Gnat Computers

Gnat Computers, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer manufacturing
Founded	1 August 1976 (1976-08-01) in San Diego, California, U.S.
Founder	Thomas Lafleur
Defunct	1983 (1983)
Fate	Acquired by Data Technology Industries, Inc. (DTI)
Headquarters	San Diego , United States
Products	Microcomputers including Gnat MC80, Gnat-Pac System 8, System 9, System 10

Gnat Computers, Inc. was a U.S.-based computer manufacturer located in San Diego, California, established in 1976 by Thomas Lafleur. As an early innovator in microcomputing, Gnat was among the pioneers to obtain a license for the CP/M operating system from Digital Research. The company developed multiple computer models before its acquisition by its business associate Data Technology Industries, Inc. (DTI) in 1983.

History

In August 1976, Gnat Computers was formally established in San Diego. Its inaugural offering, the Gnat MC80 (also known as the Gnat 8080 System), was a single-board computer utilizing an Intel 8080 CPU, equipped with 256 bytes of RAM expandable to 512 bytes, and provisions for up to 2 KB of programmable ROM. This product was available either as bare circuit boards or with an optional enclosure and was aimed primarily at industrial process control markets. It also included an expansion board dedicated to communications control.

By the middle of 1976, Gnat was supplying hardware modules for multiplication and division operations to several early microcomputers based on the 8080 processor, such as the Altair 8800 and Intel’s MDS and Intellec systems. These modules offered a substantial performance improvement over software-based arithmetic routines, providing users with faster computational capabilities.

In 1977, Gnat introduced the Gnat-Pac System 8, which incorporated two 5.25-inch floppy disk drives with an 80 KB storage capacity, 16 KB of RAM, PROM modules including a bootstrap loader, and serial and parallel input/output ports. The subsequent year saw the release of the System 9, which expanded floppy disk capacity to 500 KB (with potential upgrades up to 1 MB) and came pre-installed with the CP/M operating system. Lafleur negotiated a lifetime licensing agreement for CP/M at a cost of $90 in 1977—a remarkably advantageous deal considering that corporate licenses later escalated into tens of thousands of dollars.

In collaboration with DTI from San Leandro in 1979, Gnat developed the Gnat System 10, a fully integrated microcomputer centered on the Zilog Z80 processor. This model featured 65 KB of RAM, a built-in CRT capable of displaying text at 80 columns by 25 rows, dual 700-KB floppy drives, a keyboard styled after the Selectric typewriter, and an interface for hard drives. Sales of this unit reached approximately 2,000 between 1979 and 1980.

By 1981, Gnat secured a significant supply contract valued at $12 million with American Peripheral Systems. This agreement granted American Peripheral Systems dealership rights across twenty states plus Washington, D.C., spanning five years.

Following its acquisition by DTI in 1983, Gnat’s System 10 was rebranded as "The Associate," with production continuing into the mid-1980s under this new name.