I am glad that Jim has released his Sol emulator (if you didn't see his
message look at
http://www.thebattles.net/sol20/solace.html) He has done a
fantastic job - Sol owners and Sol-wanna-be owners owe him a tremendous debt
of gratitude for making the Sol live again. His web site already has a very
good collection of both usable software and documentation (much of
generously shared by many list members).
I propose to make it even better. I have begun OCR'ing and pdf'ing the
paper documentation I have. And I have just compiled a tape to send Jim
(including such goodies as Microsoft BASIC for the Sol, MSA BASIC, 8080
Checkers, Computer Mart of NJ Dynamic Debugging System, Electric Pencil, and
others). (okay, okay, so there may be some copyright issues here! But
putting those aside....) I can OCR and PDF documentation. I can repair
(some) cassette tapes (the pressure pad often comes unglued, but Radio Shack
has repair kits) and make backup copies on new cassettes. But I can't do
what Jim can do. Jim has already designed and hosted the website I only
dreamed of. I would prefer that he spent his time on improving and
extending SolACE. So here's the deal ...
With Jim's approval I am willing to act as a clearinghouse for any and all
donations of programs and documentation to be made available on Jim's
website. I would prefer originals (with the understanding that I will VERY
carefully copy and return them) or good, clean copies of any ProcTech Sol
programs and documentation which are not already available on his site. I
will catalog, research, annotate, OCR, PDF, convert, etc. whatever I can and
transfer same to Jim for inclusion on his site. I will try to track down
copyright holders and even make this stuff legit (if necessary).
Obviously I am an extreme example of a Sol nut. But I do think that the Sol
played a pivotal role in the evolution of personal computers, and it
deserves a chance to shine again nearly 25 years later. This is an example
of a little project that the classiccmp list is in a unique position to help
along. So how about it? Go out to that storage shed, dig deep in that
cellar, see what you can find. Check out Jim's website, and if he doesn't
have what you have, then drop me a line. I'll let you know if it is
something I am already working on or not.
Note to Sellam: might make a nice freebie for the VCF - I bet Jim could
provide SolACE and program or two, and I'd be willing to do a little
write-up about ProcTech and Sol. I can see the advertising now: Attend the
VCF and receive your very own 8080 Sol computer!
Received on Thu Jul 13 2000 - 06:27:26 BST