The display subsystem of the trs80 was quite similar to that of the sol20 computer and the vdm1 s100 card that came before them. Most of this software comes courtesy of paul schaper and bob stek, who were kind enough to archive this. In 1970 the xerox corporation, which had become very successful in the 1960s with its 914 copier and related products, established the palo alto research center parc. A vintage 1970s processor technology sol20 terminal. The sol20 by processor technology is a beautifully designed and visually appealing system and has the proud distinction of being the first commercially mass produced packaged personal computer looking less like a boxy kit like the altair 8800 and more like a real computer, ie. The music system was designed primarily for the sol20 computer or systems running subsystem b from processor technology. They both have the solpc as the motherboard, but include a case, keyboard and power supply. Early computer kits included the processor technology sol20 with two floppy disk drives and a video display. The sol20 by processor technology is a beautifully designed and visually appealing system and. The cassette interface designed by processor technology pt for their sol20 was made to be compatible with the kansas city format 300 baud system as well as a 1200 baud system, the. Jun 15, 2015 processor technology sol 20 computer manual table of contents.
All processor technology products were available either assembled, or as electronic kits. These bare board kits were clearly the first sols sold the case and power supply were not ready also note the provisional documentation. Pc 76 was the first big computer show ever held, and sol20 was the hit of the show. Processor technology sol20 computer ships worldwide ebay. Processor technology sol20 terminal computer 1 of 3 named for the wisdom of solomon, or possibly popular electronics magazine editor les.
Processor technology sol 20 computer manual table of. The sol20 supports the following monitor commands ca list the files on a tape cu. We offer thousands of vintage microcomputer items, keyboards, motherboards, 8080, z80 6800 or 6502 systems and several 8088 80286 80386 80486 and 68000 working systems, volumes of computer literature. The sol20 consisted of a main motherboard pcb mounted at the bottom of the case, and a five slot s100 bus card cage.
My first opportunity to use a personal computer arose differently. One side of the tape was recorded in cuts format, and the other side was kansas. Despite the simple hardware, the system could play three voice part music. The name is an acronym for sol a nachronistic c omputer e. Retrocomputing is usually classed as a hobby and recreation rather than a practical application of technology. The first consideration was trying to find on in the mess emulator. In the final few seconds of its existence, processor technology software 20 technology sold copies of the source code to its programs. Additional expansion was available via five s100 bus. Helios disk subsystem, additional personality modules, additional software, expansion chassis, etc. The intel 8080 eightyeighty is the second 8bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by intel. The package consisted of software for authoring and playing music along with a simple s100 board requiring just three components. The machine in my collection is in exceptionally good condition and works perfectly.
The sol20 was probably the first pc to incorprate a keyboard and video with the machine. The sol started out as the solpc, a single circuit board without a case or power supply. Processor technology was started as an addin card company. For sale is this 1976 processor technology sol20 terminal computer. A vintage 1970s processor technology sol20 terminal computer, taken on may 21, 2009. The music system was distributed by software technology a division of processor technology. The sol20, designed by lee felsenstein and conceptualized by bob marsh and les solomon, was a personal computer that was first to include. Processor technology manufactured 10,000 sol20 personal computers between 1977 and 1979. Fellow computer hobbyists wanted to buy shrayers esp1 software.
While i was indeed the sole designer of most of the sol 20 circuitry and worked hard to manage. The sol20, the full working computer, was introduced at the personal computing 76 show in atlantic city. One side of the tape was recorded in cuts format, the other side was kansas city standard format. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Firm sectoring also allows faster data access and variable block sizes. Ive been to the computer science museum in san jose, and my dads collection could fill more than one of their exhibits with books, working hardware and software.
Other software can be run from either the cartridge slot or the two highspeed tape drives built in to the front of the unit. So after some additional attempts, a suitable emulator has been found for the sol20. While the sol20 had no graphics capability, the trs80 mapped 64 high codes to 2x3 block graphics, enabling a coarse 128x48 bitmap to be intermixed with text. Again, the schematic, pcb, and software files for this project are all included with the downloads. As noted by lee felsenstein, we processor technology started taking orders for sols at pc76 the first personal computer show in atlantic city, new jersey at the beginning of september 1976. Targ video game for the sol20 microcomputer youtube. When run, it scored 1,694 seconds which placed its speed between the sinclair zx80 1631s and the processor technology sol20 1812s. Processor technology solpc an early sol20 minus the 20. Retrocomputing is the use of older computer hardware and software in modern times. The sol10 was intended to be a stripped down sol20, functioning as a smart terminal. The sol20 was produced by the processor technology corporation.
Hybrid memory cube 1,128 words exact match in snippet view article find links to article tech award. It was based around the s100 bus which made it compatible with the already popular altair 8800 and imsai 8080 not to mention a host of other s100 computer manufactuers vector graphics, cromenco, northstar etc. Processor technology sold software on cassette tape. This site is mostly a collection of documents, software, and other artifacts. There is very little in the way of processor technology sol emulators. The main pcb consisted of the cpu, memory, video display, io circuits. The notes below are about the persci drive portion of those. The adam computer has a builtin word processor that is the default program run when the machine is powered on. A sol20 with a heliosii drive cabinet is pictured below courtesy m.
Sol20 terminal computer system source computer museum. Under optimum conditions each diskette can store 384,000 bytes of information. This piece of history is clean, and will display well in your vintage computer collection. The sol20 by processor technology is a beautifully designed and visually appealing system and has the proud distinction of being the first commercially mass produced packaged personal computer looking less like a boxy kit like the altair 8800 and more like a real computer, ie, a terminal. Inside the case included power supply, fan, and keyboard. Of course lee felsenstein later worked on the osbourne portable computer as well. A 1 kb block of ram was mapped to a 64x16 text display. Processor technology, deluged with orders, took almost a year to fill them. The processor technology sol20 came into my life when darlene went out. The system included a monitor rom that allowed the user.
It first appeared in april 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibility. Processor technology solpc an early sol20 minus the 20 i have recently acquired a homemade solpc with documentation from october 1976. The company that made them was called processor technology corporation in emeryville california and was founded by lee felsenstein, gordon french and bob marsh around mid 1975. Xe load and run cassettes cassette images can have the. Processor technologys newly launched sol10 and sol20 systems also intel 8080based would account for a further 8% of the market as would southwest technical products 6800 motorola 6800based.
The sol20 has an important place in the history of computer for a number of reasons. Processor technology sol20 terminal computer old computers. Interestingly, the adam printer a slow and noisy daisy wheel is the power source for the entire system. The sol20 computer by processor technology corporation was a significant innovation on the path to the personal computer industry, being the first commercially mass produced, packaged small computer which had all the features of a modern pc, keyboard, video and an expandable architecture.
Processor technology also sold software on cassette tape. If you wish to complete your museum or wish to revisit your past, we have what you need. One side of the tape was recorded in cuts format, and the other side was kansas city. History of the microprocessor and the personal computer. The sol20 was the first fully assembled microcomputer with a builtin keyboard and television output, what would later be known as a home computer. Get premium, high resolution news photos at getty images. The initial specified clock rate or frequency limit was 2 mhz, and with common instructions using 4, 5, 7, 10, or 11 cycles this meant that it operated at. Processor technology had planned on three forms of the machine. Designed primarily for processor technologys sol20 computer or for systems running their subsystem b, the board can also be used in other s100 machines by providing a monitor rom that provides the same console io entry points as their solos or. Targ was a game written in 1977 for the sol20 computer by steve dompier and supplied as part of the gamepac1 software package, by software technology inc. Altair 8800 clone music system from processor technology.
Processor technology also developed their own operating system for the helios, ptdos. About 10,000 of them were produced, some as kits, some as prebuilt. Processor technology wikimili, the free encyclopedia. In june 1975, bob and les solomon technical editor of popular electronics dreamed up the sol20 computer, bob had a bunch of cheap walnut that he originally intended. The sol20, designed by lee felsenstein and conceptualized by bob marsh and les solomon, was a personal computer that was first to include integrated keyboard, video and rom in the same package the sol20 was an 8080 based system that incorporated the processor technology vdm1 to produce video on a television or composite monitor. It was a bleak, frigid day in january of 1979, and i was finishing a long article for this magazine.
The system included a monitor rom that allowed the user to boot the machine into a semiusable mode on power up. Description joe felsenstein works with sol20 at processor technology emeryville plant. All processor technology products were available either fully assembled, or as electronic kits. After his death, and because i lived almost 4000 miles away, i couldnt take on his collection, so it slowly diffused into the ether. Thats over 34 million bytes on line with each helios dual drive. The sol20 was an 8080 based system that incorporated the processor technology vdm1 to produce video on a television or composite monitor. Processor technology also sold a wide variety of other programs, including many games, on cassette format for the sol, or on punch. Processor technology manufactured approximately 10,000 sol20 personal computers between 1977 and 1979. Processor technology corporation solpc single board terminal computertm section i 1. Though it failed to gain the widespread acceptance of cpm, it was in many respects superior to cpm. One source for engineered compatibility of computer and peripherals.
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