Altos Advert - December 1981
From Practical Computing
Dealers, we'll help you out of the microcomputer jungle
In the days before visual accessibility guidelines existed, and aimed more at potential dealers than the general public, this advert for Altos is actually placed by Microtex of Windsor, which was importing Altos's range of micros and was looking for a network of re-sellers.
The Altos model shown isn't specified, and it doesn't look like the previous ACS8000 Sun Series micro which the company had been selling since at least 1978, although the specification is the same: a 64K Z80A-based machine with twin floppy disk drives, retailing for £2,200 - or about £11,800 in 2025.
The advert does also highlight that Altos was about to release a 16-bit machine, which could run CP/M-86, OASIS-86 or Unix, and that according to a survey published by Datapro Research Corporation in 1981, 100% of Altos users said they would recommend the company to other computer users.
Apart from the fact that the text is almost impossible to read over the leafy background, the advert is also yet another featuring the jungle or swamp metaphor, not unlike Commodore's swamp, Ithaca InterSystems wild garden or Comart's bubbling cess-pit.
Date created: 18 July 2025
Text and otherwise-uncredited photos © nosher.net 2025. Dollar/GBP conversions, where used, assume $1.50 to £1. "Now" prices are calculated dynamically using average RPI per year.
