[Action Retro] got here into an vintage Sol-20 pc and argues that it was the primary completely built-in pc geared toward shoppers that didn’t require you to purchase or construct some sort of terminal. These are pretty uncommon, so we appreciated the peek inside that you could see within the video under.

Positive, the Sol-20 wasn’t the very first pc on the market out there. It was, nonetheless, one of many first ones that didn’t want something extra unique than a monitor to have a practical system (and the monitor was included). There have been alternate options akin to a Xerox Alto or a Wang 2200, however these had worth tags that didn’t land them in your house. Even Apple, which might change into well-known for a turnkey system, was solely producing the Apple I at the moment. Because the video factors out, it was full so long as you might construct your personal energy provide and knew easy methods to interface a keyboard — conserving in thoughts that keyboards have been all wildly completely different in these days.

Whereas the Sol-20 was the primary to the market, everybody “knew” this form of kind issue was crucial. The important thing was to get the value down. Even the Sol-20 bought for $2,100 with a monochrome monitor, BASIC, 8K of reminiscence, and cassette tape mass storage. Keep in mind, although, that $2,100 in 1976 is value about $6,260 right this moment. You possibly can purchase a motherboard equipment ($575) or the bottom machine assembled ($745). Including the case, keyboard, and energy provide would add $300 to $500 to that worth. In fact, until you ponied up the entire $2,100, you needed to supply your personal bits like cassette decks, reminiscence boards, and the like.

The pc didn’t boot up instantly, however biking the ability a couple of instances made it perform a little higher. The S-100 bus connectors take up fairly a little bit of actual property inside, and an enormous linear energy provide was fairly frequent for computer systems of the interval. The keyboard was past assist and required some main renovation and cleansing. It wasn’t completely mounted by the tip of the video, however you’ll be able to see he’s getting there.

The corporate had made inroads into the fledgling pc shops of the day and had promised enhancements, together with a floppy drive and a coloration video card. Vendor issues delayed the floppy disk launch after which got here comparable and cheaper computer systems from Radio Shack, Apple, and Commodore. Processor Expertise — the corporate that made the SOL — had authorized troubles, too. The corporate they paid to put in writing the SOL’s BASIC was promoting the software program to others, however the courts sided with the opposite firm. The corporate additionally refused to maneuver to CP/M, utilizing a proprietary working system that was reportedly buggy, leading to a lawsuit towards the corporate. The final straw was 32K and 64K dynamic reminiscence boards that have been bought after which failed continuously. The corporate went bankrupt in 1979, ending the three-year run of the SOL.

We suspect this machine shall be completely perform quickly sufficient. If you’d like one in every of these however can’t afford or discover one, you can do a replica. Or, emulate a pc from the identical 12 months — the Apple I.