- Osborne Vixen
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Osborne Vixen Developer Adam Osborne Type portable computer Release date 1984 Introductory price USD$1,498 Operating system CP/M, CPM + CPU Zilog Z80 @ 4.0MHZ Memory 64KB The Osborne Vixen was a "luggable" portable computer announced by the Osborne Computer Corporation in November 1984, as a follow up to their Osborne 1 and Osborne Executive system. [1]
The Vixen had a 4 MHz Zilog Z80 microprocessor, with 64 KB dynamic RAM. It had a 7-inch diagonal amber display that could show 24 lines by 80 columns of memory mapped video. It used two 400 KB disk drives, utilizing double-density double-sided 5.25" diskettes. As a luggable, it weighed about 18 pounds. Contemporary advertising pointed out that it could fit under the seat in airplane, with dimensions of 12 5/8 by 16 1/4 by 6 1/4 inches (321 by 413 by 159 mm).
When it was released, the Vixen had a retail price of $1298. Customers also had the option of purchasing a 10 megabyte hard disk for $1498.
The Vixen used version 2.2 of the CP/M operating system. It was also bundled with a number of software packages: WordStar, the popular word processing package; SuperCalc, a spreadsheet; MBASIC, a programming language; Osboard, a graphics and drawing program; TurnKey, a system utility; MediaMaster, a data interchange program that allowed compatibility with over "200 other computers"; and Desolation, a game.
The Vixen was also known as the Osborne 4. It was developed and released after the bankruptcy of the Osborne corporation. An earlier system also called "Vixen" was never released.[2] Due to technical problems with prototypes and the corporate bankruptcy, by the time the CP/M Vixen was introduced, it was already obsoleted by MS-DOS IBM PC compatibles.[3]
Software
Program Name Version Published by Program Type Desolation Game Osboard Software Graphics Wordstar 3.3 MicroPro International Application Supercalc 2 Sorcim Application MBasic Microsoft Application References
- ^ Peggy Watt, Osborne shows new computer Info World magazine, November 12 1984, retrieved from Google Books December 16 2009
- ^ John Dvorak, Adam Osborne, Hypergrowth: the rise and fall of Osborne Computer Corporation ,Idthekkethan Pub. Co., 1984 ISBN 0-918347-00-9, page 70
- ^ Robert J. Thierauf, A problem-finding approach to effective corporate planning, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987 ISBN 0-89930-262-9, pages 15-16
External links
Categories:- Portable computers
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