Coleco Adam

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Memory console and keyboard for Coleco Adam computer expansion for the Colecovision

The Coleco Adam was a home computer, an attempt in the early 1980s by American toy manufacturer Coleco to follow on the success of its ColecoVision game console. The Adam (supposedly given its name because the manufacturer hoped it would take a "bite" out of Apple Computer's market share) was not very successful, partly because of early production problems.

1 Introduction
2 Technical details
3 Problems
4 Reception
5 Legacy
6 Specifications
7 References and external links

[edit] Introduction

Coleco announced the Adam in June 1983 at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and executives predicted sales of 500,000 by Christmas 1983. From the time of the computer's introduction to the time of its shipment, the price increased, from USD $525 to $725.

The Adam is famous for an incident connected with its showing at the June, 1983 CES. To showcase the machine, Coleco decided to demonstrate Donkey Kong on the system. Nintendo was in the midst of negotiating a deal with Atari to license its Famicom for distribution outside of Japan, and the final signing would have been done at CES. Atari had exclusive rights to Donkey Kong for home computers (as Coleco had for game consoles), and when Atari saw that Coleco was showing Donkey Kong on a computer, its proposed deal with Nintendo was delayed. Coleco had to agree not to sell the Adam version of Donkey Kong and it was eventually scrapped. Ultimately it had no bearing on the Atari/Nintendo deal though, as Atari's CEO was fired the next month and the proposal went nowhere, with Nintendo deciding to market its system on its own.

[edit] Technical details

In its favor, the Adam had a large software library from the start. It was derived from and compatible with the ColecoVision's software and accessories, and, in addition, the popular CP/M operating system was available as an option. Its price gave a complete system: a 64 KB RAM computer, tape drive, letter-quality printer, and software including the Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom video game. The IBM PCjr sold for $669 but included no peripherals, and although the popular Commodore 64 sold for around $200, its price was not much lower after the purchase of a printer, tape or disk drive, and software.

Like many computers of its day, it was intended to use a television set for its display. The SmartWriter electronic typewriter loads when the system is turned on. In this mode, the system operates just like a typewriter, printing letters as soon as the user types them. Pressing the Escape/WP key puts SmartWriter into word processor mode, which functions similar to a modern word processor.

A less expensive version of the Adam plugged into a ColecoVision, which promised to be an inexpensive way for ColecoVision owners to upgrade to a full-blown computer system.

[edit] Problems

Adam was not without weaknesses:

Adam generated a surge of electromagnetic energy on startup, which would erase the contents of any removable media left in or near the drive. Making this problem worse, some of the Coleco manuals instructed the user to put the tape in the drive before turning the computer on; presumably these were printed before the issue was known.
Initial shipments to customers included a high rate of defective tape drives, some say up to 50%.
Since Coleco made the unusual decision of using the printer to supply power to the entire Adam system, if the printer malfunctioned, none of the system worked.
Unlike other home computers at the time, the Adam did not have its BASIC interpreter permanently stored in ROM. Instead, it featured a built-in electronic typewriter and word processor, SmartWriter, as well as the Elementary Operating System (EOS) OS kernel and the 8K OS-7 ColecoVision operating system. The SmartBASIC interpreter was delivered on a proprietary format Digital Data Pack tape cassette.
Once put into Word Processor mode, SmartWriter could not get back into the typewriter mode without rebooting the system.
Adam's Digital Data Pack drives, although faster and of higher capacity than the audio cassette drives used for competing computers, were less reliable and still not as fast as a floppy disk drive. Coleco eventually shipped a 160K 5¼ inch disk drive for it.

[edit] Reception

The Adam received some good reviews based on the quality of its keyboard and printer, and offered competitive sound and graphics. Its BASIC interpreter, called SmartBASIC, was largely compatible with Applesoft BASIC, which meant that many type-in programs from computer books and magazines would work with the Adam with little or no modification.

However, sales were weak, especially after the technical issues became obvious. Coleco tried cutting the price; towards the end it offered a $500 college scholarship along with each unit sold for use by a young child (to be paid when the child reached college). Less than 100,000 units ultimately sold. The Adam was discontinued in 1985, fewer than two years after its introduction.

[edit] Legacy

A company called Telegames bought the rights and remaining stock of Adam, to sell via mail-order. It continued some game developed and sold a greatly redesigned product called the Personal Arcade until a tornado wiped out their inventory.^[1]

Adam weakened Coleco by absorbing much of the money it had made from Cabbage Patch Kids; the company filed for bankruptcy in 1988.

Like many computers of its era, Adam retained a cult following for years after its departure. A dedicated group of Adam enthusiasts gather every year at the annual Adamcon. The 19th annual gathering will be held in Ottawa, Canada in the summer of 2007.

[edit] Specifications

Memory console bottom view.

Coleco ADAM, in word processing mode.

Coleco ADAM, in word processing mode, closer view.

CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 3.58 MHz
Support processors: three Motorola 6801s @ 1 MHz (memory & I/O, tape, and keyboard control)
Memory: 64 KB RAM, 16 KB video RAM; 32 KB ROM
Expansion: 3 internal slots, 1 cartridge slot, and a 62.5 kbit/s half-duplex serial bus called AdamNet. The stand-alone also has an external expansion port of the same type as the ColecoVision expansion port, on the right hand side.
Secondary storage: Digital Data Pack tape cassette, 256 KB
Graphics: Texas Instruments TMS9928A (a close relative of the TMS9918 in the TI-99/4A)
- 256 × 192 resolution
- 32 sprites
Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489AN
- 3 voices
- white noise