Talk:Coleco Adam

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Hi, big coleco fan here. I adjusted the article slightly:

Another odd quirk about the printer is that it operated like a type writer. The user would type a key, and it would appear on the paper.

That's because you are in the electronic typewriter program. Pushing Escape/WP takes you to the word processor, which functions a lot like a modern word processor. I mentioned the typewriter in the article.

And in the specs, the external expansion port on the side of the stand alone version was not mentioned. I'm not complenely positive it wasn't on the expansion though, as I've never owned one. (The inside of a standalone has a modified colecovision circuit board, with the expansion slot, which is connected to the ADAM circuit board with a ribbon cable, which has the external port on it. And I really don't know how they got away with that...)


And, I didn't think it was neccessary to put in the article, but, I'd like to mention that the tape erasure issue also exists on some floppy drives of that era. Stray write signals from the heads will happen when they are powered up, but there is no mechanism to keep them away from the tape/disk to prevent this. (As with modern drives). Some of the tape drives in existance parked the tape over the leader when done, but this is not possible on the coleco. There still is that magnetic surge of course.

I'll probably continue improving this article. I also have a nice permanently connected and properly placed (on a bookshelf) ADAM in my room, should I post pictures of it? I see the picture on the article is the expansion module, and is not hooked up!

Phroziac 20:58, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If it's a good picture, why not? More information about the item is better! rewinn 03:48, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
The photo of the bottom of the memory console adds no useful information. I think it should be deleted, but I didn't do so since I don't want to take away from the article without adding to it, but I think that photo is a waste of bandwidth on the page. The other photos are great additions. Dkraemer1 (talk) 20:40, 27 January 2008 (UTC)
About the tape/leader issue. IIRC, a "selling point" of the Digital Data Packs was supposed to be that their neutral position was in the center of the tape, with half of the tape on either side, instead of at one end of the tape. The idea was that it'd cut average access time in half, or something. It's one of those great ideas that didn't necessarily work; perhaps part of the problem was the stray erasure problem you mention? Also, the DDPs looked just enough like standard tape cassettes to invite price comparison, but were much more expensive. That only increased the annoyance when things didn't work, and was probably a bad marketing/design decision (one of many for Adam). I had a lot of fun with mine but hoo boy! did it tank in the marketplace! rewinn 23:11, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Early Adam computers had numerous QC problems: tape drives snapping tapes, printer power supplies overheating, etc. Many early adapters returned theirs to the store. Does anyone have a ADAM today? Is it stable? :( Pelladon 23:49, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

I have an ADAM somewhere, did a motherboard swap with the ColecoVision Expansion Module 3 which I found at a liquidation shop many many years ago. Printer stopped printing but still passes power. Added 2nd DDP drive. Never got my hands on a disc drive. Lexor1969 (talk) 20:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

The Digital Datapack (DDP) had two format modes, one where the directory was stored in the middle of the tape, which worked quite well for "random access" simulation, and one where the tapes loaded from the beginning, useful for games. Also, I just added details about the DDP drive return problems. I personally caused a damaged drive by ejecting a moving tape and I suspect most of the returns were caused by users. Lexor1969 (talk) 20:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Video processor

The TI-99/4A used the TMS9918A, not the TMS9918. There are significant differences between them. The TMS9918 was used in the TI-99/4 Home Computer. Since the A version is covered on the Texas_Instruments_TMS9918 page, the link could be fixed simply by removing the A in TI-99/4A. Or the link could be altered to add the A to the chip name.

[edit] Donkey Kong for ADAM

As currently written, the article suggests that Coleco scrapped its port of Donkey Kong from the ColecoVision as a result of the CES flap. Yet, there certainly was a version of Donkey Kong released solely for the ADAM on DDP cassette. Something doesn't seem terribly right about this apocryphal account, what are its sources? D.brodale 03:22, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Steve Kent's Ultimate History of Video Games goes in to good detail about it, as does David Scheff's well referenced Nintendo history book Game Over. The account is indeed accurate for what happened at that '83 Summer CES and the game was initially scrapped because Atari Inc. had the sole home computer rights. The Donkey Kong Super Game datapack was a later release after Atari Inc. ceased to exist in the Summer of '84 (and its properties transfered to Atari Corp.), freeing up the obligation by Nintendo. --Marty Goldberg 03:54, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
A greater level of detail ought to be applied to the article, then. The current writing leaves the port "on the floor" so to speak, with an open suggestion that it never saw public release. It also wouldn't hurt to insert above-mentioned references to support the whole. D.brodale 04:09, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I just removed "and it was eventually scrapped". I own a copy of Super Donkey Kong for the ADAM. Lexor1969 (talk) 20:33, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Coleco Scholarships

Did Coleco ever honor the $500 scholarships it offered to Adam customers?Sfa2000 (talk) 16:43, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ColecoVision Cartridge Backups Using CP/M

It turns out that ADAM's CP/M was pretty much useless, except where hackers are concerned. A Coleco-hired consultant (by the name of Steve Munnings if I recall) programmed a ColecoVision cartridge copier in CP/M. Plug in the cartridge, turn on the system, boot CP/M, and you could copy most cartridges to datapack or disc drive (if you were lucky enough to have one). You could then run the games without the cartridge from CP/M. Since CP/M was an 80-column operating system, the 36-column ADAM (its 40-column capable graphics chip was limited to 36 columns for overscanning televisions) made CP/M a nightmare to use with actual CP/M apps.

This ColecoVision "warez" scene was the only thing that gave ADAM owning kids any legitimacy with their Commodore 64 game-trading friends. Lexor1969 (talk) 20:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)