NIAD Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 As the title suggests, I will be using this thread to share scans of everything that I have collected over the years re. the ColecoVision Game System and the Coleco ADAM Family Computer. I will be posting items in their entirety and some items could take a number of days to a week depending on how much time I have. I hope everyone will really enjoy all the great items that I will be sharing in this thread and feel free to use as you wish... I don't claim ownership to any of this stuff, it belongs to the community. To start out, I will be posting the "1984 Coleco Press Kit/Toy Fair Catalog - 1st Release" which details items for the ColecoVision, ADAM Computer and Atari/Gemini systems. It is 75 JPG scans long and will obviously take a number of days to complete. Enjoy! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crapahute Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Great! May I put some of your scans on www.colecoboxart.com (which I have juste updated by the way) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Great! May I put some of your scans on www.colecoboxart.com (which I have juste updated by the way) ? Of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veg-o-matic Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 I'd love to see a picture of what they had in mind for that disk drive "module." It sounds completely different than what they actually released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Coleco techs originally planned to use the 3 1/4" Floppy Disk Drive that wasn't widely used at the time. It was to be configured as a 256k media which would have matched the storage size of the Digital Data Drive. Yes, I said 3 1/4". There are two known working prototypes of this 3 1/4" FDD setup. One installed inside the Memory Console in place of the Data Drives and the other was designed to sit on top of the Memory Console, was housed in a matching case and included a second open drive bay. Suffice it to say that someone at Coleco made the wise decision to switch to the widely used standard of 5 1/4" for a product release and the Adam Disk Drive as we know it. Wouldn't be fun finding 3 1/4" floppy disks now. The product description above shows how in flux things were at Coleco at this time and most likely a lack of communication between Marketing and R&D because there isn't room inside the Memory Console to have an internal 5 1/4" FDD or if there is, you would lose access to one or more of the Expansion Slots. Pics of the 3 1/4" External Floppy Disk Drive have been posted in other threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 (edited) Thanks for sharing BTW - were these included in your ColecoVision and ADAM data archive that you made available recently? Also, any way to bulk download these images? Edited July 24, 2018 by Ikrananka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 They were not part of the large archive that I assembled. There's a method to my madness. I'll be done with this one on Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Round two of JPG scans of the "1984 Coleco Press Kit/Toy Fair Catalog - 1st Release"..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Notice how Coleco refers to the ColecoVision as "The ADAM Game Module". Look closely for some other differences, no hints, and let me know if you find them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Woah! External 1200 baud modem?!?!? And it's interesting to read about game titles they had in the works. Most of those I didn't even know they had scheduled. And the Dragon's Lair screenshot is different than the rope screen on the released version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phattyboombatty Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 I know there is a master list compiled by NIAD. But we need to get a comprehensive list of ColecoVision and Adam prototype games with a found/dumped/public domain/never found checklist. Actually I’d love to see a site set up. Wonder if Tempest would be interested in making an offshoot of his excellent Atari Protos site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 (edited) Yeah, currently my Collector's Lists for the CV and ADAM are the top sources for info concerning prototypes and after all these years, it's hard to imagine anything else being found. Our best bet is with former Coleco employees, one of whom is active on the Adam Computer Facebook page. Hopefully one day he will pull out from storage everything he saved from his time at Coleco. Edited July 26, 2018 by NIAD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 Round three of JPG scans of the "1984 Coleco Press Kit/Toy Fair Catalog - 1st Release"..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 27, 2018 Author Share Posted July 27, 2018 Final round of JPG scans of the "1984 Coleco Press Kit/Toy Fair Catalog - 1st Release".... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 The 3 1/4" disk drive was a design that was proposed by Shugart, and only ultimately built by Dysan, of who also made pretty much all of the extant 3 1/4" Flex disk media, as well. I saw some of the OEM units long ago, and pictures of the Coleco unit have been floating around on the net, for many years. You can see a picture of the media, here: https://www.google.com/search?q=dysan+3+1/4%22+disk&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS751US751&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjM39qytL7cAhUq7IMKHQmmCYoQ_AUICygC&biw=2560&bih=1335#imgrc=OcWhCv2bOV1dCM: This is NOT to be confused with the 3 inch format that was designed by Hitachi, and ultimately popularized by Amstrad (due to Alan Sugar getting a great deal on a huge pile of overstock), nor Sony's 3 1/2 inch form factor which ultimately won out. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 27, 2018 Author Share Posted July 27, 2018 These are the pics supplied by Justin S. of the External 3 1/4" F.D.D. unit that he acquired. Pictures of the Internal unit have never been supplied by it's owner, but full details were and are in one of the last NIAD Newsletters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 They were not part of the large archive that I assembled. There's a method to my madness. I'll be done with this one on Thursday. And that madness is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 27, 2018 Author Share Posted July 27, 2018 And that madness is? Nothing really, it just sounded good! But seriously, there is always a huge summertime lull around here right before the kids go back to school so I figured this would be a good time to start posting this stuff to generate some traffic and discussion. Lord knows, no one could have forseen the whole CollectorVision HD and Prometheus Lite system topics!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoTonah Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 I love seeing these. I've never seen them before, I got most of my gaming information from Electronic Fun with Computers and Games magazine and Electronic Games magazine back in the day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 First off, thanks for doing this. On a similar note, I happened to stumble across these articles recently: https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-080/080#page/n37 https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-081/081#page/n13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 So, am I right in guessing that there's no way to bulk download these images? BTW, huge thanks NIAD for uploading these. I've never seen them before and am now poring over every word on them. Fascinating stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) Will see. There are options for a complete Zip file download like Joe B.'s, MilliV's or CV Zone's websites. Edited July 29, 2018 by NIAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 I have some work to do to scan pages of the "1984 Coleco Press Kit/Toy Fair Catalog - 2nd Release", so will jump to some Press Releases in the meantime. Complete Listing of items in photo. Some may have been posted in the "1984 Coleco Press Kit/Toy Fair Catalog - 1st Release" and of course will be skipped:Coleco ADAM & Colecovision - Original Comdex/CES brochures, photo's & Press Releases (1982-1984)Press Release October 15, 1984 (Coleco Ships 5 1/4" Disk module & Adamlink DC Modem) 2 pagesPress Release November 1, 1984 (Coleco begins shipment of 5 1/4" disk drives for Adam) 2 pagesPress Release November 12, 1984 (Coleco ships new monitor cable for Adam 2410) 2 pagesPress Release November 1, 1984 (Coleco ships Address Book Filer and Autodialer for Adam) 2 pagesPress Release May 31, 1984 (Coleco ships SmartLogo program for Adam Computer) (2 pages)Press Release November 12, 1984 (Coleco ships software for C64 and Atari Computers) 2 pagesPress Release January 6, 1984 (Coleco holds Adam Update - announces new peripherals) 3 pagesPress Release January 6, 1984 (Coleco and Honeywell establish Adam Service Network) 2 pagesCES Flyer - January 1984 (Coleco & Honeywell Announce A New Service Agreeement!CES Flyer - January 1984 (Coleco & Compuserve Announce ADAM On-Line!Immediate Release - (Coleco Signs Dragon's Lair License Agreement with Starcom) 2 pagesImmediate Release - (AT&T and Coleco Announce Agreement - Develop Interactive Game) 1 pagePress Release January 6, 1984 (Independent Software Manufacturers Market for Adam) 2 pagesPress Release January 6, 1984 (Digital Research and Coleco Announce CP/M for Adam) 2 pagesPress Release January 6, 1984 (Coleco Announces Lines Expanded) 2 pagesPress Release January 6, 1984 (ADAM) 4 pagesPress Release January 6, 1984 (Coleco Introduces Adam Software Lines) 3 pagesPress Release Janury 6, 1984 (Coleco introduces Adam hardware peripherals) 3 pagesPress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Markets Innovative Private Call Phone) 1 pagePress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Announces Colecovision/Cabbage Patch Kids Promotion) 2 pagesPress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Provides Educational software for Colecovision) 2 pagesPress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Announces Software for Atari, Commodore and Apple) 1 pagePress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco announces software development program for Adam/CV) 2 pagesPress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Markets Extensive Software Line for Adam) 2 pagesPress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Markets Adam Hardware Peripherals) 3 pagesPress Release June 3, 1984 (Coleco Announces The 1984 Adam is Ready) 3 pagesPress Release September 21, 1983 (Coleco Introduces Adam) 4 pagesPress Release September 21, 1983 (Coleco holds Premiere showing of Adam) 2 pagesPress Release February 9, 1984 (Colecovision Software Lines Expanded) 2 pagesPress Release February 9, 1984 (Coleco Shows Adam Hardware Peripherals) 3 pagesPress Release Febraruy 9, 1984 (ADAM) 4 pagesPress Release June 1, 1982 (Coleco Enters Programmable Video Game Market - Colecovision) 4 pagesPress Photo - Adam 2410, Adam-CV 2404 January 17, 1984Very Larger Fold out ADAM Brochure - Comdex Fall 1983Adam Calc 8.5"x11" BrochureColeco presents ADAM (The Colecovision Family Computer System) 8.5"x11" trifold brochureThe Experts Speak ...and the 1984 Adam is Ready! (Issue III) 8.5"x11" trifold brochureNow Command the Powers of Adam 8.5"x11" foldout brochureCES Jan 84' - Command the Powers of ADAM Software 8.5"x11" trifold brochure ADAM (01-06-84).pdf ADAM (02-09-84).pdf ADAM Home Software Library, The.pdf Coleco and Honeywell Establish ADAM Service Center Network.pdf Coleco Announces Software Development Program for ADAM and ColecoVision.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Wow - looking forward to seeing these. Am wondering, do any provide sales figures for the ColecoVision? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Am wondering, do any provide sales figures for the ColecoVision? None that I have ever seen. The only sales figures I have seen were in magazines of the time and word of mouth from conversations with former Coleco employees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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