<-- Back to Part 1: Restoration

• Name
• Serial Numbers
• Locations

The Sol-20 remained in production until 1979, by which point about 12,000 machines had been sold. [1] Some sources put it at 5,000 kits and 5,000 assembled machines, but Felsenstein puts it at 12,000 total. [2]

The design was originally suggested by Les Solomon, the editor of Popular Electronics. ... Felsenstein suggested the name "Sol" because they were including "the wisdom of Solomon" in the box. [1]

The serial numbers are still a bit of a puzzle. According to the information I know, about 10,000 to 12,000 Sol-20s were produced (sold); the number 12,000 comes from Lee Felsenstein. About half of them probably as kits. But, the serial number is six digits, four digits would only be needed. Although I am not sure, I have added a hyphen as shown below. So the 21 and the 40 would have a different meaning that I don't know. I didn't get a clear answer in the Facebook group "Vintage S100 Computer Enthusiasts" either.

The serial numbers known to me. Your S/N is lower? Send me a picture!

1. #21-3132, Emeryville - eBay sales picture





2. #21-3362, Emeryville - Grant Shannon, USA





3. #21-4320, Emeryville - eBay sales picture





4. #21-4477, Emeryville - Thomas Brase, Germany, Lower-Saxony





5. #21-5215, Emeryville - Francis Bauer, USA, California






---

6. #40-0720, Pleasanton - Stéphane Pitteloud, Swiss
   The changed font is quite clearly visible.





7. #40-1489, Pleasanton - eBay sales picture

2465 Fourth St, Berkeley, CA 94710

This is the place where it all began, 2465 Forth Street Berkeley. I don't know if it looked like this in 1976. In the very beginning Felsenstein, Proc Tech and North Star shared the same "garage".

In January 1975, the two [Marsh & Felsenstein] rented a 1,100-square-foot garage at 2465 Fourth Street in Berkeley for $170 a month.

A month after Proc Tech [Processor Technology] moved out of the Fourth Street garage [winter 1976/77], Grant and Greenberg took over two-thirds of the space of the garage, Felsenstein reclaimed the other third, ... [6]

6200 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA. 94608

06/1977 [3]

7100 Johnson Industrial Drive, Pleasanton, CA 94566

The headquarter moves to Pleasanton about Sep. 1977. [5] Today it seems to look very different here than it did back then.

• Wikipedia: Sol-20

1. (↑) Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol-20
2. (↑) Felsenstein, Lee (7 May 2008). "Oral History of Lee Felsenstein". Computer History Museum.
3. (↑) 1977-06-00_Sol-Systems-Manual
4. (↑) 1978-02-00_Sol-Systems-Manual
5. (↑) STAN VEITS History of the Personal Computer, 1993, page 144, 146
6. (↑) Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1984

--> Go to Part 0: Information
--> Go to Part 1 : Restoration
--> Go to Part 2 : History