Links
The first section of links are ones that have original content of some kind.
- Howard Harte has a quite a nice collection of manuals, including a section on Processor Technology products. Many of the docs there overlap those from this website, but there are also many that did not, so go have a look.
- The tireless Dave Dunfield has a collection of useful S-100 documents, including a section on Processor Technology cards.
- Rich Cini has a collection of documents he has scanned, including some Processor Tech docs
- Herbert R Johnson has many S-100 related documents he is willing to copy and sell for a nominal fee. He even has a page of Sol documents available.
- Bill Sudbrink has a neat utility, RUNENT that allows running .ENT format files from the CP/M command line.
- Of special note is Ed's DX-Forth web page. One program located there is reportedly able to decode Sol tapes (or Kansas City format tapes in general), and another program converts to and from ENT format.
- Martin Ward has written a sophisticated KCS/CUTS tape decoder, in Perl. Although it can be rather slow, due to the nature of Perl, it has worked well for me, given a reasonable recording and the right parameters.
- Although I have my own page on how to repair the Sol keyboard, I've come across two sites that work around that by making their own pads! Geoff Harrison has a nice Sol-specific write up. Here is another technique for the Apple Lisa keyboard, which also appears to be a Keytronic design.
- Here is something quite interesting and unusual: an old article about micro computers, the Sol-20 specifically, written by a noted writer. Check out the article Living With a Computer by James Fallows from the July, 1982 Atlantic Monthly.
- Here is a ebay sales pitch for a nicely restored Sol. It was produced by Mike Davis, who has created some interesting and useful products for the Sol. Seek him out on ebay using the handle mikedavis.
- The Digibarn Computer Museum has an enviable number of interesting computers and an even more interesting and enviable place to keep them. Of special note, it has an informative Sol page with a number of photos and links to other Sol information. Be sure to check out the panel of key Processor Technology employees who gathered together for a 30th anniversary celebration at VCF 9.
- The Atari Archives has been doing a fantastic job of getting permission to scan and post a lot of classic computer publications. One of them is The Best of Creative Computing, Volume 3, where there is a review of the Sol-20.
- Retroarchive.org has a lot of great information about old computers, but the one that is probably most of interest is the folder containing all the CPMUG (CP/M User Group) disk images. These aren't necessarily Sol-specific, but are still highly relevant.
- oldcomputers.net has a nice write-up on the sol.
- Corestack has a picture of a Sol opened up. You can see the personality module with the four eproms in the upper left corner of the picture. It also has a very interesting, but brief, description of another machine designed by Lee Felsenstein, the Micro-Expander. Lee also designed the what is undoubtedly his most famous machine, the Osborne microcomputer.
- Speaking of Lee, here is an audio interview with Lee.
- David Williams' Trailing Edge site has a Sol computer that I have a special connection to. I gave him the Sol and he gave me an Exidy Sorcerer.
- Randy Wilson has HTML-ized some Sol literature for our amusement
- Charles Eicher restored a Sol-20 back to operation. A while later he gave an update on his progress. Charles also has a picture of his Sol generating some blocky graphics via the Graphic-Add display mod.
- It may be an obvious source, but Wikipedia has an entry on the Sol-20.
- The Computer Closet has a web page and has a couple scans of ads
- Stan Veit wrote an interesting book on the early history of the micro-revolution, written as an insider. There is an entire chapter on Processor Technology and the Sol computer. Pick it up for only $5.
- It took a few years for me to notice it, but Mark Sabbatini wrote an article called The Thrill of Defeat: The First Home Computers. What makes this review a bit unusual is that the author is writing his first-hand account of experiencing these old machines and games via emulators. The last section of his article is on the Sol-20, using the Solace emulator and programs from this site.
- Erik Klein has a Sol-20 page, with a number of commenters.
- Where does the Sol fit in the timeline of microcomputers? Here's one version.
- The PC-History website has a page on the Sol along with some contextual historical information.
- Stan Sieler has some information on the Sol the Sol-20.
The following are pages about the Sol-20, but have less information, typically a photo of their machine and some basic details about it, like original price, CPU type and speed, and amount of RAM. Some of them contain just a little bit of information on the Sol but have interesting information about other old machines, so it might still be worth a visit.