Xref: utzoo comp.misc:12863 comp.sys.misc:3433 comp.os.misc:1857 comp.sys.apple2:17170 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle From: Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.sys.misc,comp.os.misc,comp.sys.apple2, comp.sys.cbm Subject: Re: Ohio Scientific Message-ID: <42999@cup.portal.com> Date: Wed, 5 Jun 91 19:40:02 PDT Organization: The Portal System (TM) References: <1991May21.210947.23057@endeavor.intel.com> <1991May22.202435.24605@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <157796@pyramid.pyramid.com> Funny... I remember the Ohio Scientific C1P as quite a powerful little computer for its day. In a time of KIM-1s, AIM-65s and Commodore PETs, the OSI systems offered a great many features for an extremely reasonable price.. It was the first to offer an integrated single board computer with MicroSoft BASIC in ROM, a memory mapped video output and a fairly nice keyboard, all built into the basic system. The software started out fairly crudely (I should know, I wrote a bunch of it..! :), but toward the end of its life, the software had improved greatly. The main problem with OSI computers, as I saw it, was the company behind the hardware. They didn't keep up with advances in technology, and didn't improve the hardware to compete with new entries into the marketplace like the Apple II and TRS-80. If they'd moved more quickly to improve their color and sound, and gotten their disk systems into a more reasonable price range, things might have turned out differently in the microcomputer marketplace.. as it was, they vanished quietly in the night... BobR