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First portable computer?

johnx993

johnx993

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I've heard from a few sources claiming the Osborne computer was the worlds first portable computer.
Is there a consensus on this?
I've always thought it was the HP-65.

-J
 
First, and last for that matter, is something that can spawn endless debates over definitions.

The HP-65 isn't a general purpose computer. No text editing there. IBM's SCAMP from 1973 (before the HP-65) makes for a proof of concept with the IBM 5100 being the first widely available portable general purpose computer. The Osborne takes advantage of more than 5 years of technological development to wrap 5.25" drives around the same model of CRT that the 5100 used.
 
102652485-03-01.jpg


.. she seems pleased with her 'portable' DEC PDP-8 computer.
 
Thanks for clearing that up.
I was wondering about the IBM 5100.

And talk about endless debates... 'general purpose computer'. Nowadays we think text... but way back then... I'm sure there were some behemoths that were pure number crunchers. And you probably never heard of the 'Rauch Overlay' to encode text with the 65. Come to think of it, the basic Altair worked only in binary on the front panel. But everyone still called it a computer.

Love the PDP-8 pic!
But can she run it from 12VDC?

-J
 
The Osborne was the first portable modern computer. I'd define Modern as CP/M and onwards, running a generic disk operating system and with a BIOS.

Though early versions of the Amust Executive *might* have come out before it based on anecdotal claims on the Internet - though 64K models didn't come out until 1983.
 
In addition the Osborne was probably the first 'affordable' portable computer for the average personal user.

But then, as krebizfan correctly noted, this could spawn endless debates over what was 'affordable'.
Most will agree the IBM 5100 was priced beyond what most personal users were willing to pay. But not all.
The early hobbyist personal computers were beyond a kid's allowance (and ability to build).
So the kiddies had to wait for the coming 'appliance computers' to play their games.

Back in the 70's most average people would balk at spending $2K on a 'computer system' in their home.
Yet some people were spending more than that on home stereo systems, ham radio stations, etc.

-J
 
I don't know about the timeline, but HP made computers with built in displays.

It's really hard to draw the line on what's "portable", and to a lesser extent also what is a "computer". Like for sure an Osborne was easier to lug around than say a Commodore PET 2001, but they were both all-in-one computers that you only had to connect power for them to be usable.

Tangent re what is "portable": Apparently there were mopeds that you could fold up in a way that made it possible to have them as luggage when flying (!). (Mustie1 on Youtube has a few videos on repairing one of those).
 
1975 - IBM 5100, $8975, 55 lbs.
1978 - IBM 5110, $9500, 43 lbs.
1980 - HP 85, $3250, 20 lbs.
1981 - Osborne 1, $1795, 24 lbs.
1982 - Kaypro II, $1595, 29 lbs.
 
With all this competition, it at least proves the claim that the Osborne was was the first portable computer was likely just so much marketing talk.
it was certainly not a novel idea.
Osborne was a 'one-trick pony' and produced a mediocre computer in a portable package cheaply (with bundled software too).
No great technical improvements or business strategy.
In fact they killed current sales by pre-announcing new products.
Yeah - like they thought people somehow didn't expect new products - especially in the fast-moving computer industry back then.
Again, I fault the marketing guys.


-J
 
This also pre-dated the Osborne. It is very much a portable computer, with a QWERTY keyboard, BASIC in ROM, a cassette tape interface for loading and saving programs and data, and an optional dot-matrix printer.

The TRS-80 Pocket Computer

The TRS-80 Pocket Computer (catalog number 26-3501) was the first in Radio Shack’s line of pocket computers. It cost $249.00 when it was introduced on July 31, …
www.trs-80.org www.trs-80.org
 
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johnx993 said:
1974 - HP-65, $795, 0.7 lbs.
Click to expand...
This makes me wonder what "PSION" like devices were available before PSION?

When did CMOS SRAMs start to become feasible for microcomputers? Or for that sake in general CMOS chips?
The 1802 was introduced in 1976, and I assume there were CMOS memory chips for it too?

At some point in time, long before the first PSION in 1984, there would likely had been use cases for calculator sized hand held devices that were programmable microcomputers that you'd "sync" with a larger computer, for things like keeping track of inventory, goods flow and whatnot (with a built in bar code reader), or do some pre defined commonly used field specific calculations or whatnot (this would probably be more suitable to have in EPROMs. The PSION Organizer II had a built in EPROM burner, you'd just insert an EPROM module and you could burn it from it's built in software. The modules were just the chip, a small pcb and a connector.
 
The HP-25c was the first device to use CMOS for its primary memory. That was in 1976. CMOS static RAM got a lot of use in S100 boards through the late 70s and early 80s to prevent the problems with DRAM refresh.

CMOS RAM was handy keeping the current program or calculations available while the calculator was off. The runtime under battery was still quite low requiring a return to a charger every few hours of use. That changed once LCD became common and calculator batteries only needed recharging every few weeks. Bigger LCDs made larger devices operating on battery practical even if the batteries didn't have the longevity of their calculator brethren.

Edit: To give HP credit, the HP-41 was the first to have most of the necessary technology though other companies released equivalent devices with computer style keyboards very soon after.
 
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krebizfan said:
The HP-25c was the first device to use CMOS for its primary memory. That was in 1976. CMOS static RAM got a lot of use in S100 boards through the late 70s and early 80s to prevent the problems with DRAM refresh.
Click to expand...
Were those typically CMOS? Note that the 2114 1024*4 chips that I think were common early on did have a noticeable idle consumption.

I tried googling but only found some vague info stating that the 6116 were released in the early 1980's.

Good point re runtime consumption. LED or VFD displays would had consumed a lot of current.
For things like barcode readers for inventory and whatnot the display could probably had been kept off for most of the time, perhaps even require holding a button to enable the display.
 
The 25C was CMOS. Was the RAM chip any of the common CMOS RAM designs? I don't know. There is a removed cover showing the chips at https://www.hpmuseum.org/tech20.htm but I can't read the labels. I know the TI-58C did use CMOS RAM from other companies. That (or the interface chip for it) was one of the common causes of failure for the TI-58C.
 
krebizfan said:
The 25C was CMOS. Was the RAM chip any of the common CMOS RAM designs? I don't know. There is a removed cover showing the chips at https://www.hpmuseum.org/tech20.htm but I can't read the labels. I know the TI-58C did use CMOS RAM from other companies. That (or the interface chip for it) was one of the common causes of failure for the TI-58C.
Click to expand...
Custom HP chip as usual.
The issue with the TI-58C was the same as the HP-25C - plugging in the charger with a dead battery killed it.
In the TI's case it only zapped the Toshiba CMOS RAM chip, not the ACT as in the case of the HP.
I've rescued several TI-58Cs from oblivion by install a new RAM chip.
-J
 
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