Léanord (''Laboratoire d'Electronique et d'Automatisme du Nord)'' was a French computer brand, founded in 1960 at

Haubourdin Haubourdin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 647 communes of the ...

, near

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. It was a subsidiary of

Creusot-Loire Creusot-Loire was a French engineering conglomerate, formed from factories in Le Creusot and Châteauneuf, Loire. The Creusot-Loire subsidiary of ArcelorMittal also includes an Innovation, Research and Development centre for the group. History Th ...

and started to develop computers in the late 1970s. The first machines, called Picolog 8, Picolog 80 and Picodidac 80 were based on

Intel 8008 The Intel 8008 ("''eight-thousand-eight''" or "''eighty-oh-eight''") is an early 8-bit microprocessor capable of addressing 16 KB of memory, introduced in April 1972. The 8008 architecture was designed by Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC) and ...

8080 The Intel 8080 is Intel's second 8-bit microprocessor. Introduced in April 1974, the 8080 was an enhanced successor to the earlier Intel 8008 microprocessor, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a weekly trade newspa ...

and 8085 microprocessors and designed for

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

and

machine code In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers, machine code is the binaryOn nonb ...

learning. Léanord's first

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

was the Silex, released in 1978. Based on a licensed

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

motherboard with a MOS Technology 6502, MOS 6502 running at 1Mhz and 32Kb RAM, the machine was expensive for the time (costing 29,000 French franc, Francs) and came with ''SILBasic'' (a BASIC interpreter), ''SILPascal'' (a Pascal (programming language), Pascal interpreter) and ''SILDOS'' (a

disk operating system A disk operating system (DOS) is a computer operating system that requires a disk or other direct-access storage device as secondary storage. A DOS provides a file system and a means for loading and running computer program, programs stored on th ...

). It had an 8-inch floppy disc drive and came in a 54x35x59 cm box, that also included the keyboard and monitor. In 1979 Léanord released the Sil'z, similar in appearance to the Silex but

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/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

compatible. It was powered by a

Zilog Z80 The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be Backward compatibility, software-compatible with the ...

at 2.5 MHz, had 64 Kb of RAM, 80x24 character monochrome display, two 5'' 1/4 320Kb disc drives, two

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...

c ports (for printer and modem), and measured 54x33x57 cm. It was followed by the Sil'z II in 1981 (adding a Western WD1795 controller for extra floppy disc drives) and Sil'z III in 1982. In 1983, the Sil'z IV was released, with a different design featuring a separate keyboard and monitor and adding a

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

. The Sil'z 16 was released in 1983 with relation to the ''

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 comput ...

'' government program, featuring the ''Nanoréseau'', a small

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

based on the RS422 standard, and developed in connection with Lille university. This machine came with a

Intel 8088 The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers ...

CPU running at 4.77Mhz, 128 Kb of RAM, MS-DOS,

CP/M-86 CP/M-86 is a discontinued version of the CP/M operating system that Digital Research (DR) made for the Intel 8086 and Intel 8088. The system commands are the same as in CP/M-80. Executable files used the relocatable .CMD file format. Digital Re ...

and

Microsoft Basic Microsoft BASIC is the foundation software product of the Microsoft company and evolved into a line of BASIC interpreters and compiler(s) adapted for many different microcomputers. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first v ...

. Later machines were

PC compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central pro ...

. The Challenger Elan series, released in 1986, were 16-bit ISA

backplane A backplane or backplane system is a group of electrical connectors in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus. It is used to connect s ...

machines with

8086 The 8086 (also called iAPX 86) is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and June 8, 1978, when it was released. The Intel 8088, released July 1, 1979, is a slightly modified chip with an external 8-bit data bus (allo ...

8088 The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers ...

80286 The Intel 80286 (also marketed as the iAPX 286 and often called Intel 286) is a 16-bit microprocessor that was introduced on February 1, 1982. It was the first 8086-based CPU with separate, non-multiplexed address and data buses and also the fi ...

and

80386 The Intel 386, originally released as the 80386 and later renamed i386, is the third-generation x86 architecture microprocessor from Intel. It was the first 32-bit processor in the line, making it a significant evolution in the x86 architect ...

processors. In 1989 Léanord merged with

Intertechnique Zodiac Aerospace was a French aerospace group, active from 1896 to 2018, that supplied systems and equipment for aircraft. In October 2018, it was acquired by French aerospace and defense company Safran. History Aeronautic foundations (1896� ...

, being eventually absorbed by Siemens-Nixdorf.

Models

* Picolog 8 -

, 1977 * Picolog 80 -

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 is Intel's second 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor. Introduced in April 1974, the 8080 was an enhanced successor to the earlier Intel 8008 microprocessor, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a week ...

, 1977 * Picodidac 80 -

Intel 8085 The Intel 8085 ("''eighty-eighty-five''") is an 8-bit microprocessor produced by Intel and introduced in March 1976. It is software-binary-code compatibility, binary compatible with the more-famous Intel 8080. It is the last 8-bit microprocesso ...

, 1979 * Silex - Licensed

motherboard, MOS Technology 6502, MOS 6502 @ 1Mhz, 32Kb RAM, 1978 * Sil’z -

@ 2.5 MHz, 64 Kb RAM,

, 1979–1980 * Sil’z II -

@ 2.5 MHz, 64 Kb RAM, CP/M 2.2, 1981 * Sil’z III -

@ 2.5 MHz, 64 Kb RAM, CP/M 2.2, 1982 * Sil’z IV -

@ 2.5 MHz, 64 Kb RAM, CP/M, Separate keyboard and monitor, hard drive, 1983 * Sil’z 16 -

@ 4.77Mhz, 128 Kb RAM, MS-DOS, CP/M-86, ''Nanoréseau'''''' network machine, based on the ''ProtoPC'' from ''Future Computers'', 1983 * Challenger Elan - First

PCs, 8086, 8088, 80286 and 80386, 1986

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Léanord Computer companies of France History of computing in France Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Computer science education in France Computing for All