CFOG's PIP, January 1986, Volume 4 No. 3, Whole No. 39, page 4
"THE OSBORNE 0 (ZERO)"
Predecessor to the Osborne 1, the Osborne 0 (Zero) was in the final stages of beta testing when this picture was made. Reportedly ready for shipment to dealers when Adam Osborne announced the "soon to be released" portable version to be known as the Osborne 1, dealers cancelled all orders to await the new machine.
The Zero's attributes as shown in the schematic include:
(A) handles strings! (B) disk drives a and b. (C) housing for optional drive c. (D) HI (human interface) port -- combined with (E) below allows direct input to ram through the clever use of the human user scanning data tactilly, utilizing neuro-transmission. Not without it's bugs, it requires that the user have an absolutely blank mind during operation. While a normal state for many users, thoughts may occasionally occur producing some interesting, if useless, data or text. Sadly, it was necessary to replace this system with a standard keyboard in the 01 in an attempt to emulate the industry norm. Innovation loses out to conformity again! (E) direct tactile input scanner device. (F) SUPS (semi-uninterruptable power supply). In the 01, this was replaced with the seldom seen battery pac. (G) external, easily accessible disk drive speed adjustment.
It is to the Osborne engineers' eternal credit that they were successful in condensing the Zero to the size of the 01. Unfortunitely, they were unable to make it any lighter!
Highly placed sources report that a substantial number of these out-of-production machines are stored in a yurt somewhere in Tibet, where they are guarded by a herd of crazed yaks. (These were your perfectly normal, standard model, garden variety, un-crazed yaks, before they attempted to learn to use the CP/M operating system.)
By the time you read this, it is likely that Chicago's ubiquitous Mark Witt will have purchased the lot, and will be offering them at his usual fire-sale prices. Presumably the only problem you might have with these machines would occur in humid weather, when they tend to smell like a yak yurt (yuk!).