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Osborne Executive... Worth a buy?

I'm not sure you posted this in the right section, but.....

I've got one with the original documentation and disks, and a modem.
Without manuals & disks, I wouldn't be offering any more than $ 100-125, especially as it's on Craigslist and not on EBay. Doesn't look that clean from what I can see.
Mind you, in the Pacific Northwest, there may be more who might want one.

PS: re: other reply - the screen on the Exec was bigger and was amber in color, rather than the real small B&W screen the original Osborne 1.
 
Ok, here we go. Under well stored conditions, $50 would be close to stealing it. As we all know, depends who is looking at that moment. Curtis had to rescue one on ebay with the min. opening bid plus shipping. I think the opening bid was $40. If that was "out in the shed", it is likely so corroded and rusty as to be close to worthless.

On the positive side, the screen is working. It appears that the Excutive in now infamous for having broken connections in the video circuits (solder joint gets stressed and fails). I have one of those sitting behind me now. I repaired it once, took hours to get it apart to get at the joint, it worked great, I put it back together and I was back to square one. That is where I am to this day, square one. Machine works fine just screen doesn't come on. BTW, this is the same machine Curtis rescued. I bought it from him several days later.
 
Okay, I think I might wait for the right one to pop up either locally or on eBay. I work really close to RE-PC, so hopefully they'll get one at some point in the near future that's not in rough shape.

Regarding the screen, I do know the Executive had a larger screen. I just think they made it look like a lot bigger of a difference in the ad. Maybe it really is? I've never seen two of these up close, so can't be the real judge.

Other than a Commodore 128D I used to have, which got stolen a long time ago, I've never had a CP/M machine. I'd really like to start collecting a few... Osbornes and Kaypros appeal to me.
 
chuckcmagee said:
Ok, here we go. Under well stored conditions, $50 would be close to stealing it. As we all know, depends who is looking at that moment. Curtis had to rescue one on ebay with the min. opening bid plus shipping. I think the opening bid was $40. If that was "out in the shed", it is likely so corroded and rusty as to be close to worthless.

On the positive side, the screen is working. It appears that the Excutive in now infamous for having broken connections in the video circuits (solder joint gets stressed and fails). I have one of those sitting behind me now. I repaired it once, took hours to get it apart to get at the joint, it worked great, I put it back together and I was back to square one. That is where I am to this day, square one. Machine works fine just screen doesn't come on. BTW, this is the same machine Curtis rescued. I bought it from him several days later.
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I think the Executive was kind of a goofy design anyway. There's a board that "hangs" off another board, pretty much just by its connecting pins. It has to defy gravity to stay connected. There's a couple of plastic pins/clips that hold the other end up, but after time they get brittle and break. When I rec'd mine, that board was rattling around on the inside. I think I need to crazy glue it in place.
 
IMHO an Executive is worth more than a regular Osborne-1 and $50 with no shipping I'd grab it. He's showing it working, that's the tuffest part you'll have let alone finding another one for $50 (low price) then shipping it will be another $50 so it's your call but you'll be hard pressed to find a similar deal. Even then you could find some software for it and probably sell it for more if you wanted.

- John
 
osbornes are interesting machines. i've got 1a, which is the model directly preceding the executive. i don't use it much at all, but it's still an interesting piece of hardware to have in my collection. if it's cheap, yeah i'd go for it. every now and then i'll boot it up and play around with MBASIC on it. not much else to do. :p

i wish mine had a modem in it, i'd call up BBSes with it.
 
barythrin said:
IMHO an Executive is worth more than a regular Osborne-1 and $50 with no shipping I'd grab it. He's showing it working, that's the tuffest part you'll have let alone finding another one for $50 (low price) then shipping it will be another $50 so it's your call but you'll be hard pressed to find a similar deal. Even then you could find some software for it and probably sell it for more if you wanted.

- John
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If you do get it and need software, I've got working originals, so PM me.
 
For $50 I'd at least go look at it (then again, mine only cost me $15)
I'll 2nd Lorne's offer I've also got a few old games (mostly text adventures) that I could copy.
 
i guess i'm lucky, because my osborne 1a was 100% free. :)

back in 2001 i worked at computer renaissance and somebody just brought it in and dumped it on us. the owner was like "i'm just going to throw this piece of junk out" so i stopped him. i can't believe somebody would throw this piece of history in the garbage.
 
Lorne said:
If you do get it and need software, I've got working originals, so PM me.
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Thanks!

I'm still considering it. Work has been kicking my ass the last few days so I'm not sure if I'll be able to check it out until at least the weekend.

I'll likely make contact with the seller tonight/tomorrow to at least get the interest-ball rolling.
 
EddieDX4 said:
The seller never responded, and the posting eventually expired.

THere is a new one with no asking price for an Osborne 1:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/sys/1057552586.html
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Osborne 1's are a dime a dozen.
But that's a strange one.
It looks like an Osborne 1, but it's got the handle/fan from an Executive (unless they put the integrated fans in later versions).

The battery is something I haven't seen before (except in Osborne ads). Being a 25 year old battery it should hold a charge for what, say 5 minutes, if it's fully charged and if you're really lucky?
 
Lorne said:
Osborne 1's are a dime a dozen.
But that's a strange one.
It looks like an Osborne 1, but it's got the handle/fan from an Executive (unless they put the integrated fans in later versions).

The battery is something I haven't seen before (except in Osborne ads). Being a 25 year old battery it should hold a charge for what, say 5 minutes, if it's fully charged and if you're really lucky?
Click to expand...

The battery on my LS/12 laptop (Zenith SuperSPORT 286) went for 2 hours and 45 minutes on a "full stress" test where I had the Flight Sim 4.0 demo running off a floppy until the battery died.

Yes, the backlight was on the whole time. ;)

But, yea... I was more interested in the Executive than the 1. :(
 
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