LSI Advert - November 1982
From Personal Computer World
Britain can still find an extra byte
Here's an advert from the curiously-named Computer Ancilliaries Limited, for what at first appear to be two of its machines - the British-built Caltext Word Processor and the Caltext Micro - but which were actually built by LSI.
The first was another entrant in a popular sideline in the early microcomputer industry: the dedicated word processor.
Prices for this type of machine - which were very often standard micros simply bundled with software and a printer - often reflected the belief that one of these could replace a number of real typists.
As such, it retailed for "just over £3,000", or about £14,300 in 2025 money. It does however seem to come with a keyboard with an unfeasibly large number of function keys on it.
The second machine - the Caltext Micro, otherwise a rebranded LSI System M-Three, sometimes known as the LSI/3 - is a generic Z80-based CP/M micro but with communications built in and a Winchester hard disk option, with either 5MB, 10MB or 15MB capacity.
This retailed from £1,700 - about £8,150 in 2025.
Date created: 07 March 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.
