Tempest Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Ahh the ADAM... The bastard spawn of a Colecovision and an 8-track player. We all know the ADAM had some serious issues, but it's also one of the more loveable failed computer systems out there. For some strange reason I keep finding myself playing with this oddball computer. Probably because it's the easiest way to get composite video out of a Colecovision... I know there have been some ADAM topics on AA in the past (mostly started by me), but I figured it would be best to make an 'official' one. I'll kick this topic off with some questions: 1. Is there a list of all the tapes that were officially released for the ADAM? I'm talking about official software (with the silver inserts and such), not bootlegs or public domain tapes. 2. In the same vein, is there list of official disk software? 3. What's the rarest ADAM software/hardware? 4. What extra features are enabled in the ADAM versions of games? I know they support a high score table and DK/DK Jr. has an extra screen, but what else? 5. The ADAM has 3 expansion slots, what can go in them? I know of the modem and memory expansion, but what else? Was the memory expansion an official Coleco product or just a 3rd party thing? What software can make use of the extra memory? 6. I've read that there's a hard drive (CF card?) for the ADAM. Anyone got more info? 7. I've got disk drive that I'm not sure works. It powers up (with the official power supply), but the ADAM never seems to access the drive. I've got it hooked into the ADAM using a 6? pin phone cable, but I'm not sure if that's the right one to use. Is the keyboard cable the same kind of cable? I've got an extra one of those. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 And, more importantly: - Is the A-Bomb worse than a Trash-80? - Will it really rust up on you, like Gil the Salesman said? - Can I use my old reel-to-reel tape deck, or do I really need one of those Datapak thingies? Just kidding! A very good friend of mine had an Adam back in the early 80s, and I was so jealous. It seemed like such a serious computer, compared to my toy-like Atari 400. I'm always tempted to pick up an Adam some day. Best wishes for the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Primus Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 There were some third party cards available - such as a printer interface and I believe an RS-232 card. The point of the printer interface was so that you could have a better printer than that clunky daisy wheel that it came with. Of course, you needed BOTH printers, because the power supply is in the lousy one that came with the computer. You can install two datapack drives in one ADAM, there are connectors on the board for it - the blank removes and you can fit in another drive. I too was fascinated by this machine for a while - it's such a... bad design... that I liked it. But I never could get a Digital DataPack drive to work for more than a week at a time. -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) 3. What's the rarest ADAM software/hardware? 4. What extra features are enabled in the ADAM versions of games? I know they support a high score table and DK/DK Jr. has an extra screen, but what else? 5. The ADAM has 3 expansion slots, what can go in them? I know of the modem and memory expansion, but what else? Was the memory expansion an official Coleco product or just a 3rd party thing? What software can make use of the extra memory? 7. I've got disk drive that I'm not sure works. It powers up (with the official power supply), but the ADAM never seems to access the drive. I've got it hooked into the ADAM using a 6? pin phone cable, but I'm not sure if that's the right one to use. Is the keyboard cable the same kind of cable? I've got an extra one of those. I'll take a crack at a few of these. 3) Rarest piece of hardware I've ever seen is an official boxed Coleco Composite Video cable set. I saw a boxed one come up for auction on eBay many years ago, and it's the only one I've ever seen. I keep hoping a warehose full of them will be found one day. 4) That's pretty much it -- extra screens / levels, and high score table. Of course, that only applies to games that were also released on the Colecovision. Some games were Adam exclusives. 5) 64k memory expander was an official Coleco product. As far as software, SmartWriter, AdamCalc, and CP/M can take advantage of it. There may be more. 7) The keyboard cable can be used to connect up the disk drive. An interesting side note is that the Keyboard can be plugged in to the side port, and the Disk Drive can be plugged in to the front port. It doesn't matter what you plug where -- they are both identical AdamNet connectors (Coleco just labeled them differently for the masses). Edited March 2, 2009 by else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) But I never could get a Digital DataPack drive to work for more than a week at a time. Coleco went through three revisions of the Digital Data Drive. The first two were, quite simply, junk. The third one was very solid and reliable. So that might be the problem. The third revision is easy to spot, if you know what you're looking for.... There were a couple of revisions of the Printer as well. Again, the first ones were junk, while the final one was pretty nice. In fact, all the Coleco Adam hardware was pretty good at the end. But by then, nobody was paying attention any more..... Edited March 2, 2009 by else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 5) 64k memory expander was an official Coleco product. As far as software, SmartWriter, AdamCalc, and CP/M can take advantage of it. There may be more. Anyone got a pic? 7) The keyboard cable can be used to connect up the disk drive. An interesting side note is that the Keyboard can be plugged in to the side port, and the Disk Drive can be plugged in to the front port. It doesn't matter what you plug where -- they are both identical AdamNet connectors (Coleco just labeled them differently for the masses). Really? I never knew that. Makes sense though. Does the ADAM automatically load the disk if the drive is turned on before the ADAM or do you have to do something special from the ADAM EOS? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) Anyone got a pic? Maybe I can snap one later. It's nothing special though. Coleco never made cases for them. So it's just a ugly PCB with some chips on it. There's an official Coleco manual that came with it. Really? I never knew that. Makes sense though. Does the ADAM automatically load the disk if the drive is turned on before the ADAM or do you have to do something special from the ADAM EOS? It will load automatically. Make sure you've got the switch on the back set correctly. Also try plugging in to the other port on the back of the drive. I think one says in and the other says out (or some such nonsense), which always confused me. Otherwise, I hate say it, you may have a bad drive. Try giving it a clean? Or try a different disk? EDIT: Got my manual out. The "input" port connects to the Adam.... Edited March 2, 2009 by else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 It will load automatically. Make sure you've got the switch on the back set correctly. Also try plugging in to the other port on the back of the drive. I think one says in and the other says out (or some such nonsense), which always confused me. Otherwise, I hate say it, you may have a bad drive. Try giving it a clean? Or try a different disk? That's a good question. Do you plug the cable from the ADAM into the IN or the OUT port? Theoretically the cable should be both in and out shouldn't it? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Primus Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 That's a good question. Do you plug the cable from the ADAM into the IN or the OUT port? Theoretically the cable should be both in and out shouldn't it? Yeah, the cable carries the bidirectional data. AdamNet supports daisy-chaining the devices. So, the OUT port is for the second disk drive. -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 I just found pictures of Temple of Apshai for the ADAM. I assume this wasn't an official release though. Anyone have more info? I also saw this in a review abotu Super DK Jr: Super DK Jr. is another case of the missing "fifth" screen. This was to feature a crane and girder sequence with tar-men and a lunch whistle. Whaaaat? Never heard that one before. Tar men?!?! Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I guess OUT was supposed to mean "out away from the Adam" and IN was supposed to mean "in towards the Adam". See, clear as mud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Well if this is the 'official' topic, I'll link my super duper alternate power supply here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubledown Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Here's a link to a great ADAM resource: http://www.sacnews.net/adamcomputer/ There's 24 issues of an archived ADAM newsletter along with screenshots and descriptions of software owned by the guy who runs the site. There's a lot of good stuff there. I actually used one of the tech articles to hard-install a 64K memory upgrade without the need for the costly legitimate expansion card. I recently won a few ADAM lots on Ebay consisting of something like 30 DDPs and 240 disks for the ADAM from an estate sale of a former Coleco employee. I can't wait to see what hidden gems I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Here's a link to a great ADAM resource: http://www.sacnews.net/adamcomputer/ There's 24 issues of an archived ADAM newsletter along with screenshots and descriptions of software owned by the guy who runs the site. There's a lot of good stuff there. I actually used one of the tech articles to hard-install a 64K memory upgrade without the need for the costly legitimate expansion card. I recently won a few ADAM lots on Ebay consisting of something like 30 DDPs and 240 disks for the ADAM from an estate sale of a former Coleco employee. I can't wait to see what hidden gems I can find. Yeah I've been looking at this site. Very cool indeed. I'm dying to see what you find in your stuff. I won a lot of disks for the ADAM awhile back that I haven't looked through. There are 3 boxes full of them (mostly CP/M stuff). Who knows what's on them? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Did the ADAM actually add any graphic capabilities to the Colecovision, or does it use the same graphics chip? From what I can see the graphics are exactly the same without any improvements. Did the ADAM only add more memory and extra sound channels? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 (edited) It didn't add any extra graphics or sound capabilities. It really just added a keyboard, a mass storage device, a printer, and some extra memory. In fact, even the stand-alone Adam contains a complete (separate) Colecovision inside it. If you have the stand alone version, you can open it up and you'll see two PCBs connected by a flat-ribbon cable. One is the Colecovision, the other is the Adam expansion board. So even in the stand alone version, the Adam effectively plugs in to the Colecovision (though I'm not sure if it's possible to actually unplug the board and use it just as a Colecovision -- there may be some simple signals like power, etc. that the Adam board supplies). Edited March 3, 2009 by else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 It didn't add any extra graphics or sound capabilities. It really just added a keyboard, a mass storage device, a printer, and some extra memory. In fact, even the stand-alone Adam contains a complete (separate) Colecovision inside it. If you have the stand alone version, you can open it up and you'll see two PCBs connected by a flat-ribbon cable. One is the Colecovision, the other is the Adam expansion board. So even in the stand alone version, the Adam effectively plugs in to the Colecovision. That's what I thought, although I did think there was an extra sound channel (I'm probably thinking of the Intellivision ECS). I always use my stand alone ADAM because it looks better. Is there any benefit to using the expansion model? I have both for some reason (oh yeah, I'm a collector, that's why). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 (edited) No advantages to the expansion module. In fact, you lose the Composite Video connector with it. That's really the only difference between the two. Only cool thing about the expansion module is that if you unplug the printer and keyboard, dim the lights really low, and squint your eyes really hard -- you can almost visualize it being the Super Game Module that I used to drool over in the magazines instead of the Adam . Or maybe that's just me ..... BTW, you would think that the expansion module version would be the easy one to find, since the Colecovision had a pretty large installed base at the time. But it seems like the stand-alone version out-numbers it by about 100 to 1 or better. I've never really understood why that is.... Edited March 3, 2009 by else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 BTW, you would think that the expansion module version would be the easy one to find, since the Colecovision had a pretty large installed base at the time. But it seems like the stand-alone version out-numbers it by about 100 to 1 or better. I've never really understood why that is.... Yeah that is odd. Come to think of it the only time I ever saw the expansion version was when I bought it at one of the PC shows. From teh looks of it, it had never been used. Both of mine are boxed, but the boxes are starting to distintigrate because of the cheap thin cardboard they used. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Tempest -- were you able to get your disk drive working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Tempest -- were you able to get your disk drive working? I haven't had a chance to try yet. I'll probably get to that this weekend. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 6, 2009 Author Share Posted March 6, 2009 I just tried the disk drive out with the different cable and still no luck. The drive powers up, the ADAM screen goes blank like it's trying to access the drive, the light on the drive goes on, but nothing happens after that. I put my hand on the drive and it doesn't feel like it's even spinning. Maybe the motor is bad? EDIT: It turns out the drive belt may have been stuck from long periods of disuse. The drive was fixed and is now working thanks to Doubldown. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Let me take a crack at a few things here... Coleco made a 64K memory expander, but many third parties made more cards than just that. I have a 256K mem expander with a rs232 which was manufactured by Orphanware. As for memory usage, the a few titles that were listed above are the only ones made by Coleco that supported expanded memory. However many other third party programs exist that use them. Im thinking of Power PAINT off the top of my head. I also had a ramdisk program that I used frequently to save wear and tear on the datapacks. As for graphics, it used the same crappy chip, as far as I can tell. Thing I hated most was when Id be messing with graphics in basic, and have a color bleed from one pixel to another. SOmehow they got around that problem in the excellent ending screen for the 2010 Text Adventure game. I had 2 tape drives and a floppy drive. The floppy drive should allow booting from it. Best way to test if its recognized is to put a blank into it and bring up SmartWriter. It should be detected there. As for a hard drive, yes an interface exists, and I believe Ecoleco has it. I had heard of one that requires some wires be soldered to the Z-80. I have a two volume "book" called "The Hacker's Guide to the ADAM" Lotsa good tech info in it as well as some schematic reproductions. If I had a scanner Id scan the contents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colecomaniac Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Rarest Colecovision/Adam items based on my own personal experience Hardware: Coleco Brand Monitor Cable (The toughest by far!) Coleco’s cartridge adaptor for Expansion Module #1 (Atari Adaptor) Coleco Brand 64K Memory (I have only come across the Coleco Canada version) Software: Disk version of the software in general (Dragon’s Lair & Zaxxon are probably the easiest to obtain) DDPs: Tax Planner, B.C. II Grogs Revenge, Dam Busters (Again, Coleco Canada) Literature: The little known Summer 1983 edition of the Coleco Vision Experience Magazine. This edition stars the Coleco Adam model with the stringy wafer drives on the cover; Tac/Scan in the "What’s New?" section and a two page spread covering Super Game Packs for the Super Game Module. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubledown Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 I just tried the disk drive out with the different cable and still no luck. The drive powers up, the ADAM screen goes blank like it's trying to access the drive, the light on the drive goes on, but nothing happens after that. I put my hand on the drive and it doesn't feel like it's even spinning. Maybe the motor is bad? Tempest Just to check a few things with your disk drive: You have one end of the cable plugged into the ADAMNet connector on the ADAM and the other end is plugged into the IN connector on the drive. The drive number selector switch on the rear of the drive is set to 1. The power adapter is connected to the drive. You first turn on the drive. At which time both LEDs should come on and you should hear the drive motor spin for a few seconds. Then you turn on the ADAM, which will boot up to the SmartWriter typing program. As you insert a disk, when the disk is about 3/4 of the way inserted, the rear optical sensor should break (the disk blocks the signal) and you should hear the drive motor spin while you continue to fully insert the disk and close the latch. Then you pull the reset ADAM reset switch on the console and the disk motor will start to spin, and the access LED will light. Then the software should appear on the screen as its being loaded. So in your case Tempest, where does this sequence not respond properly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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