Date   : Fri, 21 Feb 1986 09:46:00-PST
From   : STANLEY@USC-ISIF.ARPA
Subject: Re: have an Osborne-1, would like to make it useful

       
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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, ??
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    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 Stanley