LSI Advert - February 1982

It's another random entry in the "who?" category, from paid-up flag-flying British company LSI - not to be confused with Lear Siegler Incorporated, a US terminal manufacturer - which claims in the advert to be Britain's leading micro-computer manufacturer.

The company also appears to have been supported by the Department for Industry, which probably explains its vanishing without trace and why there doesn't seem to be much information about the company anywhere in the wider internet.

The micro on offer is another Zilog Z80-based micro with 64K, together with an integral display and floppy drives, with the option of a Winchester hard disk.

The basic model, with just a single 350K 5¼" floppy retailed for £1,795 (about £8,610 in 2025) with the top-of-the-range model featuring a 10MB Winchester and a 1.2MB 8" floppy going out for £4,750, or £22,700 now.

The LSI System M-Three plus software and printer was also available for rental at £16 per week, which is about £76 per week or £3,990 per year in 2025

LSI's System M-Four (or M4) micro, which was launched the following year, was used as the basis for a specialist insurance broker software package, released by Loxton Computers.

For a not-insubstantial £8,000 (£35,300 in 2025), you could get a printer, a mailmerge system - which would work with Wordstar - and five days' training^[1].

LSI also produced OEM micros for other companies, with this System M-Three model appearing as the Caltext Micro and another of its micros appearing as the Caltext Word Processor, both distributed by Computer Ancilliaries Limited.