Within the first two years of the LHC operation ALICE addressed the major soft physics observables in Pb-Pb and pp collisions. In this contribution we present a selection of these results, with the emphasis on the bulk particle production and on part
icle correlations. The latter subject is discussed in detail in several dedicated ALICE talks in the same workshop; the reader is referred to the corresponding contributions.
A Nd:YAG laser was used to simulate charged particle tracks at known positions in the CERES Time Projection Chamber at the CERN SPS. The system was primarily developed to study the response of the readout electronics and to calibrate the electron dri
ft velocity. Further applications were the determination of the gating grid transparency, the chamber position calibration, and long-term monitoring of drift properties of the gas in the detector.
