newcoleco Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) ADAMCon is an annual convention originaly made and supported by Coleco ADAM users. People can talk and assist to various presentations during 3 days (friday, saturday and sunday) about Coleco ADAM and ColecoVision subjects including games, programming languages, new hardware and software, and more. You may want to take a look at previous ADAMCon presentations at my Youtube channel. For me, ADAMCon was and is still a convention where I constantly learn new things about Coleco Industries (released and unreleased stuff) and various things Coleco fans did back in the 80s and 90s, but also what they are doing now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfF2PoGkoFk&playnext=1&list=PL2191F337A7504E96 Note : Yes, it's me in the video pointing to the ADAMCON21 poster and giving the thumbs up. The 23th edition of the ADAMCON will be held this summer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more details (will be updated eventually) look at the following web site : http://ann.hollowdreams.com/ Edited March 17, 2011 by newcoleco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEFF31 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Grand Rapids MI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow! WOULD like much to attend!!!! please provide details!!! Looking forward to this!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Wow, I might actually be able to go to this one. Depends on the dates. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 * UPDATE * Dates : July 14-17, 2011 More details at the following web site (yes, it's now updated). http://ann.hollowdreams.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Looking forward to the convention although the timing couldn't be worse... daughter's birthday weekend and then followed by a trip to the Dells! I knew it would happen this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Crap! I can't go this year as I'll be out of town that weekend. Figures... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 I've posted a message in the Events section with the promotional videos for this ColecoVision and Coleco ADAM convention. Please, take time to take a look! http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/181716-adamcon-23-july-14-17-2011/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Would like to hear from people who are planning to attend... even if it's only for 1 day. I'll be attending on Saturday only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coleconut Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Would like to hear from people who are planning to attend... even if it's only for 1 day. I'll be attending on Saturday only. Likely attend Sat and Sunday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Yurkie Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Would like to hear from people who are planning to attend... even if it's only for 1 day. I'll be attending on Saturday only. I will likely attend on Saturday if the SD Module is going to be For Sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 Hello, Just 2 quick messages... 1 - I may have find a plane ticket to travel at Grand Rapids this July... still need to be confirmed. I had no hope to be there, but it looks like that I might have an opportunity to participate to the convention this year too. 2 - The ADAMCon convention topic in the Events section is lower and lower in the list. If you don't mind, leave a positive comment like "I will be there" or "Looks like fun!" to keep the Coleco convention topic alive... at least for a few more days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Hello, Just 2 quick messages... 1 - I may have find a plane ticket to travel at Grand Rapids this July... still need to be confirmed. I had no hope to be there, but it looks like that I might have an opportunity to participate to the convention this year too. 2 - The ADAMCon convention topic in the Events section is lower and lower in the list. If you don't mind, leave a positive comment like "I will be there" or "Looks like fun!" to keep the Coleco convention topic alive... at least for a few more days. You should drive to Toronto and then hitch a ride with Rich & Frances Clee... I'm sure they would love to have you along for the ride! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Heh, I randomly stumbled across "The ADAM Resource" website while doing some even more random research on the CV for the F18A, and on "The ADAM Resource" site there was a link the the A.A. forum... Funny how things happen. More importantly I saw the notice that ADMACom 23 is going to be in G.R., which is about 1h20m from me, so I could attend if the Adam crowd is interested in the F18A? I have only tested in a CV recently and I might have the production boards ready by then, or *possibly* a few hand-built units for sale... At the very least I could demo the F18A in an Adam. Actually, I don't have an Adam to test with, so it would be the first time (unless I can get my hands on one before then, which is probably a good idea.) If you don't know what the F18A is, check here: http://codehackcreate.com/archives/30 http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/168968-f18a/ Anyway, I'm not an Adam or CV guy per se, so interest / feedback is appreciated. By the way, ADAMCon looks similar to the "TI World Faire", which is small and struggling along too. I can't quite convince the TI group that we need to join with some of the other retro groups to make these events bigger and more worth while, and do a little cross-interest as well. The TI Faire is always in Chicago in November and has been going on for a long time (since the 80's). Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there to stir the waters a little. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Yurkie Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Heh, I randomly stumbled across "The ADAM Resource" website while doing some even more random research on the CV for the F18A, and on "The ADAM Resource" site there was a link the the A.A. forum... Funny how things happen. More importantly I saw the notice that ADMACom 23 is going to be in G.R., which is about 1h20m from me, so I could attend if the Adam crowd is interested in the F18A? I have only tested in a CV recently and I might have the production boards ready by then, or *possibly* a few hand-built units for sale... At the very least I could demo the F18A in an Adam. Actually, I don't have an Adam to test with, so it would be the first time (unless I can get my hands on one before then, which is probably a good idea.) If you don't know what the F18A is, check here: http://codehackcreate.com/archives/30 http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/168968-f18a/ Anyway, I'm not an Adam or CV guy per se, so interest / feedback is appreciated. By the way, ADAMCon looks similar to the "TI World Faire", which is small and struggling along too. I can't quite convince the TI group that we need to join with some of the other retro groups to make these events bigger and more worth while, and do a little cross-interest as well. The TI Faire is always in Chicago in November and has been going on for a long time (since the 80's). Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there to stir the waters a little. I read your webpage and you say that this has been tested on a ColecoVision. One of your specifications is "Increase VDP RAM to at least 512K, but probably 1MB in the end" does that mean that with this installed the ColecoVision Video RAM increases from 1K to 512K? Any chance you could add Composite Video to the board to make compatible with most TV's? If this module is as amazing as it sounds...homebrewers could start working on actual exact Arcade ports. Thank You very much for posting about this and all your hard work +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Yurkie Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Heh, I randomly stumbled across "The ADAM Resource" website while doing some even more random research on the CV for the F18A, and on "The ADAM Resource" site there was a link the the A.A. forum... Funny how things happen. More importantly I saw the notice that ADMACom 23 is going to be in G.R., which is about 1h20m from me, so I could attend if the Adam crowd is interested in the F18A? I have only tested in a CV recently and I might have the production boards ready by then, or *possibly* a few hand-built units for sale... At the very least I could demo the F18A in an Adam. Actually, I don't have an Adam to test with, so it would be the first time (unless I can get my hands on one before then, which is probably a good idea.) If you don't know what the F18A is, check here: http://codehackcreate.com/archives/30 http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/168968-f18a/ Anyway, I'm not an Adam or CV guy per se, so interest / feedback is appreciated. By the way, ADAMCon looks similar to the "TI World Faire", which is small and struggling along too. I can't quite convince the TI group that we need to join with some of the other retro groups to make these events bigger and more worth while, and do a little cross-interest as well. The TI Faire is always in Chicago in November and has been going on for a long time (since the 80's). Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there to stir the waters a little. I read your webpage and you say that this has been tested on a ColecoVision. One of your specifications is "Increase VDP RAM to at least 512K, but probably 1MB in the end" does that mean that with this installed the ColecoVision Video RAM increases from 1K to 512K? Any chance you could add Composite Video to the board to make compatible with most TV's? If this module is as amazing as it sounds...homebrewers could start working on actual exact Arcade ports. Thank You very much for posting about this and all your hard work +1 Few more questions: Does this module allow sprites on the ColecoVision to me multi-colored? Have you hacked any ColecoVision games and tested color changes since your module allows for 512 colors instead of just 16? Is the bank of 8 DRAM (VRAM) chips in use with your module installed? Could they be used as RAM in homebrew games if they are longer needed for Video? You may want to start a new thread here in the ColecoVision forums. I think your Video project will be HUGELY popular! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I read your webpage and you say that this has been tested on a ColecoVision. One of your specifications is "Increase VDP RAM to at least 512K, but probably 1MB in the end" does that mean that with this installed the ColecoVision Video RAM increases from 1K to 512K? I think the CV has 1K of *CPU* RAM, and no, that will not be affected by the F18A. The CV has 16K of *VRAM*, as does the F18A for now. My initial goal is to get the device out there, so I had to drop the increased RAM for now to save power, board size, cost, and complexity. So, the F18A has the same 16K of VRAM that the original systems have with a 9918A/28/29. However, the F18A does not have the speed problems that the real chips have, so you can pump data to the VDP any time as fast as the Z80 can push it. Also, the sprites per line limitations are gone. :-) Any chance you could add Composite Video to the board to make compatible with most TV's? Actually, I've been working on that for a few weeks and it might happen. The problem is that I have to reproduce the 9918A's output which is a little odd. The composite output will *not* be color though. I just don't have the board space or knowledge right now to do the color burst, or make all the required voltage levels needed for color composite. I'm hoping to have 16-levels of grey scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Few more questions: Does this module allow sprites on the ColecoVision to me multi-colored? Right now the F18A reproduces the original functionality, so no, the sprites are the same 1-color each. However, with the sprites per line limitation gone, you can layer sprites for more color and not have to worry about sprite rotation or flickering. Have you hacked any ColecoVision games and tested color changes since your module allows for 512 colors instead of just 16? I have never programmed for the CV and I don't have any development tools for it. Also, the F18A has a 4-bit per pixel color space (or 4096 possible colors), but right now I have not exposed the palette to the CPU interface, so the palette is fixed. I may change that before release, but I will probably have to do it in a 9938 compatible way (the 9938 has palettes and extra registers to deal with them), and I really don't like the 9938 so I'm not in a hurry to do it. Is the bank of 8 DRAM (VRAM) chips in use with your module installed? Could they be used as RAM in homebrew games if they are longer needed for Video? No, the original DRAM chips go dead and can actually be removed if you want to save some power (but they will be idle anyway, so probably not drawing much current.) I did actually think about making the original DRAM available via the F18A, but writing a DRAM interface with refresh was not something I was technically ready to do. Also, the DRAMs fail in these machines (at least they fail quite a bit on the 99/4A), so just letting them go idle seemed like the best thing to do. If I did make that RAM available, it would have to be via some non-standard means and it is unlikely that anyone would write software to use it. You may want to start a new thread here in the ColecoVision forums. I think your Video project will be HUGELY popular! I'll do that. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 With the upcoming ADAMcon, I though it be cool to share an issue of the NIAD Newsletter (hopefully you are checking all the old newsletters out on Joe Blenkle's site linked in the footer of my messages) that had a write-up of ADAMcon 04 in Cleveland - '92. This issue also contains a catalog of all the products that NIAD carried at this time, not everything that was available for the ADAM since we had moved away from quantity and focused on quality by this time, with detailed descriptions. Enjoy. http://www.sacnews.net/adamcomputer/newsletters/niad%20089%20-%20julaug%201992.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 I've my airplane tickets to go at the ADAMCon 23, this July. My passport is still valid and thinking of making a presentation for his occasion, but I hesitate between music and programming. To pay the hotel fees I'm selling stuff... not all ColecoVision related. I'll add a video on my Youtube channel to warn some of the gamers as well and people here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I was going to keep this a secret, but I figured what the heck, maybe this news will entice a few people to make the trip to Grand Rapids on Saturday. So without further ado... The Super Game Module and Donkey Kong Arcade will be on display on Saturday, the 16th thanks to the generosity of Opcode Games and I might add a leap of faith in sending these items to me in order to demonstate at ADAMcon, everyone in attendance will get to have the chance to try out Opcode Games' incredible port of Donkey Kong. Please note that both the SGM and DKA are in a constant state of development and the final release versions of each will differ from the prototypes that will be on display. For further information on ADAMcon, visit this website: http://ann.hollowdreams.com/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoDan Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I was going to keep this a secret, but I figured what the heck, maybe this news will entice a few people to make the trip to Grand Rapids on Saturday. So without further ado... The Super Game Module and Donkey Kong Arcade will be on display on Saturday, the 16th thanks to the generosity of Opcode Games and I might add a leap of faith in sending these items to me in order to demonstate at ADAMcon, everyone in attendance will get to have the chance to try out Opcode Games' incredible port of Donkey Kong. Please note that both the SGM and DKA are in a constant state of development and the final release versions of each will differ from the prototypes that will be on display. For further information on ADAMcon, visit this website: http://ann.hollowdreams.com/ You really know how to make a guy cry huh!!! Now you have Daniel selling things and magic carpet rides of picture purfect Donkey Kongs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 JEFF31, NewColeco and Rich DiRocco Great to meet you guys at the annual ColecoVision and Coleco ADAM convention! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 JEFF31, NewColeco and Rich DiRocco Great to meet you guys at the annual ColecoVision and Coleco ADAM convention! Ah! Daniel sports a beard this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 (edited) Ah! Daniel sports a beard this year! And it's the best way to get the attention of the security at the airport apparently... They're still thinking that bearded men are dangerous in the US? Anyway, you can take a look at the folowing link to see some presentations (if you are lucky). I highly suggest to not miss the presentations during saturday. http://www.stickam.com/adamcon Edited July 16, 2011 by newcoleco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEFF31 Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 And it's the best way to get the attention of the security at the airport apparently... They're still thinking that bearded men are dangerous in the US? They are... oops wait I have a beard also... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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