LogAbax was a French computer brand. Founded in 1942, the company was one of France's pioneers in computer manufacturing. The name is composed of two abbreviations: ''Log'' from
logarithm and ''Abax'' from
abacus.
History
The company was created in 1942 as ''“La Société Française des Brevets LogAbax''”. In 1947 it employs twenty people and has a factory located at
Malakoff. The company obtains a contract from
CNRS
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...
for the construction of a "
Couffignal machine", intended to be the fist French "
electronic calculation machine". Between 1948 and 1950 LogAbax studies an
electronic meter, related to the
electronic calculator development.
In 1968 ''LogAbax'' and ''Bariquand et Marre'' merge, forming ''LogAbax SA''.
The LX 500, a personal computer based on the
Z80 microprocessor and running the
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
operating system, is presented in 1978.
Due to poor results in the late 1970s, LogAbax files for bankruptcy in 1981, with
Olivetti becoming the majority shareholder, creating a new entity named ''Société Nouvelle LogAbax''.
The
Persona 1600
The Olivetti M24 is a computer that was sold by Olivetti in 1983 using the Intel 8086 CPU.
The system was sold in the United States under its original name by Docutel/Olivetti of Dallas. AT&T and Xerox bought rights to rebadge the system as the ...
, a PC compatible machine with an Intel 8086 CPU (similar to
Olivetti M24
The Olivetti M24 is a computer that was sold by Olivetti in 1983 using the Intel 8086 CPU.
The system was sold in the United States under its original name by Docutel/Olivetti of Dallas. AT&T and Xerox bought rights to rebadge the system as t ...
) is presented in 1985.
Other rebranded Olivetti PCs follow (
Persona 1800 and
1300
Year 1300 ( MCCC) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1300th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 300th year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th ...
).
In 1988 ''Olivetti France'' and ''Société Nouvelle LogAbax'' merge, becoming ''Olivetti-LogAbax''.
Machines
* LX 3200 (office computer, calculator, typewriter, printer, 1969)
* LX 2200, 2600 (office computer, calculator, typewriter, printer, 1974/75)
* LX 4200, 4300, 4400, 4500, 4600 (office computer, 1970s/75)
* LX 5000, 5076, 5200 (multi-user
16-bit computer
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two most ...
, 64 Kb RAM, 1976/77)
* LX 2000, 2010, 2500 (1976)
* LX 500, 518, 528 (
Z80A
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples we ...
, 128Kb RAM,
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
, 1978)
* LX 3000, 3128, 3500 (multi-user office computer, 1980)
* Hyper 32 (fault tolerant redundant computer, 1983)
* Persona 800 (Z80 @ 4 MHz, 64KB RAM, CP/M, 1985)
*
Persona 1600
The Olivetti M24 is a computer that was sold by Olivetti in 1983 using the Intel 8086 CPU.
The system was sold in the United States under its original name by Docutel/Olivetti of Dallas. AT&T and Xerox bought rights to rebadge the system as the ...
/
Olivetti M24
The Olivetti M24 is a computer that was sold by Olivetti in 1983 using the Intel 8086 CPU.
The system was sold in the United States under its original name by Docutel/Olivetti of Dallas. AT&T and Xerox bought rights to rebadge the system as t ...
(
''Nanoréseau''''
'' network machine,
8086 @ 8 MHz, 1985)
*
Persona 1800 /
Olivetti M28
The Olivetti M28 personal computer, introduced in 1986, was the successor to the Olivetti M24.
It had an Intel 80286 CPU running at 8 MHz and 512 KB (expandable to 1024 KB on the motherboard) of RAM, featuring a 5.25" floppy drive and a 20 M ...
(
80286 @ 8 MHz, 1986)
*
Persona 1300 /
Olivetti M19
The Olivetti M19 was a personal computer made in 1986 by the Italian company Olivetti. It has an 8088 at 4.77 or 8 MHz and 256–640 KB of RAM. The BIOS is Revision Diagnostics 3.71. In the UK, it was sold by Acorn Computers as the A ...
(
8088 @ 4.77 MHz, 256KB RAM, 1986)
* 3B modèle 400 /
Olivetti CPS/32 Stratos (
68030,
VOS, 1986)
See also
*
Computing for All
The Computing for All plan (''Plan Informatique pour Tous - IPT'') was a French government plan to introduce computers to the country's 11 million pupils. A second goal was to support national industry. It followed several introductory computer sci ...
, a French government plan to introduce computers to the country's pupils
References
{{Commons category-inline
Computer companies of France
History of computing in France
Lists of computer hardware
Computer science education in France