted for a better typing. It has a
separated numeric keypad and 4 cursor keys. The layout of these keys is
not very convenient. There is "left" & "up" on one row, and "down"
& "right" on the other...
The front panel of the Executive is divided in four parts. In the
center, one can find the built-in amber monitor (13 x 10 cm) bigger than
the Osborne 1 one. On the right hand side, there is the fan grid, the
Executive logo and the on/off button. The two 5.25" half-height disk
drives, are mounted horizontally just above an empty disk storage space.
Different connectors are placed at the bottom of the front panel: two
RS232c/serial (for printers and modem), one Centronics and the keyboard
connector. Next to them are brightness and contrast control knobs, as
well as a reset button.
At the back of the system is the handle to carry the system once it is
closed. Under this handle is the fan trap door, which you have to open
before starting to work. The Executive has of course its own power
supply unit, but what is more uncommon, is that it can accept 110v or
220v, the system will convert both. This was useful for people traveling
a lot.
The built-in monitor was the main flaw of the Osborne 1. This tiny
screen was displaying 52 of 132 virtual columns (this was done by
scrolling), resulting in 2 mm high characters! The Executive has a wider
screen which can really display 80 columns, though some critics said it
was still too small. The characters can be displayed in normal mode,
half intensity, inverse or blink. Two character sets are available, and independent windows can be defined.
The Executive was delivered with a binder containing 14 disks! There was
CP/M+, Wordstar 3.3, Mailmerge, Supercalc 1.12, Pearl (file manager),
Microsoft Basic 5.22, CBasic 2 and several tools. The Executive can also
read disks from many other systems: Osborne 1, IBM PC under CP/M 86,
DEC VT 180, Xerox 820, Cromenco Minidisk and UCSD p. It can also emulate
several terminal types: VT 100, ADM, Hazeltine, HP... and know several
communication protocols: 3270, 2780, 3780 and X25.
Though most reviews said it had 128 KB, the Executive is equipped with
124 KB from which only 60 KB are left free for the user. The missing 4K
was because of the bank switching it couldn't switch the whole 64K only
60K could be switched the 4K had to remain common. The memory can
however be expanded to 384 KB.