bjk7382 Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 My new question (not a new window) Well as some of you may know I got a coleco Adam computer at pc5 for pretty cheap. I tested it when I brought it up to my hotel room, but I regretably didn't test the keyboard which doesn't work. The system works good and fires up just fine, but when I plug in the keyboard the light doesn't come on the corner of the keyboard. I have two different cords and one of them doesn't do anything when I plug it in, and the other one doesn't make the keyboard work, but it does make the printer move when it is unplugged??? Any suggestions would be great (common problems with the keybaords?) Or if you have an extra adam keyboard let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaxxon Posted March 24, 2004 Share Posted March 24, 2004 I've never heard of one of those keyboards just going bad, unless someone spilled something into it. I don't know if you can just use a PC kbd instead, it's worth a try. You probably just have bad cables. Make sure you have the correct kind of cables with the right # of wire pins. IIRC it's different than a typical PC kbd/phone line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortly Posted March 24, 2004 Share Posted March 24, 2004 The ADAM had IMHO, the single best feeling keyboard I ever used. I wish I could hook THAT up to my PC! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted March 24, 2004 Author Share Posted March 24, 2004 I have two cords with 5 contacts on each end of the cable, and the adam has 5 connectors inside the jacks, so I don't know if it is the cable or the keyboard. I persoanally think it is the keyboard, but have no way of testing it with a known good cable. I took the keyboard apart and seen it has its own circuit board with a large removable chip on it, so it seems pretty complex for a keyboard and something coule be bad on that. If anyone has an extra keyboard cable with 5 contacts on each jack I would gladly get one and try that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaxxon Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 I think you can get a cable like that at Radio Shack( You have questions, they don't have answers). I think they're made for those multi-line phones. Does the kbd look to be in good shape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 I think you can get a cable like that at Radio Shack( You have questions, they don't have answers). I think they're made for those multi-line phones. Does the kbd look to be in good shape? I just went searching around and actually found a keyboard cable, so I will get This and see if it works before I try getting a new keyboard. Also thanks for the tip about radio shack, I will also see what they have. I hope it is just the cable because I don't think finding a replacement keyboard will be too easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortly Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 I think you can get a cable like that at Radio Shack( You have questions, they don't have answers). I think they're made for those multi-line phones. Does the kbd look to be in good shape? I thought Radio Shack's slogan was... "You've got questions, we have a dumb look..." Anyway, any ordinary 5 wire phone cable will suffice. I use that for my ADAM floppy drive, and it works just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Anyway, any ordinary 5 wire phone cable will suffice. Hmmm.. Having a Telco background, I have just one question... What kind of ordinary phone do you have that uses a 5 wire cable?? :wink: :wink: A standard phone uses 2 wires (Tip and Ring or Green and Red). A 2 line phone will use 4 wires (Red, Green, Yellow, & Black) There are phone systems whose phones use 2, 4, 6, or even 8 wires. 1A2 systems can use 25 pair cabling.. (Fun, but CRAZY to wire.. :-) ) But a standard 3 pair (6 wire), line should work fine for the Adam, as long as it uses all the wires. (Every time I came across a phone line with only 1 pair (2 wires), I'd cut it and throw it away.. Hate those things.. :-) ) desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Well as some of you may know I got a coleco Adam computer at pc5 for pretty cheap. http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...p=562567#562567 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 Well as some of you may know I got a coleco Adam computer at pc5 for pretty cheap. http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...p=562567#562567 Well the system works fine and plays colecovision games like a champ, and the computer word processor comes up, but I think it has a bad keyboard. But I am not too worried since I only paid 30 for it. I WILL get it working one way or another. My brother even made the comment to me at philly after we met you, he said "Man, that SS guy doesn't like anything" because when we were talking you were ripping on 3 or 4 different systems. Its only an opinion and everyone likes something different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 My brother even made the comment to me at philly after we met you, he said "Man, that SS guy doesn't like anything" because when we were talking you were ripping on 3 or 4 different systems. Very perceptive of him. It’s so true, I hate everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 My brother even made the comment to me at philly after we met you, he said "Man, that SS guy doesn't like anything" because when we were talking you were ripping on 3 or 4 different systems. Very perceptive of him. It’s so true, I hate everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted April 22, 2004 Author Share Posted April 22, 2004 Okay I got a new keyboard from eColeco.com and I have my ADAM working now Now the next question I have is. How do I use this thing? Mainly the computer part. How do I load off of the data tapes without getting to the Electronic Typewriter Program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oesii Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 your link to your post down the thread confused me a bit To use the computer part you need to load up an Adam SmartBasic datapack which if you don't have you can also get from eColeco or some other seller. You can also use some other operating system with the Adam like CP/M which will also let you interact with drives and run programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted April 22, 2004 Author Share Posted April 22, 2004 your link to your post down the thread confused me a bit Sorry, I didn't want to start a new thread to ask a simple question. To use the computer part you need to load up an Adam SmartBasic datapack which if you don't have you can also get from eColeco or some other seller. You can also use some other operating system with the Adam like CP/M which will also let you interact with drives and run programs. So it reads from the tape drive when it is first turned on and then if it doesn't see a program it just goes to the default typewriter program. I have one ADAM tape, but I think it is just a storage tape with nothing on it. I will have to go back to ecoleco and see what I can find. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8102145116 So, did the keyboard work afterall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk7382 Posted April 24, 2004 Author Share Posted April 24, 2004 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8102145116 So, did the keyboard work afterall? Yep. It ended up only being the cable. I tested both of my keyboards with the good cable from ecoleco and they both work. I just kept the new keyboard I got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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