{"id":144,"date":"2017-01-02T17:36:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T14:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/z80.gr\/?page_id=144"},"modified":"2017-01-02T17:36:29","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T14:36:29","slug":"osborne-vixen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/osborne-vixen\/","title":{"rendered":"Osborne Vixen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Osborne Vixen<\/h1>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Osborne Vixen<\/caption>\n
\"Osborne<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Developer<\/th>\nAdam Osborne<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Type<\/th>\nportable computer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Release date<\/th>\n1984<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Introductory price<\/th>\nUS$1,498<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Operating system<\/th>\nCP\/M, CPM +<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CPU<\/th>\nZilog Z80 @ 4.0MHZ<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memory<\/th>\n64KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\"\"<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Osborne “Vixen” Enclosure<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Osborne Vixen<\/b> was a “luggable” portable computer announced by the Osborne Computer Corporation in November 1984, as a follow up to their Osborne 1 and Osborne Executive system.[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Vixen had a 4\u00a0MHz Zilog Z80 microprocessor, with 64\u00a0KB dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). It had a 7-inch diagonal amber display that could show 24 lines by 80 columns of memory mapped video. It used two 400\u00a0KB disk drives, utilizing double-density double-sided 5.25″ diskettes. As a luggable, it weighed about 18 pounds. Contemporary advertising pointed out that it could fit under the seat in an airplane, with dimensions of 12\u200a<\/span>5<\/sup>\u20448<\/sub><\/span> by 16\u200a<\/span>1<\/sup>\u20444<\/sub><\/span> by 6\u200a<\/span>1<\/sup>\u20444<\/sub><\/span> inches (321 by 413 by 159\u00a0mm).<\/p>\n

When it was released, the Vixen had a retail price of $1298. Customers also had the option of purchasing a 10 megabyte hard disk for $1498.<\/p>\n

The Vixen used version 2.2 of the CP\/M operating system. It was also bundled with a number of software packages: WordStar, the popular word processing package; SuperCalc, a spreadsheet; MBASIC, a programming language; Osboard, a graphics and drawing program; TurnKey, a system utility; MediaMaster, a data interchange program that allowed compatibility with over “200 other computers”; and Desolation, a game.<\/p>\n

The Vixen was also known as the Osborne 4<\/b>. It was developed and released after the bankruptcy of the Osborne corporation. An earlier system also called “Vixen” was never released.[2]<\/sup> Due to technical problems with prototypes and the corporate bankruptcy, by the time the CP\/M Vixen was introduced, it had already been made obsolete by MS-DOS IBM PC compatibles.[3]<\/sup> A last ditch effort to design and market a fully IBM PC compatible produced three prototypes, but too late to save the company from bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Software<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Program Name<\/th>\nVersion<\/th>\nPublished by<\/th>\nProgram Type<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Desolation<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nGame<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Osboard Software<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nGraphics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wordstar<\/td>\n3.3<\/td>\nMicroPro International<\/td>\nApplication<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Supercalc<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nSorcim<\/td>\nApplication<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MBasic<\/td>\n<\/td>\nMicrosoft<\/td>\nApplication<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

References<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  • Peggy Watt, Osborne shows new computer<\/i> Info World<\/i> magazine, November 12, 1984, retrieved from Google Books December 16, 2009<\/span><\/li>\n
  • <\/li>\n
  • John Dvorak, Adam Osborne, Hypergrowth: the rise and fall of Osborne Computer Corporation<\/i> ,Idthekkethan Pub. Co., 1984 ISBN 0-918347-00-9, page 70<\/span><\/li>\n
  • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n
      \n
    1. Robert J. Thierauf, A problem-finding approach to effective corporate planning<\/i>, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987 ISBN 0-89930-262-9, pages 15\u201316<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

      External links<\/span><\/h2>\n
        \n
      • Scans of a Vixen sales brochure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Osborne Vixen Osborne Vixen Developer Adam Osborne Type portable computer Release date 1984 Introductory price US$1,498 Operating system CP\/M, CPM + CPU Zilog Z80 @ 4.0MHZ Memory 64KB Osborne “Vixen” Enclosure The Osborne Vixen was a “luggable” portable computer announced by the Osborne Computer Corporation in November 1984, as a follow up to their Osborne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-144","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.z80.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}