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Pacific Northwest Processor Technology SOL-20 on ebay.

Covers: Oregon and Washington
H

Hugo Holden

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I saw this on ebay:

www.ebay.com

Vintage Processor Technology SOL Terminal Computer 1977 | eBay

Untouched for decades. I have only removed the case for photographs. Note the inspection date on the board. Not risking powering this on.
www.ebay.com

When I bought my SOL a few years back it was less than $1000. However the price of these sorts of things has been increasing lately (just look at the KIM-1), let alone the Apple-1.

Probably, at this stage of the "game" this price is not totally unreasonable for a SOL-20 computer in such good physical condition.

It will be interesting to see if it sells for this price, or not.

From my perspective, because the electronics is generally always repairable, the most important thing is the absence of rust and corrosion and good physical condition of the computer. And this one looks quite good.

So maybe there is a SOL-20 enthusiast out there who is about to "Get Lucky".
 
I'd love one of these machines some day -- this one looks great! I wonder about the price though, is this what these are typiaclly selling for these days? Someone I know was extremely lucky and got one the other year for $500CAD!

-Chris
 
cchhrriiss11 said:
I'd love one of these machines some day -- this one looks great! I wonder about the price though, is this what these are typiaclly selling for these days? Someone I know was extremely lucky and got one the other year for $500CAD!

-Chris
Click to expand...

Hi,

I think $500 is a more normal price, simply because although it has S-100 slots for expansion, it's only Composite Video OUT, The keyboards need to be rebuilt every several years.

Compared to a Commodore 64, Atari or Amiga etc. it's just not such a hot useful computer other than for a collector.


I converted one of my Altair-Duino Pro computers into a Processor Technology computer that works much like the original Sol-20 ...
http://www.brainless.org/Altair/BeginnerPage.html
Scroll way down, or a Ctrl-F search for "Processor" ...

It is a live document so as I learn, I add to the document to help others move forward faster, plus it's good notes for me in the future as my old brain turns liquid.


I almost forgot, one sold for less than $400 not so long ago. I think that was CraigsList.



.
 
wperko said:
Hi,

.....its only Composite Video OUT, The keyboards need to be rebuilt every several years.




.
Click to expand...
If the Keyboard is re-built with good quality professional pads/discs, such as ones harvested from the SUN-4 keyboard (rather than all the other home made variants) you likely would only need to look at the keyboard again every 20 or 30 years. The keyboard is a very clever unique design.

There is nothing wrong with the composite video out, at least it has one, unlike the standard KIM-1 and AIM 65.

And the SOL-20 has SOLOS, a very good and compact operating system and it is easy to get programs in and out of it via its serial port to a modern computer. Plus, with the Northstar card you can run a pair of nice 5.25" floppy drives and easily run CP/M from those and the Assembler. I use a pair of NOS YD-580 soft sector drives with Mike Douglas's VSG, works like a charm and makes the SOL-20 a wonderful system overall. I really cannot find anything to criticize about the SOL-20, aside from it needing a little extra ventilation across the horizontally stacked S-100 cards, and the limit to the S-100 slots. I think, overall, it is a wonderful vintage computer.


some info if you do require to repair the keyboard:


page 24 of this article shows how to add the additional cooling fan without making any permanent modifications to the SOL:


$3000 might be on the steep side for that SOL-20, but one in that sort of initial condition, where it looks like it would clean up well, I would say it is worth at least $1500 to $2000. It still has the impossible to get rear case lid thumb screws.

$500 would be for a completely rusted out junk unit which you would spend the rest of your life regretting you bought.
 
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