Trashbytes wrote on 2024-10-29, 10:09:

PcBytes wrote on 2024-10-29, 10:04:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-10-29, 05:37:

Caps dry out with boards in long term storage, if it hasn't been powered up in 20 years unless the caps were top notch to start with there is a good chance some of them will need replacing.

Tayehs, and some were broken off the board. I figured that if I do a recap I might as well replace 'em all.

Nuke and Pave.

It the only way to be sure !

True dat. I was actually planning to use 820uF 4v poly caps off Xbox 360 mainboards ( I have a lot of 1st gen Xenon scrap boards that fit the silkscreen used on older mobos) but figured I might run into issues using polymers on (Super) Socket 7.

So I have been going to this large second hand shop every week for years now and never found anything special. (Well I got an Apple TAM there also to be fair). Well today was my lucky day. On a small table on wheels were two dirty but seemingly "boxes" with the Osborne logos. I haven't ever seen one for sale in my country so I honestly thought they were power tools or similar. But when I opened the lid and saw the beautiful CRT and keyboard I couldn't believe it. And since they were for sale for a reasonable price I grabbed them both. I just came home with them but wanted to share my findings directly. Now the fun part begins with all the research and preparations before power on. I don't know if there are any Osborne experts on Vogons or maybe i should check on VCFED or similar - but any input is appreciated. And if there is interest I can start a new thread about my adventure.

Baleog wrote on 2024-10-29, 15:17:

So I have been going to this large second hand shop every week for years now and never found anything special. (Well I got an Apple TAM there also to be fair). Well today was my lucky day. On a small table on wheels were two dirty but seemingly "boxes" with the Osborne logos. I haven't ever seen one for sale in my country so I honestly thought they were power tools or similar. But when I opened the lid and saw the beautiful CRT and keyboard I couldn't believe it. And since they were for sale for a reasonable price I grabbed them both. I just came home with them but wanted to share my findings directly. Now the fun part begins with all the research and preparations before power on. I don't know if there are any Osborne experts on Vogons or maybe i should check on VCFED or similar - but any input is appreciated. And if there is interest I can start a new thread about my adventure.

Awesome find. Please do share the specs, once you know.

Baleog wrote on 2024-10-29, 15:17:

So I have been going to this large second hand shop every week for years now and never found anything special. (Well I got an Apple TAM there also to be fair). Well today was my lucky day. On a small table on wheels were two dirty but seemingly "boxes" with the Osborne logos. I haven't ever seen one for sale in my country so I honestly thought they were power tools or similar. But when I opened the lid and saw the beautiful CRT and keyboard I couldn't believe it. And since they were for sale for a reasonable price I grabbed them both. I just came home with them but wanted to share my findings directly. Now the fun part begins with all the research and preparations before power on. I don't know if there are any Osborne experts on Vogons or maybe i should check on VCFED or similar - but any input is appreciated. And if there is interest I can start a new thread about my adventure.

What an amazing find! It's rare to find vintage stuff at thrift stores, but patience can pay off!

Bought a new stock NEC floppy drive along with a box of CD-R and two floppy disks.

Baleog wrote on 2024-10-29, 15:17:

So I have been going to this large second hand shop every week for years now and never found anything special. (Well I got an Apple TAM there also to be fair). Well today was my lucky day. On a small table on wheels were two dirty but seemingly "boxes" with the Osborne logos. I haven't ever seen one for sale in my country so I honestly thought they were power tools or similar. But when I opened the lid and saw the beautiful CRT and keyboard I couldn't believe it. And since they were for sale for a reasonable price I grabbed them both. I just came home with them but wanted to share my findings directly. Now the fun part begins with all the research and preparations before power on. I don't know if there are any Osborne experts on Vogons or maybe i should check on VCFED or similar - but any input is appreciated. And if there is interest I can start a new thread about my adventure.

If you write real small, you can get everything I know about them on a postage stamp, but they're CP/M machines, probably a util called 22Nice will be useful, between that and/or a greaseweazel you should be able to get stuff to them from DOS PC.

Edit: these seem to be Osborne's "last gasp" machine.. https://vintagecomputer.com/osborne-vixen.html

Yeah! It seems to be the Vixen/Osborne 4 which had som nice upgrades from the first one. I dont have a greaseweazel at hand but its on my shopping list. But first im going to check if it's possible to use a gotek.

It's hard to see from the pictures but it's actually more petite than you might think. And the keyboard feels alright. I have joined the users group on FB also so they should have som info too.

I *almost* grabbed an Osborne 2 off a local craigslist post a few years ago... but the seller didn't respond to my message 🙁

Baleog wrote on 2024-10-29, 15:17:

since they were for sale for a reasonable price I grabbed them both.

Certainly a very cool bit of history there. But what are you planning to do with them? Just for collection / display? I assume there wouldn't be many games for this platform? Would be interesting to see what these are capable of though. If there's no hard drive inside you'd presumably need to have floppy disks that these things can boot from? Would that have to be CP/M or could you use MS-DOS?

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2024-10-29, 17:24:

Baleog wrote on 2024-10-29, 15:17:

since they were for sale for a reasonable price I grabbed them both.

Certainly a very cool bit of history there. But what are you planning to do with them? Just for collection / display? I assume there wouldn't be many games for this platform? Would be interesting to see what these are capable of though. If there's no hard drive inside you'd presumably need to have floppy disks that these things can boot from? Would that have to be CP/M or could you use MS-DOS?

Mostly just for the collection. They are business machines so word processing and spread sheets were the primary uses im guessing. But there are also some games (text mode, no sound), maybe now I will finally try Zork for more than 3 minutes 😀 But yeah, no HDD. And Z80 so they run CP/M. I already have a couple of machines that can run CP/M (C128, SVI-738) but I havent really tinkered with it.

I think there's a clone of GORILLA.BAS for CP/M so at least there's that 😀

stamasd wrote on 2024-10-29, 17:39:

I think there's a clone of GORILLA.BAS for CP/M so at least there's that 😀

I have played more Nibbles and Gorilla in my youth than I care to admit 😀

1$

Nice period pointer piloter, I think I had that one with Belkin branding got a couple of years out of it of daily driver abuse. So probably last a long time on a retro machine.

Maryoo wrote on 2024-10-29, 18:17:

1$

My first optical mouse i had back in the days! I even remember that box. What an upgrade from a rubber-ball mouse!

Pulled the trigger on a Gainward Dragon 3000 12MB.

Guess I'll have to figure out where to get a good patch cable... the only one I have would almost span around a whole CRT 🤣

dominusprog wrote on 2024-10-29, 16:13:

Bought a new stock NEC floppy drive along with a box of CD-R and two floppy disks.

My local Walgreens has several 50 spindles of Verbatim CD-R on clearance for slightly over $2. I wanted to buy but don't think I need them.

eesz34 wrote on 2024-10-30, 14:37:

dominusprog wrote on 2024-10-29, 16:13:

Bought a new stock NEC floppy drive along with a box of CD-R and two floppy disks.

My local Walgreens has several 50 spindles of Verbatim CD-R on clearance for slightly over $2. I wanted to buy but don't think I need them.

GRab them and throw them on Evil Bay, stuff like that still sells well there, might get 15 USD for each one.

Ati Radeon 8500 XT. Made in Canada. 64mb, 300/300mhz. Hopefully it works. It's from ebay so it's "tested" with the air quotes. And hopefully Agp4Life is wrong about these 😜

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-10-30, 16:07:

Ati Radeon 8500 XT. Made in Canada. 64mb, 300/300mhz. Hopefully it works. It's from ebay so it's "tested" with the air quotes. And hopefully Agp4Life is wrong about these 😜

Brave assumption! 😜
It looks to be missing this chip, (Marked Red) which usually in practice means it's not even full 275/275. Clocks.

Hopefully it will be a full 275/275 though.