diff --git a/Satchmo/Solver/Minisat.hs b/Satchmo/Solver/Minisat.hs
--- a/Satchmo/Solver/Minisat.hs
+++ b/Satchmo/Solver/Minisat.hs
@@ -18,15 +18,17 @@
 -- import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as BS
 
 import Data.Monoid
-import System.IO (stderr, hFlush, hPutStrLn, hGetContents)
+import System.IO (stderr, hFlush, hClose, hPutStrLn, hGetContents
+       , hSetBuffering, BufferMode (..) )
 import System.Process
 import Control.Monad ( when )
 import Control.Concurrent
 import Control.Exception
+import qualified Control.Exception as C
 
 import qualified Data.Map as M
 
-solve = using "minisat2"
+solve = using "/usr/bin/minisat2"
 
 using fp = Satchmo.Solve.solve $ minisat fp
 
@@ -35,29 +37,42 @@
     let header = mkDimacsHeader numVars numClauses
         cs'    = BS.pack header `mappend` cs
     let debug = False
-    if False 
+    if debug
        then BS.hPut stderr cs'
        else hPutStrLn stderr header >> hFlush stderr
 
+-- copied from
+-- http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/process/1.0.1.5/doc/html/src/System-Process.html#readProcessWithExitCode
 
-    ( hin, hout, herr, proc ) <- 
-        System.Process.runInteractiveCommand
-            $ unwords [ fp, "/dev/stdin", "/dev/stdout" ] 
+    ( Just inh, Just outh, Just errh, pid ) <- 
+       createProcess ( proc fp  [ "/dev/stdin", "/dev/stdout" ] )
+           { std_in  = CreatePipe, std_out = CreatePipe, std_err = CreatePipe }
 
-    container <- newEmptyMVar
-    forkIO $ do 
-        BS.hPut hin cs
-        -- waitForProcess proc
-        ds <- hGetContents hout
-        hPutStrLn stderr $ unwords [ "output", "length", show ( length ds ) ]
-        putMVar container ds
+    outMVar <- newEmptyMVar
 
-    out <- takeMVar container `Control.Exception.catch` \ ( _ :: AsyncException ) ->  do 
-        -- hPutStrLn stderr "got exception in waitForProcess"
-        terminateProcess proc
-        -- hPutStrLn stderr "terminateProcess done"
-        return ""
-    -- hPutStrLn stderr "end waitForProcess"
+    -- fork off a thread to start consuming stdout
+    out  <- hGetContents outh
+    _ <- forkIO $ C.evaluate (length out) >> putMVar outMVar ()
+
+    -- fork off a thread to start consuming stderr
+    err  <- hGetContents errh
+    _ <- forkIO $ C.evaluate (length err) >> putMVar outMVar ()
+
+    -- now write and flush any input
+    do BS.hPut  inh cs'; hFlush inh ; hClose inh -- done with stdin
+
+    -- wait on the output
+    takeMVar outMVar `Control.Exception.catch` \ ( _ :: AsyncException ) ->  do 
+        terminateProcess pid
+    takeMVar outMVar `Control.Exception.catch` \ ( _ :: AsyncException ) ->  do 
+        terminateProcess pid
+    hClose outh ; hClose errh
+
+    -- wait on the process
+    ex <- waitForProcess pid
+
+    hPutStrLn stderr $ unwords [ "output", "length", show ( length out ) ]
+    -- hPutStrLn stderr out
 
     case lines out of
         "SAT" : xs : _ -> do
diff --git a/satchmo-backends.cabal b/satchmo-backends.cabal
--- a/satchmo-backends.cabal
+++ b/satchmo-backends.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           satchmo-backends
-Version:        1.8.1
+Version:        1.8.2
 
 License:        GPL
 License-file:	gpl-2.0.txt
@@ -30,3 +30,4 @@
     Other-modules:
         Satchmo.Solver.Internal
     hs-source-dirs:	.
+