Ohio Scientific
early microcomputer company
Ohio Scientific, Inc. (OSI, originally Ohio Scientific Instruments, Inc.), was a privately owned American computer company based in the Akron metropolitan area that built and marketed computer systems, expansions, and software from 1975 to 1986. Their best-known products were the Challenger series of microcomputers and Superboard single-board computers. The company was the first to market microcomputers with hard disk drives in 1977.
The company was incorporated as Ohio Scientific Instruments in Hiram, Ohio, by husband and wife Mike and Charity Cheiky and business associate Dale A. Dreisbach in 1975. Originally a maker of electronic teaching aids, the company leaned quickly into microcomputer production, after their original educational products failed in the marketplace while their computer-oriented products sparked high interest in the hobbyist community. The company moved to Aurora, Ohio, occupying a 72,000-square-foot factory. The company reached the $1 million revenue mark in 1976; by the end of 1980, the company generated $18 million in revenue. Ohio Scientific's manufacturing presence likewise expanded into greater Northeastern Ohio as well as California and Puerto Rico.
In 1980, the company was acquired by telecommunications conglomerate M/A-COM of Burlington, Massachusetts, for $5 million.
“Ohio Scientific” enters the record as early microcomputer company. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ohio, Scientific and early can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Ohio Scientific” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ohio, Scientific and early provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12064679. VIAF identifies the subject as 133784796. The Library of Congress control number is n87815436. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1975, 1986, 1977 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ohio Scientific” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.