Altos Advert - September 1982

After several years selling the same ACS 8000 system, Altos is finally out with something new: the Series 5.

And whilst one of the company's earliest adverts featured its micro stuck on a table with the family silver arranged around it, this one raises the bar by using a packing-crate theme that probably took some time to set up, even though wood shavings or straw are the last thing you'd want to pack a computer in.

A later advert continuing the packing-crate theme from Byte magazine, January 1983

The Series 5 was Z80 based and ran either CP/M, OASIS, or the multi-user MP/M II operating systems.

Two models are mentioned in the advert: the Series 5-5D came with a Z80A, 192K of RAM, a 1MB floppy and a 5MB micro-Winchester disk, or "mini winnie" as Practical Computing liked to call them.

Also mentioned is the Series 5-15D, which - unusually for a higher number - is a lower-specified machine with only two floppy-disk drives.

The 5-5D, which also supported up to three "smart terminals" and a printer retailed for £4,400, which is about £21,800 in 2026, whilst the 5-15D sold for £2,200, or about £10,900 now.

An advert from a few months later showing the Series 5-15 as part of the Altos Executive system - a combination of micro and software. From Practical Computing, December 1982

A few months later, Altos launched its Altos Executive system, a combination of computer and software packages.

Including the Altos 5-15 micro, it also shipped with the Executive Word Processor, and the Executive Financial Planner, plus the Altos Computer Tutor which, according to vice president of software Kapil Nanda:

"Helps users become productive from the first day of operation, not weeks down the line. The incorporation of the tutor into all its application software is consistent with the company's philosophy of producing user-friendly systems^[1]".

It wasn't that common for hardware companies to get into writing their own tailored software, as this was often a job left to value-added resellers. However, as Nanda continued:

"It is Altos's philosophy to implement industry standards such as Xenix/Unix, CP/M, MP/M and Ethernet wherever possible. However, in selected vertical areas, such as business accounting and word processing, we want to provide our customers with a complete hardware/software solution".

The Altos Executive bundle retailed for £4,400 for a system which included the 5-15 micro, two terminals, a copy of MP/M - the multi-user version of the CP/M operating system - the Altos Executive word processor together with Altos Computer Tutor, and the Executive Financial Planner package, all with three months of warranty.

At £2,200 plus VAT per user including software, or about £12,500 in 2026, it was actually quite a good price.