bandy@lll-lcc.UUcp (Andrew Scott Beals) (02/19/86)
Hi folks. I have a very very old (brown case) Osborne 1 that I'd like
to get some use out of. I just recently dusted the little bugger off and
put in a new power supply (AGAIN!), and I have a few questions.
Re: double density upgrade
Which one should I use? I can go to The Valley and get myself an Osborne
made (and designed? uh oh!) upgrade. However, I have seen ads from a Texas
firm that sells a DD upgrade. Does anyone know about it?
Re: buggy rom software / bios source on disk?
In the version that I have (1.43? 1.36? can't remember now), the ROM software
was written by someone who didn't know CP/M coding conventions (CP/M is
an 8080 operating system, therefore the z80 registers are sacred and are not
to be clobbered), so I can't use things like Turbo Pascal or TLC Lisp.
Sniff sniff. Is there an upgrade that I can get that will fix the roms?
Does anyone have the BIOS source code on disk? One could patch around the
rom brokenness that way...
thanks muchly!
--
Gee, usenet is almost as fast as US mail!
andy beals
bandy@lll-crg.arpa {ihnp4,seismo,qantel,sun}!lll-crg!bandy
LLNL, P.O. Box 808, L-419, Livermore CA 94550 (415) 423-1948christe@RAND-UNIX.ARPA (Chris McMenomy) (02/21/86)
We ordered and installed the Nuevo Double Density upgrade (that's the firm in Texas you're thinking about) on our brown case Osborne I in August, 1984. It took us about three hours, the first to get our courage up to open the case--between the two of us we have about as much electronic/mechanical/electrical engineering experience as a sixties' sitcom housewife--and the last because we misread the instructions, which were perfectly clear, supplemented with photos. If we can do it, you can. Cost then was around $150, and we figured at the rate we were buying disks, DD capability alone would pay for itself in six months (it did). Besides making 184K available instead of 92K, it also stores data in 1K (rather than 2K) blocks, so there is less wasted space. I am not a hardware expert, so I can't give you a detailed analysis of performance, but since we installed it we haven't had any cause to worry about it, and we use our O1 heavily--4 hours a day or so, for text processing and programming. The DD upgrade kit includes the Osborne ROM version 1.5 which uses the BIOS correctly. There are instructions for modifying the system tracks to use the new ROM and DD code (but be careful: it is done using a SETUP file and it takes longer than you think to finish; if it doesn't finish, it won't work on the new ROM, and you'll have to put the old ROM back in and start over). Once installed, the Nueveo-supplied ROM is all you need to run Borland's Turbo Pascal (which we use a lot). I can't answer for TLC Lisp because we don't have it, but if all it requires is a 1.5 revision, you should be set. Good Luck! Christe McMenomy Rand Corporation christe@rand-unix
STANLEY@USC-ISIF.ARPA (02/21/86)
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Date: 18 Feb 86 21:01:52 GMT
From: Andrew Scott Beals <bandy%lll-lcc.uucp@BRL.ARPA>
To: info-cpm@AMSAA.ARPA
Subject: have an Osborne-1, would like to make it useful
Keywords: DD upgrade, broken ROMs, bios code on disk, ??
Return-Path: <@USC-ECLB.ARPA:info-cpm-request@AMSAA>
Message-ID: <158@lll-lcc.UUcp>
Newsgroups: net.micro.cpm
Hi folks. I have a very very old (brown case) Osborne 1 that I'd like
to get some use out of. I just recently dusted the little bugger off and
put in a new power supply (AGAIN!), and I have a few questions.
Re: double density upgrade
Which one should I use? I can go to The Valley and get myself an Osborne
made (and designed? uh oh!) upgrade. However, I have seen ads from a Texas
firm that sells a DD upgrade. Does anyone know about it?
Re: buggy rom software / bios source on disk?
In the version that I have (1.43? 1.36? can't remember now), the ROM software
was written by someone who didn't know CP/M coding conventions (CP/M is
an 8080 operating system, therefore the z80 registers are sacred and are not
to be clobbered), so I can't use things like Turbo Pascal or TLC Lisp.
Sniff sniff. Is there an upgrade that I can get that will fix the roms?
Does anyone have the BIOS source code on disk? One could patch around the
rom brokenness that way...
thanks muchly!
--
Gee, usenet is almost as fast as US mail!
andy beals
bandy@lll-crg.arpa {ihnp4,seismo,qantel,sun}!lll-crg!bandy
LLNL, P.O. Box 808, L-419, Livermore CA 94550 (415) 423-1948
--------------------
Andy,
I have a blue-case Ozzie with the Osborne double density board,
and it works just fine. I understand that some of them have
trouble with single-density disks, but mine doesn't.
Have no first hand knowledge of Nuevo (that outfit in Texas)
products, but everyone I have heard of with their stuff raves
about the product and the service. Probably a safe try.
...Dick StanleyGhenis.pasa@xerox.ARPA (02/21/86)
Besides the Osborne DD upgrade, Nuevo Electronics has a proven one too. Stay away from anything made by a company called Osmosis, they are famous for their lemons. Your DD upgrade should come with a new ROM since the old one doesn't know about DD, so that solves your other problem. I have the Nuevo DD upgrade and BIOS in my O-1 (a blue case model) and Turbo Pascal runs just fine on it. Make sure you tell them you have an older model Osborne, the upgrade is different for it. By the way, you would do well to get in touch with your local Osborne users' group; now that Osborne has gone under that may be your only resource for the machine. Also becoming a member of FOG (First Osborne Group) is very worthwhile. If you can't find a local group send me a message, I might be able to help. Enjoy! Pablo Ghenis, Secretary, Osborne Komputer Owners' Klub (OKOK) arpa: ghenis.pasa@xerox.com Compuserve: 1072,70406