Lira 512

Lira 512 was an IBM [PC XT] compatible computer made by the Yugoslav company EI Niš in the late 1980s.
It was first presented to the public in April 1988 at the “Kompjuter ‘88” computer show in Belgrade. Soon after that, Lira 512 was also presented in Yugoslav computer press. The main purpose of Lira 512 was to be used in computer classrooms.
What separates Lira 512 from most of the other XT compatibles is that keyboard is included just above in the same case, which made it similar in appearance to the original Atari ST or the Amiga 500.

Specifications

Lira 512 has the following technical specifications:

CPU: Intel 8088 running at 4.77 MHz or 10 MHz
ROM: 8 KB Award BIOS, expandable to 32KB
RAM: 512 KB
Operating system: MS DOS 3.21
Secondary storage: 3.5’’ Panasonic 720KB floppy drive
Display: two display adapters
*Hercules compatible adapter
*CGA compatible adapter
Sound: beeper
I/O ports: composite, RF and DE9 RGB video output, RS-232, parallel port, external floppy connector, DA15 PC joystick female connector, light pen and expansion connector
Power supply 40W

Lira has two display adapters, where the active video adapter is chosen by the back-panel switch. A 40W power adapter is also installed in the same case.

Other Lira models

Lira XT Tower

Lira XT Tower was released about a year after the original Lira 512, because it was realized that the compact case limited hardware expansion. To address this issue, especially to allow for the installation of a hard disk, the case was changed to a slimline tower.

Lira AT

The new Lira AT was released at about the same time as the Lira XT Tower, with a similar looking slimline tower case. Lira AT was a IBM PC AT compatible, equipped with a 80286 CPU, 1MB of RAM, a EGA compatible video adapter, two 3.5" floppy drives and a 40MB hard disk. Serial production of this model started in December 1989.

Lira 386

The Lira 386, based on a 80386 CPU, was ready for production by 1990.