The Computer History thread

Share your computer history lore! Memories, finds, collector's items, etc. @IBMJunkman this means YOU!!

I'm not much of a collector, but from time to time, I'll snag a unique piece of computer history for my very small hardware collection & recently came across a good-quality Osborne 1, which is considered to be the first "laptop" aka "luggables" haha. A brief history: (4 pages)

                    Osborne!
                

Notebooks. Netbooks. Smartphones. Tablets. In 2011, the default state of personal computing is mobile--traditional desktop PCs are still with us, but they've become the outliers. It wasn't always so. In their earliest days, in fact, PCs weren't primarily deskbound; they were entirely deskbound. The

www.technologizer.com

I had a chance to get a bootable one from a thrift store about 25 years ago for FIVE DOLLARS, but didn't have the room for it at the time & have regretted it ever since! There was no battery & it basically folded up into a metal suitcase, sort of like a sewing machine:

These days we have tri-fold phones lol:

You boot up the CP/M OS on one 5.25" floppy & then load the program on the second floppy:

Launch price was $1,795 USD, which is about $5,500 in today's money, or like...

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