pal@uwvax.ARPA (Anil A. Pal) (08/31/83)
A warning for any of you who have, or are thinking of buying, an Osborne
computer.
I have an Osborne I, with double density disks.
I decided to get the 80-column upgrade offered by Osborne, both because
80 columns seemed nice and the other features promised (User-definable
character sets and higher serial-port baud rates) were very attractive.
I went in to the local ComputerLand store where I had bought the Osborne
initially. They took the money for the upgrade, and said I would be notified
by mail to bring in the Osborne for the upgrade, which would take about 48 hrs.
plus transit time to-from California.
I did receive the notification, and took te Osborne in a day or two before the
required date. I was told that Osborne was slipping a little in their
schedule, so it would take a little longer than expected.
That was the last I heard for a LONG time. Several calls to Osborne
resulted in little progress. I was told it "might take 6 weeks" (this 2 months
after sending it in), and that "We have no record of an Osborne with that
serial number". They even denied ever having manufactured a machine with the
serial nu,mber in question!! At this point I had ComputerLand track down the
shipping invoices and so on, and discovered that Osborne had misprinted the
serial number in their shipping records. A strong letter to Osborne followed,
and I eventually did get the computer back. HOWEVER, it is now completely
flakey. It resets anytime a new soul enters the world, and often turns on
both drives and WILL NOT TURN THEM OFF until switched off overnight.
ComputerLand says that the 80-column board needs frequent reseating, and also
that NEARLY EVERY 80-COLUMN OSBORNE THEY KNOW OF HAS THIS PROBLEM.
Oh, and by the way: Ther is no mention of the other goodies which were
supposed to come with the 80-col. upgrade, such as higher baud rates and
user-definable character sets. I guess they just decided not to include them
in the 80-column upgrade after all.
Along with this, I bought the Osborne during the period when they were
offering a free dBase II package. The package was not delivered until about
5 months later, and then only after several calls and a letter. And people
moan about JRT Pascal.
In sum, I have had almost ZERO use of the Osborne since it was bought.
Even when the hardware worked, I did not have the main software system I
needed (dBase) for the applications I envisaged. My impression of Osborne's
business practices was (and is) that they are sloppy and inefficient at best,
and somewhat less than honourable. I would not recommend that any net readers
purchase the 80-column upgrade, and would be wary of doing business with them
again. As soon as I recover financially, I will buy a real working computer,
but in the meantime:
ANYONE WANT AN OSBORNE I WITH ALL OPTIONS? PLEEAASSEE??keaton@nmtvax.UUCP (09/15/83)
I had similar problems when I sent my Osborne 1 back to have double
density installed in January of this year. Osborne actually lost my machine
and they did four "top-priority" (whatever that means) searches before they
finally found it. I got my machine back in March. Fortunately, I only had
double density installed and not the 80-column mod so I haven't had any
reliability problems with my machine.
David Keaton
...!ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!keaton
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David Keatonkeaton@ucb-vax@nmtvax.UUCP (09/21/83)
Article-I.D.: nmtvax.438
In-Reply-To: Article <1060@uwvax.ARPA>
I had similar problems when I sent my Osborne 1 back to have double
density installed in January of this year. Osborne actually lost my machine
and they did four "top-priority" (whatever that means) searches before they
finally found it. I got my machine back in March. Fortunately, I only had
double density installed and not the 80-column mod so I haven't had any
reliability problems with my machine.
David Keaton
...!ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!keaton
--
David Keaton