My Official Coleco ADAM rant!

[MopedFreak]

Ok, here it goes...

 

 

The Coleco ADAM was a Flop, no doubt about it, and it almost sank Coleco the company with it. There is no two ways about it, BUT....

 

 

I bought one back in 1991 for $10.00 N.I.B at a yard sale after I had to sell my awsome C64 setup to pay for car repairs. And I used that thing untill 1995 for writing letters, playing colecovision carts, and atari 2600 carts with an adaptor I picked up a year later at another yard sale for 10.00. I even bought a 300 baud internal modem for visiting BBS's from a defunct mail order company that must have bought out some coleco wherehouse, because they had EVERYTHING for the ADAM. Disk drives, tape drives, tapes, and ram expanders among others...

 

Anyways, in 1995 I finally upgraded to a IBM computer and sold the ADAM, but not the tapes or carts, I've kept those for all these years. Well, I recently found and bought a well used ADAM system at a yard sale, and dug out all my old tapes, and carts. I "Upgraded" the system to dual tape drives, and a 300 baud modem, and I've played with it quite a bit lately, and I can't figure out why this system failed so badly. I know the first run of units hadc major defects, but I assume that that was worked out as both the ones I've owned have worked well, and the printer is Slow, and LOUD, but it prints a letter quality page that is Perfect.

I used mine for Games, letters, databased my parts dept in my shop, and for surfing the Pre-net, I always felt the computer had TONS of potential, but no user base or software base to exploit. the few programs I had served me well, but compared to the C64 it was a joke.

I've compared the two and I think the adam could have been every bit as good as a C64 had the wind blown the other way.

 

I mean it was easy to expand. had slots for an internal modem, 2 super fast and mostly reliable tape drives with higher capacity then the 1541. and also a slot for ram expansion. upto 256K as I remember and it was used just like the 1764 ram expansion for the C64. as a high speed ram drive.

It also could be equipped with a disk drive, although it wasn't really needed, and you could get a card for hooking up a dot matrix printer.

 

 

 

 

The other major problem I have is that Of all the computers that came and went, Almost all of them have a dedicated userbase, and an internet presence with most if not all Programs avalible on the Net.

I have searched High, and low, and I find a few very brief websites about the ADAM, but no software depot.. I'm talking about the 100 to 300 actual programs for the ADAM not the colecovision.

 

I only have about 10 programs, most of them are no longer of any use to me, but I can't even find a I copy of any of them on the net..

 

I know there is a nice emulator for the ADAM, but with nothing but coleco cart dumps out there, no one else is ever going to get to see how the adam worked.

Isn't it time for the old timers out there to upload there long hidden collection of adam tapes to the net? You can transfer the tapes to IBM computers using a null serial cable between the two and a simple terminal program.

 

 

 

Am I the only one that cares? I see they have a ADAMCON every year but it seems nothing every comes of it. Its a shame that all those datapacks are sitting there gettting bit rot, and there are no ADAM Software CD's out there to replace them...

 

 

 

Well, thats it, Thats my Rant... I'm mostly a Lurker on the 2600, and 7800 boards, I recently completed my 7800 cart collection, but this Adam thing got me to come out of hiding to speak my mind.

[else]

and I can't figure out why this system failed so badly.

 

I think it failed for a number of reasons. A "perfect storm" so to speak....

 

1) Putting the power supply for the whole system in the printer was a big mistake. It forever married the printer to the rest of the system.

 

2) Coleco MAJORLY underestimated how quickly prices were dropping on disk drives. The tape drives were meant to be a cheaper alternative to disk drives, but prices of disk drives dropped so rapidly that the tape drives ended up being yesterdays technology instead of cutting edge technology.

 

3) Coleco tried to keep the system "closed". They refused to disclose how the internals worked to third party developers. EVER. It should come as no surprise then that there is almost no fan base.

 

4) Coleco did fix most of the hardware bugs (as you pointed out), but most of the software was riddled with bugs that were never fixed. SmartBASIC was very buggy and never fixed. SmartWriter was very buggy and never fixed (and burned in to ROM no less). Almost all of the applications have some ugly bugs in them. Now for the ADAM games, Coleco did a much better job with them. Perhaps Coleco wasn't prepared for the extensive debugging effort that applications require verses games.

 

5) Remember, 1984 was also the year the Macintosh with its high resolution screen, 3.5 inch disk drive, and GUI was introduced. Put an ADAM next to a Macintosh, and it looks like a toy! The Macintosh made pretty much every computer on the market look obsolete. Not a good time for Coleco to say it had just introduced a new "superior" computer.

 

I could go on and on, but I think I've touched on most of the major reasons.

 

That said though, I agree that it would be nice to have a web site that had all the applications and games for the ADAM. When Coleco cancelled the ADAM, they released a whole bunch of things they were in the middle of working on in to the public domain. Protos like Trolls Tale, Super Subroc, SmartBASIC v2.0, etc. It would be nice to collect and perserve all these prototypes somewhere. Heck, it would be nice just to have a comprehensive list of all these protos!

Edited September 8, 2006 by else

[shadow460]

For a loud and slow printer, check out the Star Gemini 10x. It has a very unmistakeable whine that the whole block can hear.

Plus it pops so much ink from the ribbon onto the paper that the paper looks like it's been soaked in water where the ink is.

[Bill Brasky]

I don't think the ADAM itself was buggy or unreliable, there's still tons of them around that work fine. It's those high speed tape drives that caused all the problems. They had to be calibrated perfectly and if one left the factory a little off it ate tapes. Coleco should've just done what Commodore did and go the cheapskate route and not included a tape drive with the system at all. Everyone I knew that had an ADAM with disk drives never had problems. My first ADAM's tape drive flaked out right after I got it home. We returned it for a different one and it continued to work perfectly till we sold it in a garage sale several years later. Basically, the ADAM was a huge success on the other side of the world as the MSX. I'm aware that you can transfer ADAM software to the PC but no one knows how to actually do it. There are no instructions on the net that explain in laymans terms how to do it so it'll never gets done. I have a bunch of programs I've found on the net saved but I know it's far from all of it. I doubt anyone really cares to use a letter writing/recipe filer/word processor for the ADAM nowadays anyway so that's why it doesn't get transfered. People mostly just care about the games. If Coleco had made the ADAM as an MSX clone it would've killed. I don't think the Macintosh would've hurt it as they were nowhere in the same range pricewise. That's like saying the new Lamborghini is going to hurt the Ford truck sales. I've never heard that Coleco tried to keep it a closed system. Considering it's all off the shelf parts like the CV that are openly documented, I don't see how they could keep it closed if they wanted to. Also, there are official Coleco docs online that explained the ADAM and it's OS. People didn't develop for it because it was more profitable to develop for C64 and Atari.

[JamesD]

Expensive to produce, tape drives, lack of 3rd party support, too much competition, daisy wheel printer, size, bugs and poor timing.

 

The first ones supposedly erased a spot on the tape when you turned it on or off. Something like that anyway. A friend of mine had one and he had to have one of the tapes replaced and the unit serviced to fix it and he had barely gotten the thing.

[else]

I don't think the Macintosh would've hurt it as they were nowhere in the same range pricewise. That's like saying the new Lamborghini is going to hurt the Ford truck sales.

 

Price matters VERY little. Back then people wanted to take their work home with them from the office (IBM), or give their kids the same computer that they used at school (Apple). That was a huge part of the purchasing decison. Price has always taken a back seat to compatibility -- and it still does -- and will always continue to.

 

Lamborghinis and Fords are compatible -- the both work on the same road system. IBMs and ADAMs aren't compatible. Apples and oranges.

 

I've never heard that Coleco tried to keep it a closed system. Considering it's all off the shelf parts like the CV that are openly documented, I don't see how they could keep it closed if they wanted to.

 

The ADAM's firmware was "off the shelf"? I don't even know how to respond to that claim....

 

Also, there are official Coleco docs online that explained the ADAM and it's OS.

 

Sure some limited docs are _finally_ available on the net today. That doesn't help the third party developers that wanted and needed them 20 years ago though. It's a well documented fact that Coleco wouldn't give third party developers the time of day. Do some research if you don't believe me.

Edited September 8, 2006 by else

[Bill Brasky]

 

Price matters VERY little. Back then people wanted to take their work home with them from the office (IBM), or give their kids the same computer that they used at school (Apple). That was a huge part of the purchasing decison. Price has always taken a back seat to compatibility -- and it still does -- and will always continue to.

 

Wow, I should've just explained that to my dad back then. I can see it like it was yesterday~wavy screen~

 

"but dad it's compatible with the computers they use at school"

 

Dad:"How much does it cost? NO."

 

"but it's compatible with all this software"

 

Dad:"NO"

 

"but it..."

 

Dad:"No".

 

With some people price is everything. Especially when they aren't going to be using it themselves and view it as a expensive toy/game machine.

 

 

The ADAM's firmware was "off the shelf"? I don't even know how to respond to that claim....

 

I said nothing about their firmware ... so ... I don't know why you would respond to that. There were lots of programs written by end users for it and there was commercial 3rd party stuff. Somehow they all figured it out, just like every other computer and game system. I doubt this issue made or broke the ADAM in any real way.

 

 

Sure some limited docs are _finally_ available on the net today. That doesn't help the third party developers that wanted and needed them 20 years ago though. It's a well documented fact that Coleco wouldn't give third party developers the time of day. Do some research if you don't believe me.

 

Yeah, I'm sure there were masses of 3rd party developers beating down Coleco's door to get their chance at developing programs for the ADAM. Screw the C-64, A8's! They ALL wanted a piece of that HOT Mattel Aquarius,Tomy Tutor, Coleco ADAM action! That's where the money is!

[Lord Thag]

You know, I found a mint one of these a few month back with twin cassette drives, disk drive etc. I would LOVE to get some software from it, but it seems no one has bothered to archive the stuff. It's a shame, really. It's a nice setup, if a bit bulky with a bizarre power switch setup. Great RF signal too. It plays my CV carts much cleaner than my actual CV.

 

Damn, I sure wish I had some software for it. It seems sad that I ressurected this piece of computer history only to let it become a doorstop

[Rik]

I saw a complete Coleco Adam ,still all in the original box at my local thrift store last summer,was seriously thinking on buying it, $19.99,they wanted for it,but said to myself im just buying myself a headache,which is what it was back in the day.Okay to have for collectors value,but for for me,i dont want something where you cant buy parts anymore,went back the next day,and it was gone!I ASSUMED there werent parts for it anymore,or is there?,anyone know?If there is,next one i see,i will grab!

[mos6507]

I think the deck is stacked against you when you are known for game consoles and you try to broaden into home computers. Atari is clear evidence of that. Adam obviously was a better attempt than the Aquarius but it did come out a little late for an 8-bit platform to build a whole new userbase. 8-bit platforms that were to survive through the early 16-bit era had already built up their userbase for years,

 

At one point a company liquidated leftover Adam keyboards that were never used to build machines. Those keyboards were very high quality for an 8-bit machine! I got one of those that I used as a prop for some Batman home movies I was trying to do on Super 8.

[thomasholzer]

I used to own one, talk about the biggest box ever:

 

 

 

At one stage I used to belong to the UKAUG (UK Adam User Group) and I even received some fanzines.

I remember that the games kept erasing themselves when put near the printer.

 

Recently I sold my Adam on ebay.

Edited September 8, 2006 by thomasholzer

[thomasholzer]

here's a link for buying Adam stuff:

 

http://coleco.freeservers.com/m.htm

[MopedFreak]

I've bought stuff from that site, and its all New Old Stock, but its WAY to pricey for my tastes. Ebay produces some neat stuff from time to time, but rarely do you see a large amount of ADAM sotware for sale.

 

If someone can point me to software on the net for transfer info to the IBM I'll attempt to figure it out, and up load my software (all 10 tapes) to the net.

 

Maybe It will start a trend.... hmmm... maybe not, but it might.

 

 

The Adam's power supply being built into the printer was a really crappy idea. in all the years I owned my commodore, I only used the printer maybe a dozen times. and even now in the modern era, My lexmark all in one printer fax sanner sits unsued like 99.5% of the time.

 

The Adam's printer to computer cable was also too short, so it kept you from stowing it on another shelf or somewhere out of the way. Mine is jammed under a homemade monitor stand.

 

 

I guess the C64 had a 2 year head start on the ADAM, and the Atari line had even more, but still I would have thought with the adam's ready built software supply of all coeco carts on the market would have helped more.

 

I'm not sure of the Adam/Mac comparison, they were Very far from each other in price. But I do remember an artical where they put up against the IBM PC Jr. (and there was a computer that sucked) and the C64 And Atari 800xl.

 

As I recall Adam won on the price vs. features, and ease of use, but the C64 had the progam avalibility locked up tight.

 

 

Anyway the Adam did fail, but I'd still like to see its software (even the usless ones like smart file, and recipe filer) make it to the archives.

 

I have damn near every C64/128 program ever made on DVD, some 18,000 files. and the Atari 800 is well preserved as well. Hell, they even have software online for older and even more usless systems then the Adam like the ZX-81 and Timex/Sincliar 1000 (another Computer I loved) and even the spectravideo Sv-318

[else]

With some people price is everything. Especially when they aren't going to be using it themselves and view it as a expensive toy/game machine.

 

But I bet the computer your dad did end up buying wasn't the cheapest one on the market either. Why then didn't the Timex Sinclair win the computer wars? It was the cheapest, after all -- so surely it should have beat out the IBM PC and Apple. Even the Commodore and Atari were cheaper then either IBMs or Apples. Reason: maybe to a very small group of people price is everything, but history has proven repeatedly that compatibility trumps price for 99.9% of the population.

 

I said nothing about their firmware ... so ... I don't know why you would respond to that.

 

Well then I don't understand why you say the ADAM was so easy to figure out how it worked because it used off the shelf parts. Sure the CV ROMs are off the shelf, you are 100% correct -- but how does that help you understand how they work inside or how the ADAM works? It's not like the tape drives were off the shelf either, so you pretty much had to use the firmware that was in the ADAM ROMs to be able to access the tape drives.

 

There were lots of programs written by end users for it and there was commercial 3rd party stuff. Somehow they all figured it out, just like every other computer and game system.

 

And guess what most of those programs were written in -- BASIC. That's right, you had to load BASIC first, then run the program. All the programs I bought for the ADAM back before it was cancelled were this way. Developers did not figure out dick until it was too late and the ADAM had already been cancelled.

 

Also, the firmware listing that is available on the net today didn't come from Coleco either. Someone dumped and reversed engineered the firmware a few years ago....

Edited September 8, 2006 by else

[Inky]

For a while, I was the games editor of the NIAD (Northern Illinois ADam user's group) I remember my dad having to return the first ADAM he bought.. THe second one however was pretty slick. It was very easy to upgrade, and the software was pretty decent, save a few glitches, but once Coleco abandoned the ADAM, the quality of software and hardaware went way up, once the dedicated users took over. I had a 256 K expansion, with a paralell printer interface (From Orphanware), ran a BBS on it with the "A Link" software, and even purchased a refurbished floppy drive.

 

The tape drives were notoriously unreliable, and unfortunately, many of the programs did get erased easily.

 

But what official games were out there were fun. I too bemoan the lack of ADAM software dumped. Zaxxon Supergame for the ADAM is the hands down best version of the game ever released.

 

If the damn thing wasn't so big, I'd be playing it all the time.

[Tempest]

I own two ADAMs (the expansion and stand alone version). I like the ADAM, but as was previously mentioned the tape drives are unreliable at best. Also, since you need the printer attached all the time you need a HUGE area to house the ADAM which unfortunately I don't have. I'd use my ADAM over my Colecovision in a heartbeat if I had the space to keep it out.

 

Tempest

[else]

I own two ADAMs (the expansion and stand alone version). I like the ADAM, but as was previously mentioned the tape drives are unreliable at best. Also, since you need the printer attached all the time you need a HUGE area to house the ADAM which unfortunately I don't have. I'd use my ADAM over my Colecovision in a heartbeat if I had the space to keep it out.

 

I agree completely. I don't know if you have a disk drive or not Tempest, but the funny thing about the ADAM is that if you add a disk drive it feels like you're on _really_ nice computer. Games load fast. Applications load fast. Reliability goes way up. It just feels like a VERY GOOD computer. It's too bad Coleco went with the tape drive instead, and most users never got to experience anything else because the disk drive was introduced so near the end....

Edited September 8, 2006 by else

[Tempest]

I own two ADAMs (the expansion and stand alone version). I like the ADAM, but as was previously mentioned the tape drives are unreliable at best. Also, since you need the printer attached all the time you need a HUGE area to house the ADAM which unfortunately I don't have. I'd use my ADAM over my Colecovision in a heartbeat if I had the space to keep it out.

 

I agree completely. I don't know if you have a disk drive or not Tempest, but the funny thing about the ADAM is that if you add a disk drive it feels like you're on _really_ nice computer. Games load fast. Applications load fast. Reliability goes way up. It just feels like a VERY GOOD computer. It's too bad Coleco went with the tape drive instead, and most users never got to experience anything else because the disk drive was introduced so near the end....

 

Yes I do, but I don't think I have the cables to hook it up (unless they're some kind of standard cable). Was there much software released on disk for the ADAM? The only thing I remember seeing in stores was Jumpman (or was Jr?) in a bargin bin about 1986. I remember because I thought it might be the Atari version and when I saw it said Coleco ADAM on it, I wondered what the heck that was.

 

One thing I really like about the ADAM is that it has composite out so I can hook it up to my TV without all that nasty RF non-sense. One of these days I think I'll get my ADAM modded to it doesn't need the printer anymore (I don't know how hard or expensive this is).

 

Tempest

[else]

Yes I do, but I don't think I have the cables to hook it up (unless they're some kind of standard cable). Was there much software released on disk for the ADAM? The only thing I remember seeing in stores was Jumpman (or was Jr?) in a bargin bin about 1986. I remember because I thought it might be the Atari version and when I saw it said Coleco ADAM on it, I wondered what the heck that was.

 

Not a whole lot of software was released in disk format, but with a copy program you could copy pretty much all the programs from tape to disk. However this did present some problems with large programs such as the super games, because they wouldn't fit on a single disk (tapes were ~250k in size, disks were ~160k in size) and they weren't designed to be run from multiple disks.

Edited September 8, 2006 by else

[Bill Loguidice]

I have to agree that above all else what killed the Adam - even with the enormous printer and power supply combo - was the complete unreliability of the data pack drives. I lost many a tape due to those things. As was stated, with a disk drive, the computer is a beauty, with very fast boot speeds and typical disk reliability.

 

I've owned many Adams over the years and have several dead ones piled up. They seem very susceptible to power spikes and anomalies, something I learned the hard way until I got rid of a defective old-fashioned UPS. After much expense, I have a loaded, expanded, complete system again. I have to admit, that both the ColecoVision and Adam are two of my more favorite classic systems, and I hope to do more with the latter as time permits. The "Super" games on the Adam are particularly unique for taking the base concepts of mostly original arcade games and running with them.

[Pixelboy]

All the reasons for the ADAM's failure have been mentionned up to this point, but I'd like to pitch in a few points of my own.

 

Originally, when Coleco was designing the Adam, they wanted it to be an expansion module for the ColecoVision. That was Coleco's first basic mistake, mostly because they were stuck with using the CV's front expansion port, which was fine for small things like the Expansion Module #1 (a.k.a. the Atari 2600 adaptor), but was too limited for bigger things like a full-featured computer. It's no wonder the Adam needed its own power supply, since it couldn't feed enough power from the CV's expansion port to power stuff like the datapack drives and the printer. Later they released an Adam model that didn't need a CV attached to it, but this new model inherited all the design flaws of the original expansion module.

 

On the other hand, if they had designed a small, bare-bones MSX-type add-on computer system (with SmartBASIC in the system ROM instead of SmartWRITER) that could work off the CV expansion port like the Atari 2600 adaptor could, then history may have unfolded in a different way. All the add-ons aside from the keyboard would have had to be bought separately (external datapack drive or disk drive, printer, etc.) and each would have required its own power supply, but that was the case with the Adam disk drive anyway, and many other computers of the time followed the same hardware add-on logic. I can appreciate Coleco's desire to offer an all-in-one family-oriented computer, but they just did it wrong at the time. The Mac came along a little bit later and did it right, but even then, the Mac didn't cater to family needs in the same way as the Adam, especially in terms of gaming.

 

But even if Coleco had released such a bare-bones computer expansion, I believe it still would have failed, mostly because the main problem was software availability. Back when I was a kid, I had an Adam computer and I used it every day, but when it came to programming I was stuck with SmartBASIC, which was nice (I was impressed with the parser which could tell me exactly were I made a typing mistake) but extremely limited. Beyond that, there was nothing interesting available in stores ("Recipe Filer? ExpertType? AdamCALC? No thanks, those are for adult users, not a kid like me."). I ended up mostly playing with the super games and my collection of CV carts, and using SmartWRITER to write up all kinds of documents. As I was playing with my CV games, which looked tons better than anything I could do with SmartBASIC, I remember wondering what kind of programming language they must have used to make those games. The Adam tanked before I could seriously start to find an answer to that question.

 

Years later (last year, to be exact), I found out how much I missed out on: What? You can connect a dot matrix printer? Memory expansion cards? Serial cards? BBS via the modem? Wow... And then I recently acquired some old Adam software catalogs and again, I was amazed at how much software there was for the Adam, which I had no idea existed when I was a kid. The thing is that all this software was originally available to those who had connections with the "hardcore Adam community", which was a parallel community that emerged when it became clear that Coleco didn't have the manpower or the resources necessary to support the Adam and allow it to reach its full potential. It is through this parallel community that the Adam's tech docs were made available, certainly not via Coleco themselves (although I'm sure they had a role to play in that at some point).

 

And that's really the point of my story: Coleco knew their way around the video games business, but not the home computer business. They never should have released such a bulky piece of hardware, which turned out to be as much a toy as the ColecoVision console itself was. The Adam really was a wonderful computer with lots of good things going for it, but it was doomed to fail from the very beginning. Considering its short history, the Adam probably would have had the same amount of success if it had been designed as a small and inexpensive expansion module, instead of an all-in-one mess.

[Bill Loguidice]

Back when I was a kid, I had an Adam computer and I used it every day, but when it came to programming I was stuck with SmartBASIC, which was nice (I was impressed with the parser which could tell me exactly were I made a typing mistake) but extremely limited. Beyond that, there was nothing interesting available in stores ("Recipe Filer? ExpertType? AdamCALC? No thanks, those are for adult users, not a kid like me."). I ended up mostly playing with the super games and my collection of CV carts, and using SmartWRITER to write up all kinds of documents. As I was playing with my CV games, which looked tons better than anything I could do with SmartBASIC, I remember wondering what kind of programming language they must have used to make those games. The Adam tanked before I could seriously start to find an answer to that question.

 

 

It's interesting to note that SmartBASIC was essentially a clone of AppleSoft BASIC and featured good cross-compatibility as a result. It actually was a pretty good BASIC overall and quite a few public domain games were released using it. As for serious languages, I can't really recall too many off the top of my head. I think there was a Pascal for it and of course Logo, but beyond that and what was available through CP/M 2.2, there were really just revisions to SmartBASIC. I suppose at with everything else in regards to Coleco, it's more a microcosm of what was available for systems that lasted much longer, like the ones from Commodore, Apple and Atari, and even TI. Still, as you point out, even with the challenges, there are good development tools available today and a small, but very strong homebrew scene.

[Garak]

But what official games were out there were fun.

 

The two I got to play were. Back in the 80's I got a chance to be able to use an Adam. The school I was at had one that we would setup every lunchtime and play Buck Rogers and River Raid. I can't remember which we played most though. I have to say though I enjoyed them. The other students did too.

 

It actually got far more use then the Apple 2 that was collecting dust in the corner. You know, I don't even remember anyone ever turning that Apple on. Heh.

 

From my Commodore point of view, I thought the Adam was quite nice for gaming.

 

Zaxxon Supergame for the ADAM is the hands down best version of the game ever released.

 

Unfortunately, never got to play that one.

 

Garak

Edited September 8, 2006 by Garak

[Pixelboy]

It's interesting to note that SmartBASIC was essentially a clone of AppleSoft BASIC and featured good cross-compatibility as a result.

Yeah, I remember typing in the SmartBASIC equivalents of the program listings in books such as "Battlegames" and "Spacegames", and I used the Apple Basic code variants whenever adjustments had to me made.

 

It actually was a pretty good BASIC overall and quite a few public domain games were released using it. As for serious languages, I can't really recall too many off the top of my head. I think there was a Pascal for it and of course Logo, but beyond that and what was available through CP/M 2.2, there were really just revisions to SmartBASIC. I suppose at with everything else in regards to Coleco, it's more a microcosm of what was available for systems that lasted much longer, like the ones from Commodore, Apple and Atari, and even TI.

I seem to remember something about a C compiler under CP/M, but I'm too busy/lazy to investigate right now. Anyhow, you essentially have to learn Z80 assembly programming to really tap into the Adam's potential, and that means finding a compiler. Luckily there are a couple of public-domain ones like Macadam, and the tech docs for accessing devices like the tapes drives are out there if one is dedicated enough to figure them out.

 

Still, as you point out, even with the challenges, there are good development tools available today and a small, but very strong homebrew scene.

I wouldn't call it "strong", but I would certainly call it dedicated.

[Bill Brasky]

I've bought stuff from that site, and its all New Old Stock, but its WAY to pricey for my tastes. Ebay produces some neat stuff from time to time, but rarely do you see a large amount of ADAM sotware for sale.

 

If someone can point me to software on the net for transfer info to the IBM I'll attempt to figure it out, and up load my software (all 10 tapes) to the net.

 

Maybe It will start a trend.... hmmm... maybe not, but it might.

 

 

What 10 tapes do you have? I might already have them on my PC. I have a bunch of ADAM stuff but I don't have a website to put it on. I'm looking for Family Feud, Super Front Line demo, Super Donkey Kong (the full ADAM version, NOT the chopped down to fit CV 32k rom version), a question writer for Jeopardy( I have ones for Family Feud), Smartbasic Bonanza. Is there a way to transfer these pc .dsk files back to the ADAM?

 

The ADAM printer can be gutted of just it's power supply board. Just cut the purple wire and put it in another smaller enclosure and you're good to go. We were trying to figure out before if the ADAM can be powered by the CV's power supply. We know you can use an atx PC power supply.

Edited September 8, 2006 by Bill Brasky