CP/M Vintage Goodies - Osborne Portable Computer & Kaypro IV

[SamuraiClinton]

I guess portable computers that were the size of a desktop computer fell out of fashion because of their bulk and weight.

[lazermunky25]

5:05 - 4Chan on floppy.

[IGotToTakeAPiss23]

OMg i thought that computer cover was a parachute

[maddmaxstar]

Holy geez that's a good haul. Huge treasure trove of dead tech. The Computer store I work part-time for has a Pseudo-museum of old PCs that's bigger than what I've got. One of their machines is an Osborne 1 like that one. Were you ever able to get the Osborne or the Kaypro to work?

[phreakindee]

@maddmaxstar Yes, I was thankfully able to get both of them working. The O1 still has some issues with disks in Drive B: on ocassion, and I haven't been able to get the 8088 addon for the Kaypro to work. But otherwise, they're working just fine for the majority of situations!

I still haven't gotten around to reviewing these, I need to remedy that. I did a review of a game on the Kaypro a while back though: Ladder.

[xchrisxmanxgx]

hey phreakindee could you do a fmv game with real people like sierra games like phantasmagoria or phantasmagoria 2 a puzzle of flesh or gabriel knight 2 the beast within something like that it doesent even need to be a sierra game. thanks :)

[metalcoola]

Stuff look really awesome, and for just 50$...

[Murdoch493]

That one disk you had that you didn't know what it was, it looked like a Magneto-Optical Disc Case. One of the NeXT PCs used to have to boot and run from one of those, and everything was stored onto it. I believe they can hold from 500 MB to 9.1 GB, but i may be wrong.

[vwestlife]

The "Perfect Manual" was probably made using the "Perfect" software. I know at least in the early days, WordStar used to do that -- they would proudly mention at the beginning of the manual that it was written and printed out using WordStar itself.

[kiyotewolf]

I love CP/M stuff. Can't do much with it, but I've played with a CP/M machine for a very short while, as well as a flavor of BASIC for CP/M.

Oh the nostalgia. Ahhh.

[JoeZiehmer]

I do not blame the anger of CP/M programmers toward MS-DOS nearly everything seems like a facial rip-off.

[ukeleleboy97]

Do you want an Altair 8800

[phreakindee]

@ukeleleboy97 I'd love an Altair! Or really anything S-100 based.

[TeamRocketReviews]

@phreakindee Get the IMSAI, it's better. Besides, it was in Wargames.

[chairuser4]

Cool relics



[nathanallan1]

I know it's been a year since you made this video, but I STILL hope you are having a blast with that mega haul. I just got an Osborne with a box of stuff and a green Zenith monochrome monitor from freecycle-- it was all given to me! It's no Kaypro, but still awesome. Great vid!

[Turban84]

Who ever is watching this, you can't tell me you didn't get a nerdgasm!!!

[DrGreenfun]

you should walk around with that portable computer and sit next to someone with a laptop

[Cropduster777]

WOW Phrekinde, you really hit the archival mother lode on this one. If only you could find a Heathkit machine. The Computer museum in Silicon Valley might have one :D

[goremau]

That magazine cover!!! Kay-pros on the go!! That awesome 80s HEADBAND! :D

Awesome stuff man.

[kingraider7]

ill pick this over a mac....

[harshbarj]

Have you thought of making disk images of all those disks? If you have a computer with a 360k floppy drive it is simple (1.2m drives take more work, but they can be modded)! If you need help talk to the people at vintage-computer as it is simply the best place for anything related to vintage computers.

[phreakindee]

@harshbarj Most of the ones I can image are really common, like the versions of CP/M and the Kaypro software suite. The others that I would love to image that aren't so common, like the Heathkit and other unknown programs, I cannot image with my 360K IBM compatible drives. Many of them are in disk formats that simply cannot be read, due to be hard sector disks, among other issues.

[FuyuAkiWorld]

Could you do reviews of those?

[phreakindee]

@FuyuAkiWorld Someday, yeah. I've planned on it ever since I got them, just haven't gotten around to it.

[16mmDJ]

Damn I need to find a kaypro.

[NLGAMER1000]

mmmm if i was ther i look on all the diskettes for BOOT-DISK

it wil teak time but i wil love to dong all the stuf

i love old computers

[christo930]

So did you get this stuff working?

You probably spent more on gas then the $50 you paid for it.

[phreakindee]

@christo930 Yup, it's all working quite nicely! And yeah, it was about 20 bucks in gas but hey, well worth it to me.

[christo930]

@phreakindee I thought 4 hours of driving might actually use $50 in gas, I guess your car gets decent mileage. I hope you do a video of these computers... You don't see too much on cp/m on youtube or the web. Are these z80 4mhz machines? I hear that is the standard cp/m hardware.

[theinquisitor]

I thought Space War was THE first computer game of any kind. Isn't it?

[Lievenstassen]

@theinquisitor The first computer game was "Tennis for Two", developed on an analog computer in 1958.

[1xWertzui]

Looks like 2 people are very jeaolus to you because the cool stuff you have...

[1xWertzui]

Man, if I would own that stuff, I would be f***ing proud even if everybody would consider me an idiot!

[SidsRetroMacs]

does the osborne work



[skeligandrew]

Could you make a list of the scariest games in your collection please?

[drumdreamer92]

So, at the moment, do you have anything up and running?

[phreakindee]

@drumdreamer92 As far as these machines? Yes, both are running rather nicely. Got all the disks for the Osborne from a fellow collector, and that Kaypro came with more than I'll probably ever use.

[GutsOfChrist]

When I watch other types of reviews, I now use your show as the standard when judging them. You're genuinely into what you're doing, and extremely informative. I tip my hat to you, sir.

[asgerms]

Hey! Totally get your enthusiasm for these systems, and love geeking out to your videos. Out of curiosity : were you "messin'" with early machines like these back in the days when they were "it", or did you get hooked on "the vibe" of retro-systems much later?

[phreakindee]

@asgerms Definitely got into it seriously later, around the end of high school. I grew up using monochrome PCs and Apple IIs and over the years I had older machines since we didn't always have the money to get new stuff. But the late 70's/early 80's more obscure stuff like this? Didn't get into that until the past several years.

[ForgetfulCollector]

Kaypro was so loyal to their customers that they changed from CP/M late, and when they did switch to MS-DOS, they made THE only FULLY IBM compatible clone. It was even better made than the IBM, and if you didn't like your Kaypro PC, they'd replace it for you with a real IBM PC. Crazy stuff. I wish companies now were that loyal.

[JinzoDefiler]

I would drool over stuff man!

[spleenandpie]

not to uncommon to have space war ported to other home computers and consoles. it was also on the atari 2600 and it is a pretty common game

[phreakindee]

@spleenandpie Heh, I think you missed the point. Yes, it's common to have a classic game ported to other systems, nobody is doubting that. But having an original game for an already rather uncommon 1970's vintage computer such as the Heathkit? That's a rare find.

[spleenandpie]

@phreakindee oh ok sorry i misunderstood 

[lunsj]

Where do you live? I want to come over and ogle your junk! (hmm that didn't come out right lol.) Seriously I love this stuff. I miss my C64. Looking forward to more videos. Take care.

[ToyKingWonder]

These were all-metal units, as you know. The model 2 had the lesser capacity drives as you mentioned, and were a blue and grey case. The 4s, and later the 10s, had that very nice charcoal case which was very professional. The 10 had a hard drive, which worked quite well. We feared getting a bunch in for service for being portable, and it didn't happen. Both computers served the niche market extremely well.

[ToyKingWonder]

A few comments. I was one of the absolute top tier salesmen for the Osborne 1 in Southern California. I sold so many I won two in sales contests. I still have a minty mint, blue/grey case example with modem and external battery options. It still works. When I quit the store the sold these units, interestingly, I worked for a big Apple reseller in LA that sold Kaypros. These were HUGE with Holllywood writers, as I could get them into a Kaypro II and a letter quality printer for cheap.

[skinnyvinny3]

too me you're up there with the NERDYNESS an AWESOMENESS as AVGN. TY for every great video you do great great stuff man keep it up.. =)

[BobTheBuilder20247]

Dude that stuff is probly worth a few hundred or a few thousand dollars. Your reviews are amazing keep them up.

[BrianPicchi]

Great find man, I would travel 2 hours for that too.  Hell, I'd travel 2 hours just for the osborne!

[Tw1stedMoogle]

It's hilarious to me that the manuals and disks themselves have far more color than the PC's can even output.

I Guess the same goes for the old Gameboy as well though.... Still humorous. :)

[WhiteValkery]

WHAT THE!?

is the guy who sold the stuff to you completely retarded or something!?

$50!?

OH GOD!!!

[ahmedraza0321]

I love your show. Your always making interesting vids.

[piplol2468]

This is great, I just came back from the Huntsville hamfest yesterday, and I pick up a TRS-80 model one with a several sack fulls of tapes and the quick printer 2 and several manuals and several other computer related items, sadly I don't have a video cable for the TRS-80 :(

[phreakindee]

@piplol2468 Oh that is so nice... I hope you get a cable for it, that's an incredibly cool machine and one of my most-lusted-after.

[5553371]

these machines sound very old.

i hope you manage to get them both working.

and as for the software/hardware , i hope you figure out how to use it. :)

All the Best 5553371.

[FSXdeathplane]

some one is going to be busy :)

[leoadventure]

Amazing, just amazing conquest, congrats!

[TheRetroGamerGuy]

Amazing find Phreak!

I haven't seen these kind of beasts ever since my uncle sold his Kaypro back when I was still living in Los Angeles.

[Sqecane]

Some of this stuff is next to impossible to find these days. It would be awesome if you could scan and upload a few of the more interesting things.

[EXWiz4rd]

An old Computer I had required that CD Case.....you put the CD in it, and then put that in the drive

[dehBix]

5:07 Did you say 4chan or 4chran?

[phreakindee]

@dehBix That would be "Fortran" (IBM Mathematical Formula Translating System)

[n4ndude]

I hope we'll see these machines again soon because I love them :) Great vid again!

[SailorMan69]

Since you seem to be a fellow Apogee fan any chance of Reviewing "Rise of the Triad" one day or another? It's by far my favourite of the mid-90's Doom-clones and a game that seriously does not receive the love it deserves these days.

[sam4power]

Thanks for your videos! I am also interested in the history of old computers, consoles and pong systems. Hope you get both of the systems to boot up and maybe try out some games/software on them? Computers are such a big part of our history and I am glad that you have time to tell us about these gems. Looking forward to your next video. Greetings from Finland!

[weaselfierce]

That is some retro goodness right there. If you get these machines up and running, please please do a review of them

[Tito0096]

Reminds me of going into the Tombs in KOTOR 1 and messing with the old terminals and learning old stuff.

[emceelokey]

What would people do with those back then? The just seem like fancy ways of organizing information. Like you seriously can't do anything else but type stuff.

[phreakindee]

@emceelokey Mostly for managing large amounts of text-based information. Really useful for smaller businesses doing inventory, finances, word processing, databases, even basic online access a couple years later.

[maniakaz]

@phreakindee - That is about what we did with our Kaypro II (modded to a Kaypro 8) in the 80's. We would run large reports based off of 20 or 30 search criteria using Dbase and would print out reports every day. On top of that, I was allowed to use the computer off hours (It was for my Parents business but I ran the reports) and Dial into BBS's and run Zork, Adventure (xyzzy) etc. I recently picked up a couple Kaypro II's (one is modded to a Kaypro 8) and Yes, I have Adventure for it.

[tom611]

It'd be awesome to scan the Cornucopia and user group letters to upload them somewhere! So much of that stuff is unfindable now. Very nice haul.

[phreakindee]

@tom611 I totally plan on it, I'll be following up on a lot of this stuff in some later videos at some point.

[pegasusepsilon]

@phreakindee Yay, I loudly cheer for this. Digitally archiving lost history for the win.

[AlfredRusselWallace]

Gary Killdal from Computer Chronicles! so cool!

[S3JasonU]

Nice find. I have never heard of any of this until now.

[vwestlife]

WordStar was an outstanding word processor back in the day. I still miss the way it let you embed commands and codes in the text to format the document exactly the way you want. If you find a program called "XenoCopy", you can read and write CP/M disks on any IBM PC clone with a 5.25" floppy drive.

[phreakindee]

@vwestlife I've been trying to get WordStar to function, seems pretty sweet from what little I see before I get read errors.

I'll have to check out XenoCopy, I've been attempting just that with other programs with mixed success.

And I think it was you that mentioned something about hard-sectored disks in the previous ulpoad. You were right, there are several boxes of hard sector diskettes in this lot.

[MN12BIRD]

Oh. My. Gawd. That stuff is like... so OLD! Hahaha seriously I wouldn't know WTF to do with that stuff but I love how much you're into it. I wouldn't have the patience to learn that old software!

[serginietor]

god, the osbourne looked like those old radio emitters from WWII

it is soo cool

[Lachlant1984]

This really is completely awesome, you must be over the moon right now. I can't wait to see a review of the Kaypro, this will be a learning experience for me as I know NOTHING about the Kaypro machine, but it sure looks interesting.

[KaySaschnitt]

I was just wondering: All those floppies, don't they get unreadable after all those years?

[zooryanzoo123]

go to a internet cafe and bust out the computer thingy and recored peoples reaction

[shaurz]

Desert... Silicon... geddit? ;-)

[phreakindee]

@shaurz Ahhhhh, I got it. Make about as much sense as anything else, so we'll go with that.

[silntdoogood]

FRIGGAN SWEET!

I spotted that Osborne the second you panned over it

"Wait, that case looks familiar, where have I just seen that?...oh yeah! On ebay sold on the first bid!" curse my lack of pay-pal!

I'm working on getting the rest of a 5150 though! All I have now is the keyboard and power switch, I found one weeks ago complete minus keyboard. I've yet to get a reply on it though...

[THOMASSU63]

Super cool finds. These computers were really, really expensive back in the day. Hope you get them to work. I wonder how the world would've looked like if IBM had chosen CP/M instead of MSDOS as their operating system.

[Murdock13]

Nice haul. Nice to see your happiness. It's always good to be passionate about something. :)

[mrbitbot]

Awesome stuff! You should show some of the games in another video once you get it working

[sinistermoon]

I used to have a camcorder that sounds just like yours! Tape sound and all! Way cool you found that stuff on craigslist. I would like to see those computers in action some time.

[MagikGimp]

If only you could use it in the context and environment of the time it was meant to be used in. This is the main reason I stopped buying old hardware, well I think I've stopped...

[rejectofsoul24]

why do u use such an old camera? I love the effect, but it must be a pain to get on the computer

[phreakindee]

@rejectofsoul24 I use it because it's cheap and I like the effect. It's a pain, but I don't exactly have the money to put towards a nice HD camera.

[rejectofsoul24]

@phreakindee you could sell some of the doubles of games or machines and save up for one

[rejectofsoul24]

@phreakindee very well, I like this effect much better than HD. I wouldnt want to sell my machines either.

[Disthron]

About that thing you had that looked like a diskette case for a CD/light media, ever since I found out how 3" floppy diskettes worked I've wondered why they didn't have a similar system for CDs. They did something like that with PSP UMDs but there was still no protective covering over the hole for when it's not in use.

[hitachi088]

when i was 8 i had a "Valise" computer like the second one .

-keyboard was on the bottom

-it had two trap on the bottom side , one for the power cord and one for ?(i forgot)

-it was running on DOS (i think)

-when you shut it down , you had to wait 5min before turning it on again .

-it was big and weight like 30-50lbs .

i don't remember the name , can someone help me ?

[hitachi088]

@hitachi088

i find it !

it look exactly as this one :

ww@computermuseum@li/Testpage/­CompaqPortable@htm (@= . )

the second one , we also had one with the big screen but it was broken i think ...

[Thule000]

are roaches ever a problem when receiving electronics from people?

[phreakindee]

@Thule000 Never seen roaches, but this lot had ants and spiders. I've also seen evidence of rats before.

[phreakindee]

@yaponetz A mid-90's JVC S-VHS camcorder.

[psyjax]

Did you have one of those portable commodore 64s?

[phreakindee]

@psyjax As of now, I do not. I've been wanting one for quite a while and scour eBay every so often for one. Also for the original Compaq Portable, I love those things.

[phreakindee]

@UKRetroGames Hehe, was just messing around with the PIP commands on the Kaypro last night. Very interesting stuff.

[misterintellivision]

AWESOME STUFF! :)

[StickPeopleAndPuff]

where the heel did you find this stuff?

[phreakindee]

@StickPeopleAndPuff A local ad on Craigslist

[stonewindimmortal]

I love your show. Your always making interesting vids.

[Shcoumpi]

Wow, that's so awesome *_*

What a piece of history you hold in these boxes ^^

And all of that for 15$, it's awesome :)

[lemonlimestiv]

its crazy to think how expensive these once were. now they are pretty much big heavy worthless rocks. glad to see them getting some love. 

[Holammer]

Even the humble C64 had a "portable" version (SX-64). Wonder if anyone actually used those chunky machines professionally?

[Borin81]

actually, they did, my dads boss at his old job had a portable computer when i was a kid, not sure anymore if it was a Commodore though.

i still remember it cuz it was the first time i learned that a computer could be moveable and not stationary like my C64 was back then.

[stonewindimmortal]

@Holammer A portable you bring in your car. Every Computer was portable then, unless you count government supercomputers in the 80's

[phreakindee]

@Holammer The guy who owned this stuff certainly did! There are dozens of disks full of financial and business files made on PerfectCalc and Wordstar and such.

[ImperialProductions]

Now that is just awesome. I'd love to get hold of a CP/M system. $50 for all THAT? Lucky, lucky, lucky...

[Segadude3000]

a CD Caddy? I guess thats what its called, I have one but not the drive that uses it lol

[crossova13]

LOL!

"KayPro"

[Borin81]

if im not mistaken you'll need CP/M discs to boot them up. its a shame people on craigslist is so scared of shipping abroad, ive seen lots of nice lots on there.

[Borin81]

also, it could be a Heathkit Zenith Z89 that you got stuff for, it was a CP/M machine.

[phreakindee]

@Borin81 Awesome, thanks. I'll have to look into it... makes me want to track one down now that I have so much software for the thing.

[Borin81]

not sure how rare those are, since my interests is around Commodore machines.

[hitachi088]

@Borin81

tell me if you want commodore stuff , like datasette, modem or anything ...

[Borin81]

sorry, i already got a house full of Commodore 64, 128's, PET's and A500/600/1200/2000 machines, but if you have a C64GS, Amiga 3000/4000, SX-64 and a C65 for like 50 bucks total im game.

[hitachi088]

@Borin81 no , but i have a complete Texas Instruments TI-99/4A if you want : -TI-99/4A computer -Speech Synthesizer (expansion for the computer) -TI expansion systems with : *Flex Cable interface,RS 232(port interface for computer?),32k X 8 memory expension, disk controller* -Video Modulator -Power Supply (for the computer) -Power cord (for the expansion system) and i think thats all ... but i life in QC, Canada ... LOL

[Borin81]

nah, im not into those and the shipping would kill my wallet, maybe phreakindee will nab on the offer though?

[hitachi088]

@Borin81

well it is a good thing for someone who life in QC ...

[OldSchoolNYCGamer]

Wow.... I never seen that much of a score when it comes to this in ages and well worth what you paid for, you got to do a follow up if you get both those beasts up and running!

[phreakindee]

@OldSchoolNYCGamer I'll certainly be doing a follow-up! The Kaypro is up and running, at least mostly. I'll need to do some work on that A: drive. The Osborne I've still had no luck with at all, just endless strings of "BOOT ERROR" on startup, not even sure I have the right boot floppy for it.

[bjoran83]

Wierdest finds i have ever seen. That stuff is like porn for you bro, i am looking forward to the reviews of those machines! Phreaking awesome.

[StrawberryGuy86]

Wow! You must have a lot of computers right now! I wonder how you can fit them all in your house!

[alanw3000]

that is nice but why you been only reviewing the magazines, why you didnt reviewed the computers , I dont get it !

[phreakindee]

@alanw3000 This wasn't really a review, just a showing of the stuff. There will be full reviews of these machines at some point, no worries!

[o0MrCheesy0o]

That's a kickass find O_O

[cacaaleau]

$50 for all this stuff,that's cheap

[DefconComputers]

A CD caddy... I have'nt seen those in ages.

[mrxsive]

You have original floppies for Adventure?? Damn! Nice :)

[16mmDJ]

SO JEALOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheNews1990]

cool

[ruutiveijari]

My first computer ever was an MSX 738 Xpress. It had MSX-DOS (by Microsoft) and CP/M. I never could figure out the CP/M side. But that's most likely because I'm a little bit on the dumb side.

MSX-DOS was very interesting though. It's a crossbreed between CP/M and MS-DOS.

[Rakiarmas]

So much random things that my mind blow up.

[marceloyanez111pt2]

great finds, those osbornes are expensive. Lol I love the letter steve jobs sent to the guy who made it.

[MaximumRD]

WOW that is one sweet classic PC haul right there! I think you are in for a lot of fun.

[tombert256]

Woo, 14 min...you get a partnership with youtube? If so, that is pretty much rad!

[MaximumRD]

@tombert256 Everyone can now post vids up to 15min!

[tombert256]

@MaximumRD Oh. I need to keep up with the times...you kids move too fast these days. *Facepalm*

[StevieCybernetik010]

God you hit the mother load on this one o.o amazing things you can find on craigslist.

[tsskiller08]

Seeing videos like this always makes my day. Any vintage computer find is awesome. This though, takes the cake. To have an agreement with Gary Kildall's signature on it is definitely a collector's item. It makes Computer Chronicles fans like me proud. Congrats on the find, it was certainly worth it.

[phreakindee]

@tsskiller08 Thank you! I'm a huge CC fan myself, so when I saw all that Digital Research stuff and then Kildall's signature on that paper, I literally jumped out of my seat! Gary's one of my heroes, may he rest in peace.

[Gregz0r1]

Woah. That's proper old-school computing right there.

I know you're gonna have a blast tinkering with all that stuff! Enjoy!!

[Pozorrogo]

I love haul videos!! AWESOME stuff! Computers with snap-off keyboards are just so cool looking. That little 4 inch monochrome screen. I bet it will make a nice humming noise if it turns on XD And MAN you got a lot of software! Thats so cool, most of this stuff probably hasn't seen the light of day in over 20 years

Was this the first time you were looking through these boxes?

How much did you pay for all of that stuff, or do we not want to know? lol

[Pozorrogo]

@Pozorrogo Sorry I commented before I watched the video at the end

FIFTY BUCKS?!?! Thats freaking awesome! Great find XD I cant wait for you to review one of those bad boys

[phreakindee]

@Pozorrogo Yup, the guy was super-nice and gave me a great deal since I drove a ways to get the things.

And conversely, I can't wait to review these things myself!

[fleetwoodsucks]

at 4:05 they are called caddies, my first cd drive had them

The only thing i know about the kaypro is peggy hill from king of the hill had one and it was the butt of a few jokes throughout the show until she got an imac g3

[Bakemon13]

These are all awesome, your vids are very informative :) only 5 inches? Like 2 GB screens XD