My Official Coleco ADAM rant!

[Murph74]

You've never seen any of the SmartWriter or SmartBasic bugs? I've already mentioned the glaring SmartWriter line-and-a-half bug built right in to the R80. And the SmartBasic listing-inserts-random-spaces bug. These bugs are just the tip of the iceberg. AdamCalc messes up if you enter formulas beyond a certain row and column. I could go on and on. You've never seen any of this? How is that possible?

 

Yes, earlier adopters expect some bugs. However the general public does not. The hardware got better, the software did not. Coleco didn't seem to care, so the general public quickly left.

 

I'm not saying this to put down the Adam -- I actually like it quite a bit. But you need to take off those rose-colored glasses and look at it for what it really was.....

 

But I like my glasses... things look pretty with them on.

 

As for the bugs, well, I never saw the AdamCalc bug, because I didn't use AdamCalc. The random spaces never were an issue for me-- anything I ever recall typing in to the system ran and saved fine. It may have indeed had extra spaces, but nothing that effected the programs I used. The line-and-a-half bug wasn't an issue for me, either. It jsut didn't bother me.

 

Keep in mind, Coleco was a toy and marketing company at this time, they were NOT a computer company. I'll agree that they seem to wish they were, but were a bad bad impersonation of a computer company. A computer company likely would have worked to make everything, HW and SW work as it is advertised, and as it should. I'll also concede that they would have at the bare minimum ackowledged and/or documented the bugs and shortcomings if they gave two $h)t$. But, their track record of marketing was what they banked on.

 

The entire Coleco foray into Video Games and ColecoVision was built around Arcade games, as stated elsewhere, that were essentially already marketed for Coleco. A genius and viable appraoch, but the same things can't be said on the Computer side. There were no already-marketed titles for the Adam side of hte house to get it flying. Third party commercial support was weak at best (Ok, pretty much non-existant). I really think it was the marketing guys who shot the development guys in the big picture. They just wanted to advertise buzzwords it would appear. They didn't care about function, they cared about sales. I'm sure someone's 'market research' somewhere showed a user bought a PC because they were told they wanted Lotus 1-2-3, and marketing went to the R&D guys with something like this:

 

Marketing: We could sell a thousand more Adams if we had a spreadsheet program. What's a spreadsheet program? We need a spreadsheet program...

Dev: well, here's a demo of AdamCalc we're working on....

Marketing: Ok, ship it!

Dev: But... it's.. not...

Marketing: I said ship it! No one will know... We need more languages for the system.... Something to make it run software from other systems.... buyers are figuring out the AppleSoft thing isn't really all that...

Dev: Ever hear of CP/m?

Marketing: No, but sounds like something we can sell! Do computer users know what it is?

Dev: Some do...

Marketing: Good, just some-- that means the rest of the world won't know what to expect. How soon can we have CP/m up and shipping?

Dev: it could take weeks, months, even longer to get it working right on the Adam.

Marketing: Ok, whatever you need, do it. We'll announce it this Thursday to ship next month.

Dev: But there's no....

Marketing: You do your job, I'll do mine. Say you guys ever finish that SuperGa.. Nevermind. Just get me a copy of that AdamClock you were talking about.

Dev: But we're working on Smartlogo now. We can't get....

Marketing: Oh good! A new logo for the Adam-- we'll unveil that Thursday too. Is it pretty and blue like the one we got now with the little flags off the top of the letters??

 

I'll credit Coleco for simply seeing the future curve towards computers, but also for teaching the rest of the world how NOT to support or market a computer. While I do enjoy and fondly recall the Adam, I think a LARGE part of that was due to the userbase and the types of personalities it attracted. Many jumped off the Adam bandwagon VERY early, many more when Coleco dropped it. But those that remained, save a few like Sol Swift, were good folks with a common 'you can't beat us that easily' mentality that MADE the Adam come much closer than most ever imagine it could have to it's fuller potential. Guys like Lyle Marchand and his monthly ads to recruit lost Adam users in Family Computing. Guys like Barry Wilson starting user groups from the ground up. Guys like the Walter(s) Brothers writing new software. The folks at Eve designing new hardware.

 

It was a small community, but we had the prettiest yard in town-- all the weeds were already gone.

 

Maybe I'll trade in my rosey glasses for rosey contacts... that way ya'll won't see em as easily!

 

Murph

Edited September 25, 2006 by Murph74

[Murph74]

Anyone know the name of this drawing program I use to use on the ADAM made by Cosmi. It looked just like MSPaint with tools/brushes and colors on the left side of the screen. IIRC, it was roller controller compatible.

 

That sounds a lot like G.E.O.S (Graphic enterface operating system) I had that for the Commodore 64, and I assume there's a similar, if not the same program for the Adam. Great program IMO, I loved mine, till the disk died.

 

I seem to recall Sol Swift (Digital Express) having a program like that called PowerPaint I think it was... there were a few other programs he developed too to co-exist with them. A pretty nice graphics programs overall... He was also working on a GEOS clone called Go_Dos... not sure what happened from memory.

 

But by the power of Google, I bring you this link: http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/software/COL...BBS/solomon.txt

 

Enjoy!

 

Murph

[Inky]

Ahh, power paint. Required at least a 64K memory expansion. (I have this awesome program!).

 

There was some neat homebrew stuff, for sure.

[Bill Brasky]

No, I'm sure it wasn't Power Paint. It wasn't a homebrew and I didn't have a 64k expansion. My brother bought it in a store for my birthday and I'm sure it was by Cosmi because I remember seeing their logo years later on PC software. They're still around:

 

http://www.cosmi.com/OnlineStore/index.aspx

[Murph74]

No, I'm sure it wasn't Power Paint. It wasn't a homebrew and I didn't have a 64k expansion. My brother bought it in a store for my birthday and I'm sure it was by Cosmi because I remember seeing their logo years later on PC software. They're still around:

 

http://www.cosmi.com/OnlineStore/index.aspx

 

 

Ya got me on this one Bill. For the Adam, I'm not aware of ANY Cosmi software. I know they made stuff for Commodore. And on the Paint programs, the only ones I recall were Power Paint for Adam, them Smurf PnP and Cabbage Patch Picture Show for Colecovision. Interested to see if this one gets solved.

[else]

Okay guys, now that we seem to have some ADAM heavy-hitters here how about we try to list all the ADAM prototypes that found their way out of Coleco once they cancelled it. I'll start with a few off the top of my head:

 

1) Super Subroc 3D

2) Trolls Tale

3) SmartBasic 2.0

4) AdamLink II*

5) Jeopardy

6) Best of EA: Hard Hat Mack and Pinball Construction Set

 

Please add to this list if you can!

 

*I've also seen references to AdamLink III, but I can't tell if it was a Coleco proto release an enhancement to AdamLink II that was done by a user.

Edited September 26, 2006 by else

[adamcomputer]

No, I'm sure it wasn't Power Paint. It wasn't a homebrew and I didn't have a 64k expansion. My brother bought it in a store for my birthday and I'm sure it was by Cosmi because I remember seeing their logo years later on PC software. They're still around:

 

http://www.cosmi.com/OnlineStore/index.aspx

 

 

Ya got me on this one Bill. For the Adam, I'm not aware of ANY Cosmi software. I know they made stuff for Commodore. And on the Paint programs, the only ones I recall were Power Paint for Adam, them Smurf PnP and Cabbage Patch Picture Show for Colecovision. Interested to see if this one gets solved.

 

There is a program called PaintMaster, which is just what Bill ordered. It works with the ADAM controller, and would also with a mouse - there were 2 made for the ADAM, both aftermarket 3rd party. Had forgotten about it, but I did use it for awhile until PowerPaint took over my heart. PaintMaster was created by Stategic Software, along with other publishing type programming.

[Bill Brasky]

No, I'm sure it wasn't Power Paint. It wasn't a homebrew and I didn't have a 64k expansion. My brother bought it in a store for my birthday and I'm sure it was by Cosmi because I remember seeing their logo years later on PC software. They're still around:

 

http://www.cosmi.com/OnlineStore/index.aspx

 

 

Ya got me on this one Bill. For the Adam, I'm not aware of ANY Cosmi software. I know they made stuff for Commodore. And on the Paint programs, the only ones I recall were Power Paint for Adam, them Smurf PnP and Cabbage Patch Picture Show for Colecovision. Interested to see if this one gets solved.

 

There is a program called PaintMaster, which is just what Bill ordered. It works with the ADAM controller, and would also with a mouse - there were 2 made for the ADAM, both aftermarket 3rd party. Had forgotten about it, but I did use it for awhile until PowerPaint took over my heart. PaintMaster was created by Stategic Software, along with other publishing type programming.

 

PaintMaster sounds right. Strategic Software must've programmed it and Cosmi just distributed it to retail. I wouldn't mind getting ahold of this one again as I'll never find a CV SuperSketch cheap.

[Bill Brasky]

Okay guys, now that we seem to have some ADAM heavy-hitters here how about we try to list all the ADAM prototypes that found their way out of Coleco once they cancelled it. I'll start with a few off the top of my head:

 

1) Super Subroc 3D

2) Trolls Tale

3) SmartBasic 2.0

4) AdamLink II*

5) Jeopardy

6) Best of EA: Hard Hat Mack and Pinball Construction Set

 

Please add to this list if you can!

 

*I've also seen references to AdamLink III, but I can't tell if it was a Coleco proto release an enhancement to AdamLink II that was done by a user.

 

Are you looking for a list of all ADAM games or just unreleased ADAM games? I had public domain versions of DK and DK Jr. that came from Coleco. Is Family Feud a prototype or a retail release? I never saw it in a store or a boxed version. There's a version of Cabbage Patch Kids that's like 148k, I can't tell why. It's background graphics are a little different. I never played it for an hour to see if there was more to it.

 

Temple of Apshai for ADAM (not Gateway to).

Super Front Line demo,

ADAM's Jukebox,

Zork 1,2,3 ,

Super Dam Busters

Evolution?

Edited September 26, 2006 by Bill Brasky

[else]

Just looking for prototypes. I have Family Feud boxed, so that's definately not a proto. I also have Super Dam Busters boxed, so that's not a proto either. Was there an Adam version of Evolution (I have the Cart version)?

 

Were the Zorks, Temple of Apshai and Jukebox games really Coleco protos or protos from a 3rd party?

Edited September 26, 2006 by else

[Bill Brasky]

Just looking for prototypes. I have Family Feud boxed, so that's definately not a proto. I also have Super Dam Busters boxed, so that's not a proto either. Was there an Adam version of Evolution (I have the Cart version)?

 

Were the Zorks, Temple of Apshai and Jukebox games really Coleco protos or protos from a 3rd party?

 

I keep seeing a game called Evolution on ADAM sites that's 44k zipped. I have it but either haven't tried running it or didn't see a difference between the CV version. Can't remember. Well Temple is obviously Epyx but I don't know who leaked it. I assumed Coleco employees since they leaked other stuff.

[Bill Brasky]

I see stuff like this and it makes me wonder if there are ADAM Super Game versions of Smurf, Time Pilot and Turbo waiting to be discovered.

 

Edited September 26, 2006 by Bill Brasky

[else]

My guess is that there aren't, just because the Super Game Module was supposed to be out well before the ADAM. So you would think Coleco would have wanted to get as much software out as quickly has they could for the ADAM, thus any reasonabally near-complete Super Game Module game would have been quickly finished and ported from the Super Game Module to the ADAM. That's my theory anyhow....

[Murph74]

AdamLink III was a coleco product I believe... Based on this from an old issue of ECN (http://www.sacnews.net/adamcomputer/15.html)

 

For anyone still stuck with ADAMLink I, as you well know, it's not possible to do anything other than call up BBS' and read messages. ADAMLink II, however, features an ASCII up/download feature so you can at least send and receive some files. It can't handle binary files though (this is where XMODEM transfers come in).

I have heard very strong rumors that an ADAMLink III exists somewhere out in the ADAM never-never land. It is said to feature a phone directory and the ability to do XMODEM type transfers. Whether this will ever actually surface, I don't know, but it's entirely possible considering the amount of other software that has found its way out of Coleco.

AdamLink III+ was a user enchancement (Tom Cleary)-- I think it just added Xmodem protocols, but could be wrong there. Family Feud is retail for sure, but I dont' recall EVER seeing a Super Dam Busters, just the Colecovision Dam Busters cart. Love to see a pic of that Super version!

 

As for the cart sizes on dumps-- check this out: http://www.mameworld.net/gurudumps/colecocarts.html

 

Apparently the dumps out there are fine for emulators, but quite a few aren't 'true' dumps. Not sure this will ever be completely agreed upon or remedied, as the dumps as is are useable currently.

 

On the supergame wafers, I'd love to even hear in an interview more details about what was being added to each game, differing from the cartridge versions, barring working versions being discovered. The obvious is the Hall of Fame and intermissions. But i keep thinking to the shocker in Super Dokey Kong Jr-- the Pie Factory (level 9 on the image file I got)!! Maybe, just maybe, the gurus at Coleco were planning on one-upping ALL the arcade games with a bonus screen!

 

Murph

[Bill Brasky]

I had weird version of DK Jr. It had a "released to the public domain" title screen before the regular title screen IIRC. The way I remember it, the 5th screen - Mario's bakery/pie level, was a hidden easter egg that you could only access after entering a code on the keypad. When you get to the level select screen, you press in and hold the left and right buttons and enter (IIRC) something like 1,2,3,1,2,1,2 and then it says "WARNING: MASTER SEQUENCE ACTIVATED", then the game starts. I've tried this on ADAMEM with a version I downloaded and as soon as I press the left and right controller buttons(simulated with the keyboard) I get the "WARNING: MASTER SEQUENCE ACTIVATED" message. I don't think entering a code has any effect on this version as far as I can tell.

 

Does anyone know what triggers that blob of dough to come out and chase you around on the 5th screen? Sometimes I play it and it comes out over and over and other times it never does.

[Inky]

Okay guys, now that we seem to have some ADAM heavy-hitters here how about we try to list all the ADAM prototypes that found their way out of Coleco once they cancelled it. I'll start with a few off the top of my head:

 

1) Super Subroc 3D

2) Trolls Tale

3) SmartBasic 2.0

4) AdamLink II*

5) Jeopardy

6) Best of EA: Hard Hat Mack and Pinball Construction Set

 

Please add to this list if you can!

 

*I've also seen references to AdamLink III, but I can't tell if it was a Coleco proto release an enhancement to AdamLink II that was done by a user.

 

 

I could have sworn that SmartBasic 2 was actually a homebrew project.

[else]

Family Feud is retail for sure, but I dont' recall EVER seeing a Super Dam Busters, just the Colecovision Dam Busters cart. Love to see a pic of that Super version!

 

I'll post some pics of what I have later today....

[else]

Here's some pictures of Super Dam Busters. The first picture shows it next to the boxed cart-based verision, so you can see that the boxes are different. Both are Canada versions. I've seen the US cart-based version, but have never seen the US tape-based version (I'm guessing it doesn't exist?).

 

Note that nowhere does it actually say "Super Dam Busters", so I can't say for sure if this is really an enhanced game or just a rerelease of the same game on tape. Either way, it's strange.

 

The "Confidential" folder contains all sorts of weird official looking papers. They seem add nothing to the game, but I guess are supposed to "set the mood". This folder didn't come with the cart-based version I have, but it could have been missing since I bought it used. So I don't know if was only included for the tape-version or not.

 

So some questions come to mind: (1) Why are the boxes so different looking than the US release?, (2) Why was there a never a US release of the tape-based version?, and (3) is the gameplay really different? It's an oddity among Coleco and ADAM games to be sure....

Edited September 26, 2006 by else

[Inky]

I have Super DamBusters on floppy somewhere.

[else]

I have Super DamBusters on floppy somewhere.

 

An original disk or a copy?

[Inky]

Copy. Got it from NIAD. Never could figure the thing out.

 

I also have Wizmath, Yolk's ON You, Fall Guy, and a few other copies of protos lying around.

 

I REALLY want to put together a place where I can hook up all my classic systems.

[Murph74]

Thanks for the pics on Dam Busters! I hadn't seen that yet. But now I'm starting to figure out (which most of you already know, I'm sure) that the black and white labels on CV games are the result of Coleco Canada products.

 

Here's a link to a good list of adam and colecovision stuff. Links don't work, so don't bother trying to DL from what i could gather-- but a fairly comprehensive list-- best I've seen yet I think. Includes some of the Coleco Canada stuff too, like Market Monitor, a stock program that wasn't released commercially yet when Adam was dropped.

 

Murph

[Pixelboy]

Here's a link to a good list of adam and colecovision stuff.

And so continues the search for the missing link...

[Murph74]

Here's a link to a good list of adam and colecovision stuff.

And so continues the search for the missing link...

Uhhh.. Dewey Robertson?

 

Sorry, bad wrestling joke.

 

Here's the link I intended above.... http://www.clubedosjogos.net/roms/collecovision.htm

 

Also, while searching, I've pretty much decided I'm going to aim for a complete-in-box Colecovision collection. Came across some coleco stuff like War Games and Star Trek in box, and shrikwrapped.

 

Just to make sure I'm not going senile, most of the coleco brand stuff wasn't shrikwrapped originally, was it? I thought it was just glued boxes. I'm VERY skeptical of shrinkwrapped games, especially if they weren't that way from the factory-- I've had enough run-ins with items that were put in the wrong packages in stores! I haven't had that problem with a collectable, and don't wanna have it! Hate to think I'd buy a shrikwrapped Star Trek cart only to one day open it (ok, someone else open it!) to find out it's a DK cart inside.

 

Murph

[HDTV1080P]

I see stuff like this and it makes me wonder if there are ADAM Super Game versions of Smurf, Time Pilot and Turbo waiting to be discovered.

 

Yes Smurf the Super Game was officially finished for the Super game module according to a pre-release review I read in a magazine. Someone that worked for the magazine reviewed the production pre-release Supergame module and played Smurf the Super Game and commented on the much better quality. Other games he played also. I would have to search threw my stack of old magazines to give more info on this. Coleco never released Smurf the Super Game for the Adam when they canceled the super game module. Someone that worked for Coleco most likely has the protype Super game module that most likely no longer is in working condition. Coleco canceled the Super game module when they found out the supplier of the wafer drives was not able to offer the drives in quantities at the price point they wanted. Even if a working pre-production Supergame module was found with games it is unknown if the chipset would be compatible with the Adam. Some professional programmer could convert the program to Adam format but it might be a lot of work.

 

Expansion module #3 the Adam computer became the Super Game module with a better more affordable tape drive. The Adam tape drive was like somewhere between a cassette tape and a disk drive. It was a lot faster then a tape drive but not as fast as a disk drive. Almost as fast as some disk drives around that time. Back in 1983 the Adam computer was a state of the Art Video game and computer system that ran circles around others. A few years later affordable Disk Drives were made with much greater speed. I think the first Adam disk drive appeared in 1984 and was expensive. $200 or more.