Brought back lots of memories when I had one. If I remember correctly, to enter text in Supercalc put a quote mark before the text. Wordstar used the control keys with letters for commands.
Parking my Porsche 928... Putting on my Turbo glasses... Getting a nice glass of expensive champagne... Caressing the smooth black marble of my work desk... Lighting my cigar with a golden lighter... Checking the time on my golden Casio watch... Turning on my Osborne computer... TIME FOR SOME STOCK MARKET ACTION "Greed is good"
Didn't he use an Apple II+ in that movie, though? Gotta love the "I'm a rich businessman" tech from the 80's, though -- so far behind what kids have in their pockets today, but elite at the time! I remember a friend of mine in the 80's had TWO computers in his family. TWO. IN THE SAME HOUSE! A II+ and a Mac LC, networked together with AppleTalk. It was truly impressive.
This is one of my favorite restoration/ vintage tech channels. I was a major league tech nerd when this stuff was cutting edge, so it's always fun to take a look back at what we thought was "high tech". I always look forward to these videos.
@@scruffythejanitor1969 The answer lies in antiquity. Actually, I don't know. I understand and understood it to be on the ASCII chart as a backspace. CTRL-H on those keyboards in those days generated an ASCII code decimal 8. (As H is the 8th letter of our alphabet). All of the "dumb" terminals, such as Hazeltine and AMD, when receiving that code would perform a backspace if they could.
@@antonnym214 It was simler than that.. CP/M had a diamond shape for the controlling keys starting with r, d,f,c.. then outward from there in order of funtion You can still use (most of) them in DOS
This was one of my favorite series you've done yet. Very informative, with lots of very interesting context and background. I also like that you showed the mistakes you made. This would be great to see in the future. :) Thanks for doing what you do!
Bought mine in 1981 for $1795. The computer was actually free because the software cost that much at that time. I still have my original floppies with super Calc spreadsheets on them. The word processing was a little ridiculous because you had to keep scrolling around. It was only 52 column instead of 80 so it got real confusing trying to write anything. Nice stack of manuals though, 2 feet high that’s probably why the landfills are having problems today.
You're probably up to your ears in suggestions for the whole retrobright debacle, so here's my nickle. As an auto detailing freak and retro hifi restoration nerd, the automotive world can help you out quite a bit. I never touch plastics with an ammonia based cleaner or a paper towel. SEM makes a great plastic prep and degreaser that will be kind to old plastics. A headlight restoration kit makes for a wonderful clear plastic detailer, I often use the polish for record player covers. Whenever cleaning or polishing ANYTHING, use a microfiber cloth. They're cheap and don't install scratches. Another tip is to treat the plastics after retrobrighting with a UV protectant. I use water based if I can, 303 convertible top protectant and VinylX are some of my favorites. They'll also help to even out the color. Marbling like on the keys can be taken out with some plastic polish, but beware that since it is a mild abrasive, the lettering can come off if it's pad printed on. Doubt you'll see this or make it this far, but I do enjoy the videos. Thanks for your hard work.
@bandwagon240 Thanks for the ideas, I'll see what is in the UK availble that is similar. I suppose anything automotive adds a price premium than the generic same product.
CP/M was actually designed to run on an intel 8080. it has no z80 instructions in it but since the z80 instruction set was a superset off the 8080 instruction set, the z80 could run cp/m.
Offshoot and superset with two sets of 8080 registers and index registers. I've spent most of my life writing code for the z80 in assembler and c. only in last few years has my company moved away from the z80 and to arm processors. The z80 will always hold a fond place in my heart.
I know there's a reality that there just isn't enough storage space for everything, but it always pains me when companies or individuals do things like that. Someone, somewhere, would have gladly taken it off their hands!
FYI: CP/M first ran on Intel 8080 systems like the MITS Altair. The Z-80 was a clone of the 8080 with some improvements by an upstart named Zilog. Both CPUs ran the same machine language, though code optimized for Z80 ran faster on that platform. The Z80 postdated the Intel 8080 on release by about two years.
Paranoid Factoid The Z80 had major features not in the 8080 (and not in the 8085 followup from Intel either). More than twice as many registers, more interrupts, a better front side bus interface, and a bunch of extra instructions. Their 16 bit Z8000 lost out to Intel's 8086/8088 probably because of IBM's choice.
That upstart Zilog was lead by the guys that designed the 8080 though (mainly Federico Faggin and Masatoshi Shima). They had been frustraded with Intel management since they designed the 4004 (the first microprocessor) for Intel in 1971 and decided to start their own firm instead.
Commodore 128 and Amstrad CPC line of computers were all CP/M compatible, provided you had a floppy drive. Many other computer had CP/M as an expansion option (C64, Acorn BBC, MSX computers etc.). So, Apple II with CP/M card was hardly "the most sold CP/M computer ever"...
The advancement in tech is amazing. We made computers so user friendly today! You had to study and use the older computers a lot to navigate or accomplish anything. Absolutely amazing. I love it
Many years ago I had a Heathkit 89 Computer that ran the CP/M operating system. Back then CP/M was a very basic, text only operating system that was quite small in size. It was designed to run on 8 bit computers that had a maximum memory capacity of 64k. It was written to run on the intel 8080 cpu or the Zilog Z80 cpu, which was compatible with 8080 instructions.
What a blast from the past! We bought an OS1 in Houston in 1983. Included a 2 hr how to class in which the instructor basically explained in detail how info was put into sectors on a floppy and how to format said floppy. Its encyclopedic manual was written in geek speak that sounded like it was poorly translated from Japanese. We moved to NY and I joined a Kaypro user group. Thank God for user groups where engineers explained to the rest of us how to use computers and printers. There were all sorts of tips and tricks, like getting twice the storage from the less than 100K floppy by formatting the back side, computer bulletin boards that offered free non graphical games and utilities (I think there was a translator utility that allowed me to read kaypro disks, all pre internet), and a magazine. Osborne briefly published a magazine with a cover pic of a guy sitting on a mountaintop and running the OS1 off a battery! It was either Arthur C Clarke or Stanley Kubrick that supposedly wrote part of the 2001 Space Odyssey screenplay on an Osborne while in...Cyprus? And sent it via modem to Hollywood. No doubt at 8 bps over a landline. And all of the operating system ran in a compact but classy 64k of ram! It may seem spartan by today's standards, but it was elegant and ordered and not as prone to the glitches of today's bloated operating systems. I loved that 30lb "sewing machine." It opened up a whole new world to me.
In the old days, I use to have one of these, I used it so much I think I could still find my way around WordStar. Wow, what a blast for the past, thank you.
Thank you so much for taking your time to deal with the 8-bit systems, especially for the Z-80. I still have two Osborne 1's, a Kaypro 2, a Kaypro II., and a Kaypro 10, and a "home-built CP/M system that I cannot remember what it was. I also purchased the Universal disk formatter for most CP/M systems. Still, I learned Basic from a Timex Sinclair 1000, a 1500, and the 2068. Trough those AND CP/M I learned how to code in machine language. So many years ago, and so much has been forgotten - but those machines still live in my house. Again, thank you for the memories.
One of the first three computers I ever touched. My friend and I stayed up many nights playing Colossal Cave text adventure! Thanks for the great videos!!!
My GOD! This is the first ever computer I touched as a 7 year old kid, and even back then i thought "WHY IS THE TV MONITOR SO SMALL?" lol This is RETRO beyond RETRO! (as I usually think of the Commodore VIC 20, then later 64 as being my First Ever Proper Computers) Thanks for taking the time to make these videos! You are filling missing gaps in my childhood. It was a time when most young kids would never see a real early computer, or be allowed to touch one (they were very expensive adult only "business' machines)
Hi there, Paulo from Brazil 😃 Never done any retrobright restorations, but I came with an idea. You could use glass instead of plastic wrapping, and between the glass and the parts, some kind of spacer. Don't know, maybe a rubber band or some washers. Just a little bit of my thoughts.
@@RetroNIX8 probably because he's brazilian with a brazilian audience, while this channel's demographic is made up of mostly people from english speaking countries? ever thought of that?
Yes, but the IBM 5100 weighed 24 kg / 50 pounds, about twice the weight of the Osbourne. "Portable" compared to a normal desktop computer of the era for sure, but otherwise a very liberal usage of the term - I doubt most executives would have been excited about carrying a 40 pounds device with them on a daily basis. Also it was a little pricey - anywhere between $9,000 and $20,000, compared to less than $2,000 for the Osborne.
CP/M was designed for the Intel 8080 initially as well as the Zilog Z80. There were a number of programs that could be be used to reformat disks in the various compute formats, the most well known being Uniform. Great videos, by the way!
Jeez, there are as many Pac-Pac-Pac-Man clones out there, if not more than grains of sand in the desert... That ladder game reminded me very much of that Namco game, Mappy. I'd take the marbled plastic over gross yellowed any day, no offense Clint.
Man what a great video. I'm 46 and this video took me back to the days of my Tandy 1000 from radio shack. The old days of computing where fun but compared to today it's like starting a fire with two sticks vs a lighter.
You could probably get a reasonable game of 3D Monster Maze running on it, and from there it's a relatively small step to something that looks like a blocky, monochrome, low framerate version of Wolfenstein and/or Doom. The main limit is memory and character printing rate.
I came across a website that had a remarkably exhaustive catalog of machines that run Doom. Given how low-resource some were compared to the average CP/M box, and given that there are "Text mode" and "ASCII graphics" versions floating around, a CP/M Doom port should not be beyond the realm of possibility.
This may be one of the coolest looking computers I’ve ever seen. I always loved the Apple II, the original Titanium MacBook Pro, etc. But I had never heard of the Osborne until this series. The “ease of use” for 1981 is amazing. Dual disk drives, even storage for extra discs, full size keyboard, etc. and even the design of the front of the computer: I love it all. I need to look into trying to buy one just to play around with, although I don’t know the programming language (started with MS-DOS). Looks simple enough though. Thanks for this series David!
I still have an osborne stuck up in my attic. Remember going to osborne club meetings where there would be 50 - 60 osbornes lined up copying the latest software. You needed like 35 disks to get a complete set. I can't remember any of that stuff, but I did use some of it. The big attraction to an osborne was the free copy of dbase that came with each machine. I used it to process my business payroll and inventory, worked great!
_Hangar Entrance_ _A dark squarish room. You are just inside the entry bay, which has closed behind you. There's no way out that way. Pillars obscure your view, and the viewport on the right lets in but little light. The center of the room, to the north, is depressed. a couple of steps lead down to it. A pillar prevents you moving to the northwest but your movement towards your left, to the west, is unhindered._ _You see a health bonus here._ >
I wonder how many thousands of diskettes would it take to even transfer Crysis on it... and how many hard drives would it take to fit it... and how many internal upgrades would it take to actually make it run Windows.... basically you can fit a normal mini PC and an Nvidia Titan in there, then scare your friends by running a recent AAA game on it... wouldn't that be a fun project?
Since it's a Turing-complete machine it would _technically_ be able to run any possible program (even Crysis), given enough memory and suitable emulation software (that's always the catch). However, I wouldn't want to write an x86_64 and modern GPU emulator in CP/M assembly.....
with modification, probably. Oregon trail is listed as available for DOS, so with some clever reprogramming, it could probably run on CPM with the cursors visible, but better than nothing. I would legit take one of these to college and play Zork during class, when I finish everything, idgaf. Professors really don't care either way, especially if you're doing the work.
I'm wondering if polishing the plastic parts with Meguiar's Plast-X or Autosol would even out the marbling. Autosol is coarser so you'd need to be careful, but Plast-X should be fine. I use both for polishing scratches out of turntable dustcovers (acrylic), and Plast-X is designed for restoring scratched headlamp covers. Autosol would also work on pitted chrome - there are probably RUclips videos showing how effective it is on chrome bumpers. Cheers.
Great video . . . . I really like your problem-solving approach. Somewhere in my garage CP/M archives, I have translation software that will enable writing the formats for most of the CP/M computers that were made in the early 1980's. I'll let you know when I find it.
The 8-Bit Guy Hey, you might have a Restoration stalker who might kidnap you and force you to rub hair bleaching cream, then wrap him in plastic wrap, then massage him in the hot sun. You never know....
I'm not sure why, but of all the audio that comes through my phone (music, pokemon go and clash of clans, and all the RUclips I watch) your intro music just blows everything away and I'm not sure why. Sounds more full than anything else that comes through my phone speakers.
Got ya! You said it had an LCD screen, obviously by accident, since you mentioned in one of the other parts that you found the CRT to be very long for this little a screen. I love how they hacked the modem in! It would be even cooler if it could hold the phone cord as well.
This is great. This was the first computer I worked with. I was a Supercalc wizard. The syntax to PIP always struck me as backwards. I can’t believe how small the screen was. Thanks for this.
I took my Osborne on a train, bad idea. It went crazy, and started eating .bat files.
Underrated comment right here.
My day has been made.
I have a feeling we should get Perry Mason on this case.
@D G But that's how it goes.
LOL
Damn, I'm addicted to your restoration videos now.
It's really neat to see all the stuff i didn't have access to when i was a kid. Especially now when i can actually comprehend it
me to
That's what got me hooked. Now if he could learn to repair the electric end of it.
Dukefazon Me too, I've started rewatching them all
Same
9:40 I like how the 'p' turns to 'q' when moving left :-)
Android users
I’m an iPhone user
It does not exist on iphone
@@bru-ri5es Good for you, but who asked and what does that have to do with the comment you replied to?
@@bru-ri5es Your comments are rather cryptic. So does the letter "p" or the letter "q" not exist on iphone?
That's simply a gorgeous looking computer.
Gorgeous looking dinosaur
Could have a bit larger screen thoe... but I mean, this thing is still really cool
@@shubarunt9893 if the screen were bigger the whole thing would have to be bigger
@@cadenhembree9693 I can not respond I have forgotten this comment, but true
It was life changing.
5:39 (Raises Hand)
5:43 (Lowers Hand)
Lol
Aaand now my coworkers think I'm crazy
(Raises hand)
8-bit guy: It's not gonna run Windows Vista either.
(Lowers hand)
@@Gaster04 (in background) Will IT run doom!?
“horseradish is not an instrument either.”
"And no, it won't run Crysis. So don't ask!"
Made me laugh.
But... Doom runs on everything, right? Don't let me cry!
I feel like the inability to run Crysis made Osborne computer bankrupt.
Yeah, what else? I guess it was because you couldn't see the enemies on a green monitor, and the lack of vram made the textures too blurry.
Tom Kay ha
zico yoshi You'd have to turn supersampling and antialiasing off, and the frame rate probably wouldn't be stellar.
Brought back lots of memories when I had one. If I remember correctly, to enter text in Supercalc put a quote mark before the text. Wordstar used the control keys with letters for commands.
Parking my Porsche 928...
Putting on my Turbo glasses...
Getting a nice glass of expensive champagne...
Caressing the smooth black marble of my work desk...
Lighting my cigar with a golden lighter...
Checking the time on my golden Casio watch...
Turning on my Osborne computer...
TIME FOR SOME STOCK MARKET ACTION
"Greed is good"
stonk
veri nais
Didn't he use an Apple II+ in that movie, though? Gotta love the "I'm a rich businessman" tech from the 80's, though -- so far behind what kids have in their pockets today, but elite at the time! I remember a friend of mine in the 80's had TWO computers in his family. TWO. IN THE SAME HOUSE! A II+ and a Mac LC, networked together with AppleTalk. It was truly impressive.
Then, Zork.
U forgot..... Murdering a hooker...😆
@@derekchristenson5711 what movie?
"And no, it won't run Crysis"
Well you didn't even try to run it.
@@capella5783 You must be exceptionally stupider to never try and see what happens.
Baa! r/wooosh
@@capella5783 who are you talking to then?
Bloody weirdo (:
Try it!
PD: it dont work :v
Baa! R/whoosh
This is one of my favorite restoration/ vintage tech channels. I was a major league tech nerd when this stuff was cutting edge, so it's always fun to take a look back at what we thought was "high tech". I always look forward to these videos.
I can just imagine feeling like a giga-Chad walking around with one of these instead of a briefcase in the early 80's lol
You mean struggling around lol there’s a damn good reason why these things are nicknamed luggables not portables lol 😂
Lol what's a giga Chad? 🤣
@@maggs131 take a look into meme culture for an answer
Damn right 💀
They weren't up to giga yet, just Kilo-Chad
The ASCII-art animation when PACMAN died was just awesome! Thanks for another [literally] amazing video.
Ladder & CatChum were also played in the GDR on a GDR personal computer. Love this games. :)
i am studying computer science and i thing i could program a game similar to this. we already had to program a very basic version of minesweeper
@Apple In java. But doing it in C++ would be fun.
Try CTRL-H for backspace. That was pretty common for that in those days. (I wrote Games Pack I for the TRS-80, so I was around then :)
Why "H"?
@@scruffythejanitor1969 The answer lies in antiquity. Actually, I don't know. I understand and understood it to be on the ASCII chart as a backspace. CTRL-H on those keyboards in those days generated an ASCII code decimal 8. (As H is the 8th letter of our alphabet). All of the "dumb" terminals, such as Hazeltine and AMD, when receiving that code would perform a backspace if they could.
@@antonnym214 It was simler than that.. CP/M had a diamond shape for the controlling keys starting with r, d,f,c.. then outward from there in order of funtion You can still use (most of) them in DOS
And it still works on modern terminals
7:05 "8BIT GUY" is not to long for CP/M, but it contains a separator (a space).
Yeah just like msdos
8BITGUY should work.
I remember carrying CRT monitors for lan party :F
when someone asked you "do you even lift" you answer - yes 21" CRT
Wow being a patreon is awesome. Good video David.
LCD screen? You mean CRT screen I presume.
MrArpSolina yeah, i noticed that too.
Little Cathoderaytube Display perhaps? ;)
Lol
I was going to reply but noticed this,
yes.
Oh man, your intro gives me such a warm 80s feeling (the rest is not bad either).
boomer
morning dew
This was one of my favorite series you've done yet. Very informative, with lots of very interesting context and background. I also like that you showed the mistakes you made. This would be great to see in the future. :) Thanks for doing what you do!
Bought mine in 1981 for $1795. The computer was actually free because the software cost that much at that time. I still have my original floppies with super Calc spreadsheets on them. The word processing was a little ridiculous because you had to keep scrolling around. It was only 52 column instead of 80 so it got real confusing trying to write anything. Nice stack of manuals though, 2 feet high that’s probably why the landfills are having problems today.
Next Week- 8-Bit guy gets Crysis to run on an Osborne
Crysis with ASCII art. Now that would be something.
Can it run Minesweeper
LGR actually made Crysis run on an Altair 8800.
Weeping Scorpion sleeper
What?
You're probably up to your ears in suggestions for the whole retrobright debacle, so here's my nickle.
As an auto detailing freak and retro hifi restoration nerd, the automotive world can help you out quite a bit. I never touch plastics with an ammonia based cleaner or a paper towel. SEM makes a great plastic prep and degreaser that will be kind to old plastics. A headlight restoration kit makes for a wonderful clear plastic detailer, I often use the polish for record player covers. Whenever cleaning or polishing ANYTHING, use a microfiber cloth. They're cheap and don't install scratches.
Another tip is to treat the plastics after retrobrighting with a UV protectant. I use water based if I can, 303 convertible top protectant and VinylX are some of my favorites. They'll also help to even out the color. Marbling like on the keys can be taken out with some plastic polish, but beware that since it is a mild abrasive, the lettering can come off if it's pad printed on.
Doubt you'll see this or make it this far, but I do enjoy the videos. Thanks for your hard work.
@bandwagon240 Thanks for the ideas, I'll see what is in the UK availble that is similar. I suppose anything automotive adds a price premium than the generic same product.
Hey! You only had a handful of disks, I had a whole box!
The Obsolete Geek lol
Um... wouldn't a 5155 have been a more accurate comparison? You'd have won that battle!
Or a 5100
The Obsolete Geek
He still had a free hand :p
"Thanks goes out to Brendon for sending me these photos of his unit" /snicker
This was a great 3 part series. Keep doing these things. I love how you make everything sound interesting.
CP/M was actually designed to run on an intel 8080. it has no z80 instructions in it but since the z80 instruction set was a superset off the 8080 instruction set, the z80 could run cp/m.
100% true - I was thinking the same thing while watching the video!
The Z80 wasn't introduced until 1976.
An obvious advantage was that it needed fewer support chips than the i8080
A couple of Intel engineers left the company and formed Zilog. That's why the(ir) Z80 was an offshoot of the 8080
Offshoot and superset with two sets of 8080 registers and index registers. I've spent most of my life writing code for the z80 in assembler and c. only in last few years has my company moved away from the z80 and to arm processors. The z80 will always hold a fond place in my heart.
ChristopherLionRoars I
I knew a company that had a few hundred of them. They threw them out. Ouch!
I know there's a reality that there just isn't enough storage space for everything, but it always pains me when companies or individuals do things like that. Someone, somewhere, would have gladly taken it off their hands!
FYI: CP/M first ran on Intel 8080 systems like the MITS Altair. The Z-80 was a clone of the 8080 with some improvements by an upstart named Zilog. Both CPUs ran the same machine language, though code optimized for Z80 ran faster on that platform. The Z80 postdated the Intel 8080 on release by about two years.
Paranoid Factoid The Z80 had major features not in the 8080 (and not in the 8085 followup from Intel either). More than twice as many registers, more interrupts, a better front side bus interface, and a bunch of extra instructions. Their 16 bit Z8000 lost out to Intel's 8086/8088 probably because of IBM's choice.
@@johnfrancisdoe1563 imagine if IBM went for the z8000 instead of the 8086 chips. Pc gaming would not be the same...
That upstart Zilog was lead by the guys that designed the 8080 though (mainly Federico Faggin and Masatoshi Shima). They had been frustraded with Intel management since they designed the 4004 (the first microprocessor) for Intel in 1971 and decided to start their own firm instead.
Dude it does not matter how parts this needs , the most important thing how useful and entertaining is!
New in- and outro is quite majestical
"release" is misspelled at 0:55 (I looked for comments saying this already and didn't see any, so I thought I'd point it out, heh)
Grammar Nazi...
Wordstar didn't have spell check?
But...
_Will it run Crysis?_
Henriko Magnifico
IT CAN'T!
5:39
Obviously it can
Bdgt 0076
"And no, it won't run Crysis, so don't ask!"
- David The 8-Bit Guy
Henriko Magnifico It won't run crysis but
it will run crysis 2.
Nageek Gamer
Don't you understand?!? This can't play any fucking game, PERIOD.
You didn't mention the most sold CP/M computer ever: the Microsoft CP/M Softcard for the Apple II :)
At 3:00 you say that it has a "LCD screen" :)
Commodore made a CP/M cartridge for the C64. And the C128 has a built-in Z80 CPU, so it can run CP/M with no extra hardware needed.
Yes! Nice to "read" you VWestlife
0:56 CP/m first relase 1974
Commodore 128 and Amstrad CPC line of computers were all CP/M compatible, provided you had a floppy drive. Many other computer had CP/M as an expansion option (C64, Acorn BBC, MSX computers etc.). So, Apple II with CP/M card was hardly "the most sold CP/M computer ever"...
The advancement in tech is amazing. We made computers so user friendly today! You had to study and use the older computers a lot to navigate or accomplish anything. Absolutely amazing. I love it
Many years ago I had a Heathkit 89 Computer that ran the CP/M operating system. Back then CP/M was a very basic, text only operating system that was quite small in size. It was designed to run on 8 bit computers that had a maximum memory capacity of 64k. It was written to run on the intel 8080 cpu or the Zilog Z80 cpu, which was compatible with 8080 instructions.
Never said I NEED IT so fast before
Still more ports than the MacBook...
The average human dick has more ports than a MacBook, and dicks only have one hole, so...
maccollectorZ but can it carry video, audio, data and power at once without a adapter
NehanPlays Yes. There is even a monitor sold by LG that does all four with just the USB type C cable
I meant like connecting hard drives, headphones and other stuff which are not usb - c like the old ones not the new ones which have usb-c
@_ eel now that's funny as shit. You took my analogy and made it even better!
0:58 'First Relase' Pobodys Neftect.
Disclaimer: I spelled it wrong on porpoise.
O:56
0:56
I've got one of these I've been working on for a little while. Thanks so much for posting this series. It was a great help!!
What a blast from the past! We bought an OS1 in Houston in 1983. Included a 2 hr how to class in which the instructor basically explained in detail how info was put into sectors on a floppy and how to format said floppy. Its encyclopedic manual was written in geek speak that sounded like it was poorly translated from Japanese. We moved to NY and I joined a Kaypro user group. Thank God for user groups where engineers explained to the rest of us how to use computers and printers. There were all sorts of tips and tricks, like getting twice the storage from the less than 100K floppy by formatting the back side, computer bulletin boards that offered free non graphical games and utilities (I think there was a translator utility that allowed me to read kaypro disks, all pre internet), and a magazine. Osborne briefly published a magazine with a cover pic of a guy sitting on a mountaintop and running the OS1 off a battery! It was either Arthur C Clarke or Stanley Kubrick that supposedly wrote part of the 2001 Space Odyssey screenplay on an Osborne while in...Cyprus? And sent it via modem to Hollywood. No doubt at 8 bps over a landline. And all of the operating system ran in a compact but classy 64k of ram! It may seem spartan by today's standards, but it was elegant and ordered and not as prone to the glitches of today's bloated operating systems. I loved that 30lb "sewing machine." It opened up a whole new world to me.
7:36 It is right there in front: ^G deletes character to right. Backspace should be ^H.
The kaypro did have a program called uniform, that allowed it to read other format disks
5:39 - "And no, it won't run Crysis, so don't ask." I just busted out laughing! 🤣
In the old days, I use to have one of these, I used it so much I think I could still find my way around WordStar. Wow, what a blast for the past, thank you.
Have you used it with external display or the built-in one was enough?
Thank you so much for taking your time to deal with the 8-bit systems, especially for the Z-80. I still have two Osborne 1's, a Kaypro 2, a Kaypro II., and a Kaypro 10, and a "home-built CP/M system that I cannot remember what it was. I also purchased the Universal disk formatter for most CP/M systems. Still, I learned Basic from a Timex Sinclair 1000, a 1500, and the 2068. Trough those AND CP/M I learned how to code in machine language. So many years ago, and so much has been forgotten - but those machines still live in my house. Again, thank you for the memories.
I think it's Control-H in Wordstar... but it's been 25 years so I could be wrong!
"it won't run crysis so don't ask". you made me laugh real loud lol
3:06 lcd screen? thought it was a cathode ray tube
Probably just a mistake, because it has a 5" crt
One of the first three computers I ever touched. My friend and I stayed up many nights playing Colossal Cave text adventure! Thanks for the great videos!!!
My GOD! This is the first ever computer I touched as a 7 year old kid, and even back then i thought "WHY IS THE TV MONITOR SO SMALL?" lol This is RETRO beyond RETRO! (as I usually think of the Commodore VIC 20, then later 64 as being my First Ever Proper Computers)
Thanks for taking the time to make these videos! You are filling missing gaps in my childhood. It was a time when most young kids would never see a real early computer, or be allowed to touch one (they were very expensive adult only "business' machines)
Hi there, Paulo from Brazil 😃 Never done any retrobright restorations, but I came with an idea. You could use glass instead of plastic wrapping, and between the glass and the parts, some kind of spacer. Don't know, maybe a rubber band or some washers. Just a little bit of my thoughts.
hmmm. 1 mil channel and no replies
@@RetroNIX8
probably because he's brazilian with a brazilian audience, while this channel's demographic is made up of mostly people from english speaking countries? ever thought of that?
@@maeborowski1315 .
2:40 "The guy on the left doesn't stand a chance."
I think that the IBM 5100, was the first portable computer. It was introduced in 1975.
Yes, but the IBM 5100 weighed 24 kg / 50 pounds, about twice the weight of the Osbourne. "Portable" compared to a normal desktop computer of the era for sure, but otherwise a very liberal usage of the term - I doubt most executives would have been excited about carrying a 40 pounds device with them on a daily basis. Also it was a little pricey - anywhere between $9,000 and $20,000, compared to less than $2,000 for the Osborne.
This is my favorite channel on RUclips by far, really top notch content
CP/M was designed for the Intel 8080 initially as well as the Zilog Z80. There were a number of programs that could be be used to reformat disks in the various compute formats, the most well known being Uniform. Great videos, by the way!
new intro is fire.
not
Saw you on LinusTechTips!!😃😃😃
Lost Night me too
Really ?? What video ?
Arthur Gtx SLI vid. I think 2 days ago
Arthur answered below.. Referencing an old iBookguy video
Does Linus have a video with 8 bit guy included?
“And no it won’t even run Cyris”
Omega 3000: hold my beer
I love this new intro! :)
That computeriser race was very exciting.
You won convincingly!
I want one!
"It won't run Crysis, so don't ask" lmao
Jeez, there are as many Pac-Pac-Pac-Man clones out there, if not more than grains of sand in the desert...
That ladder game reminded me very much of that Namco game, Mappy.
I'd take the marbled plastic over gross yellowed any day, no offense Clint.
9:23 Why are you puting so much emphasis on the 'h' ?
Hwite
Whaite
"Coo Hwip"
- Stewie Griffin.
The 8-Bit Guy: 5:34
Also 8-Bit's: 8:36
Man what a great video. I'm 46 and this video took me back to the days of my Tandy 1000 from radio shack. The old days of computing where fun but compared to today it's like starting a fire with two sticks vs a lighter.
is there a longer version of the intro song? i love it haha
Yes, Anders Jensen made a longer version called Morning Dew. soundcloud.com/eox-studios/morning-dew
but can it run Doom? (I'm sure some lunatic is going to try that)
You could probably get a reasonable game of 3D Monster Maze running on it, and from there it's a relatively small step to something that looks like a blocky, monochrome, low framerate version of Wolfenstein and/or Doom. The main limit is memory and character printing rate.
I came across a website that had a remarkably exhaustive catalog of machines that run Doom. Given how low-resource some were compared to the average CP/M box, and given that there are "Text mode" and "ASCII graphics" versions floating around, a CP/M Doom port should not be beyond the realm of possibility.
@@mrz80 but what about doom eternal?
@@fyfrrez Ok, that might be a bit much :D
11:23 "R..... the reset butt" 😂
This may be one of the coolest looking computers I’ve ever seen. I always loved the Apple II, the original Titanium MacBook Pro, etc. But I had never heard of the Osborne until this series. The “ease of use” for 1981 is amazing. Dual disk drives, even storage for extra discs, full size keyboard, etc. and even the design of the front of the computer: I love it all. I need to look into trying to buy one just to play around with, although I don’t know the programming language (started with MS-DOS). Looks simple enough though. Thanks for this series David!
I still have an osborne stuck up in my attic. Remember going to osborne club meetings where there would be 50 - 60 osbornes lined up copying the latest software. You needed like 35 disks to get a complete set. I can't remember any of that stuff, but I did use some of it. The big attraction to an osborne was the free copy of dbase that came with each machine. I used it to process my business payroll and inventory, worked great!
But can it run Doom?
Behave.
+TheRetroGamest I think +LaggyJuice64 meant that it only plays in text mode. At least, that's the impression I got.
_Hangar Entrance_
_A dark squarish room. You are just inside the entry bay, which has closed behind you. There's no way out that way. Pillars obscure your view, and the viewport on the right lets in but little light. The center of the room, to the north, is depressed. a couple of steps lead down to it. A pillar prevents you moving to the northwest but your movement towards your left, to the west, is unhindered._
_You see a health bonus here._
>
bash kakodemon with fist
zookatone Go west
Eat health bonus
Go north
Go west
Go up stairs
Eat armour bonus
Eat armour bonus
Eat armour
I wonder how many thousands of diskettes would it take to even transfer Crysis on it... and how many hard drives would it take to fit it... and how many internal upgrades would it take to actually make it run Windows.... basically you can fit a normal mini PC and an Nvidia Titan in there, then scare your friends by running a recent AAA game on it... wouldn't that be a fun project?
Since it's a Turing-complete machine it would _technically_ be able to run any possible program (even Crysis), given enough memory and suitable emulation software (that's always the catch). However, I wouldn't want to write an x86_64 and modern GPU emulator in CP/M assembly.....
But can it run Oregon Trail?
with modification, probably. Oregon trail is listed as available for DOS, so with some clever reprogramming, it could probably run on CPM with the cursors visible, but better than nothing. I would legit take one of these to college and play Zork during class, when I finish everything, idgaf. Professors really don't care either way, especially if you're doing the work.
I'm wondering if polishing the plastic parts with Meguiar's Plast-X or Autosol would even out the marbling. Autosol is coarser so you'd need to be careful, but Plast-X should be fine. I use both for polishing scratches out of turntable dustcovers (acrylic), and Plast-X is designed for restoring scratched headlamp covers. Autosol would also work on pitted chrome - there are probably RUclips videos showing how effective it is on chrome bumpers. Cheers.
Great video . . . . I really like your problem-solving approach. Somewhere in my garage CP/M archives, I have translation software that will enable writing the formats for most of the CP/M computers that were made in the early 1980's. I'll let you know when I find it.
your gonna wanna blur out that liscense plate friend
Why? Hundreds of people see it every day when I drive through town.
The 8-Bit Guy Hey, you might have a Restoration stalker who might kidnap you and force you to rub hair bleaching cream, then wrap him in plastic wrap, then massage him in the hot sun. You never know....
James Roy You think he shaves his hair like that? :v
12:26 Whoa, there buddy!
13:10 Again??
Will it run MS Paint?
No
It did before they shut down the Microsoft store.
Just to clarify, CP/M was not designed for the Z80 (ZED 80 if you live in the UK, as I do). It was designed around the Intel 8080.
3:30 that reminded me of the old iMac G3 ad in which they compare the installation of the computer with an HP Windows 95 PC.
There goes another 15 minutes of sleep
Ladder looks like a Lode Runner clone.
I am not sure you could actually jump in Lode Runner (at least the Apple ][ version which I played) so this "feels" more like Donkey Kong...
can it run crysis?
5:39
Woo! I've been waiting for this!
An awesome machine. Great series, 8 bit guy!
What ?? I thought the Osborne had a CRT
iphone 6p model?
Short for 6 plus
I think you're right in this context, Jack, but there is an actual recent Google Nexus 6P phone :P
Elliot Bridgewater yeah I know, I have one :P
I was going to ask if it can run Crysis until you mentioned it.
I'm not sure why, but of all the audio that comes through my phone (music, pokemon go and clash of clans, and all the RUclips I watch) your intro music just blows everything away and I'm not sure why. Sounds more full than anything else that comes through my phone speakers.
Got ya! You said it had an LCD screen, obviously by accident, since you mentioned in one of the other parts that you found the CRT to be very long for this little a screen. I love how they hacked the modem in! It would be even cooler if it could hold the phone cord as well.
Just add RGB lightning And it can run Crysis. Trust me it real
Nah just a gaming chair
A Gaming Chair and RGB lighting
xXSUBEXx *lighting. You don't wanna kill that PC
But now I actually want to see a RGB lightning.
i can Get it working
thats something our freindly nighbourhood linus would say
“No, it won’t run Crysis” 😂😂😂
So it can't run Crysis, but can it run Minecraft?
stfu....
I have fond memories of growing up with a Kaypro IIx in the house. Your model is in fabulous condition cosmetically. I wish I still had mine.
lol thanks Logan for sending photos of your unit 12:30 *giggity*
Part 4?
oy, yo ass was on Linus Tech Tips my dude
Dion B proof?
WRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY the tinyest sli setup ever 5:08
Who’s watching this on a Osbourne 1 computer?
No one, because it's "Osborne".
Prove it
This is great. This was the first computer I worked with. I was a Supercalc wizard. The syntax to PIP always struck me as backwards. I can’t believe how small the screen was. Thanks for this.
I loved using my OS1 - and my Vixen. Great PCs for their day. Thanks for the video!