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Any info on Lanier Computer

H

HabboX

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Dec 31, 2006
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I have found a Lanier computer, with two 5 1/4 floppies, monitor and a dot-matrix printer housed in a large soundproofing cabinet.

I have not tried to turn it on, but externally it appears in good condition.

I found it in the basement of a building that no longer exists. There used to be a bank above, but now it is a parking lot for a county building.

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about Lanier computers? I'm guessing it is from the mid-80's. My memory is fuzzy, but I think it was a model L-200. Any info is appreciated.
 
While I don't have any specific information on that machine, I do know that Lanier is known for office automation products.
I think you'll find that what you have is not a general purpose computer, but rather a dedicated word processing system.
Contact Lanier and see what they can tell you about it.
 
I still haven't found any info on the Internet, but it looks most similar to the Commodore Pet 8032 (there's a photo on this website). I recall the futuristic angled monitor. Perhaps it is a rebranded Commodore.
 
Does it have floppies, printer and monitor all in one? A PET 8032 neither comes with built-in floppies nor printer (thanks God, it is large enough already). The Commodore 8296-D though had built-in 5.25" floppies but no printer. If you can take a picture of what you have, more people can chime in telling you what it might be. Powering it on (if you dare) would tell even more.
 
Perhaps, and this is a wild guess, it might be based off of the ibm pc.

I used to have a harris/lanier branded system that was a 286 backplane. It was kind of msdos compatible. Unusual keyboard, iirc. Based on talking to the guy I got it from, and where it was used (military manufacturing), I think it was a print server for terminals on a mini/mainframe. Unfortunatly, the hard disk controller was already fried, the battery was dead too, and then the rest gave up the ghost. Never did get to find what it actually ran.

As for finding info already on the net you may find yourself in the same position I did, little to no luck unless you can get a hold of someone that worked with the machine.
 
Pictures of the Lanier EZ-1 L-200

Pictures of the Lanier EZ-1 L-200

OK. Today I was able to visit the cave where this computer is located and take some pictures of it. Please let me know what information you can provide about this computer.

P1010001.jpg


P1010002.jpg


P1010004.jpg


P1010005.jpg


P1010006.jpg
 
Cool. Thanks for the links. $13,000 for a word processor! That's like spending $25,000 today. Does anyone need a word processor? ;)
 
Honestly, this computer is in a basement under what used to be a bank building, but is now a parking lot. There was NO light down there. I lit the computer with an LED light on my key ring and took a flash photo. I didn't even know there was a stapler down there. In fact you can see a lot more in the photos than you can in real life.
 
Dang

Dang

HabboX said:
Honestly, this computer is in a basement under what used to be a bank building, but is now a parking lot. There was NO light down there. I lit the computer with an LED light on my key ring and took a flash photo. I didn't even know there was a stapler down there. In fact you can see a lot more in the photos than you can in real life.
Click to expand...

I want your led light, doesn't it seem dangerous to have something plugged into an outlet down there? Sounds spooky. Anyway, are you going to rescue it?:super: It looks like a keeper (I mean the machine but also rescue the stapler).
 
The only reason it's still down there is because it's not worth stealing. :)
 
It's too heavy to steal, theifs are lazy

It's too heavy to steal, theifs are lazy

:computer:
ahm said:
The only reason it's still down there is because it's not worth stealing. :)
Click to expand...

Come on, in 20 years it might be worth 1.50... but it's not the money that counts, it's the 5 1/4" drives.
 
Lanier

Lanier

As a child, I went to school at an exclusive military school with a wealthy young Lanier. Don't know if he was related. But he had a Dooling 61! (and a dozen other really pricey model airplane engines!) All meticulously maintained and transported by family members for his use on weekends. They had the first spring wound "Starter" I ever saw! Control line flying! 100 MPH! Today, they would arrest you for child endangerment!!

Lanier (company) did a lot in the office technology field. Copiers, word processors etc. that wase back in the dark ages. Don't know if they are even alive these days.
 
Lanier Computers

Lanier Computers

I actually sold Lanier Word Processors to attorneys in the mid 80's. Lanier wanted everybody to think they were dedicated word processors and they did have a software program that was dedicated to word processing which booted up when the machine turned on, but what they didn't tell everybody was that it was a standard MSDOS computer and could do what other early computers could do in DOS. Lanier would possibly have been smarter to have sold it that way rather than as a dedicated word processor.
 
sbarnhouse said:
I actually sold Lanier Word Processors to attorneys in the mid 80's. Lanier wanted everybody to think they were dedicated word processors and they did have a software program that was dedicated to word processing which booted up when the machine turned on, but what they didn't tell everybody was that it was a standard MSDOS computer and could do what other early computers could do in DOS. Lanier would possibly have been smarter to have sold it that way rather than as a dedicated word processor.
Click to expand...

Even though this thread is more than 3 years old, I'm kind of curious if you were familiar with any of the 70's AES systems sold under the Lanier badge. I've got an old 8" hard-sector floppy here with the Harris Lanier logo on it and haven't the faintest what system it came from.
 
I love old threads like this that find new life.

My father ran his manufacturer-rep business out of our home while I was growing up in the 80's. I'd guess about 1981-1985 he bought a Lanier computer very much like you describe. As stated, it booted up to be a word processor which is what he always used it for. I'm now a software engineer, but I can say that my first computer program that I ever wrote was on that Lanier. The two disk drives were integral. He had one of those old printers that used the ball with all the characters on it and that Lanier would get it printing so fast the whole house would shake like an earthquake.

It took several minutes to start up and of course was a green-screen like everything else from that era. He may still have it along with software to run it.
 
...I think the monitor was separate from the CPU but I'm not sure...the keyboard was integral I think.
 
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