This mini forum is intended to provide a simple means of discussion about the Coleco  ADAM computer. If you want to share your own experience or memories, or add relevant information about this system: post a message!

Most hyped home computer ever, oh my. The folks who brought you the Cabbage Patch Kids were now bringing you... a useful home computer system! One big box held everything. The big selling point was that it came with a printer -- and the whole shebang would cost $600 -- this at a time when printers alone were more expensive than that. Much more. Especially daisy wheel "full letter quality" printers. Yike.
Okay. Well, the price changed to $700 by the time it was released... and the complaints rolled in. The first complaint was that the printer was of low quality and not durable. After a little while, it would start printing letters on a slant. Wow. So, you had to send the printer in for a repair... and in the meantime, you couldn't use your computer system because the power supply was in the printer! Sucked! Also, the system box would give off a nice big magnetic pulse when it was powered up, so if you happened to have your BASIC tape in the drive or sitting on top of the console, it might get corrupted. Sucked! Oh well. There were a few games that came out for the Adam, and you could buy blank tapes too, and it'd play colecovision cartridges. Eventually a disk drive was introduced... but by then it was too late. The home computer format war had split into Commodore 64 / Apple IIe / Atari 800XL. Your local retailer wasn't interested in giving over shelf space to anything else (well, until the Atari ST and Amiga 1000 arrived, and plenty of retailers ignored those two).

Hello, All!

I''ve just released the free ColEm 5.1 for Windows and Linux, with the source code for those interested in porting ColEm to other platforms:

http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ $ homepage
http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm51-Windows-bin.zip $ free Windows version
http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm51-Ubuntu-x86-bin.tgz $ free Linux version
http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm51-Source.zip $ portable source code

This release adds configurable global color palette (via ColEm.pal file) and fixes state saving, loading, and rewind for Adam software. I have also added support for more Adam-specific keys. Please note that since Coleco Adam emulation is very new, it may have bugs. If you encounter any problems, or any Adam software that does not run, please, report it here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/$!forum/emul8

ALL CHANGES:
* Added Coleco Adam state saving, loading, and rewinding.
* Added support for more Coleco Adam keys (see documentation).
* Disabled loading disks or tapes with no Adam firmware ROMs.
* Added support for default palette file named ColEm.pal.
* Now able to supply .PAL filename to -palette parameter.
* Changing palette in Windows no longer resets emulation.

Enjoy!

I''ve just released the free ColEm 5.0 for Windows and Linux, with the source code for those interested in porting ColEm to other platforms:

http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ $ homepage
http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm50-Windows-bin.zip $ free Windows version
http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm50-Ubuntu-x86-bin.tgz $ free Linux version
http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm50-Source.zip $ portable source code

This release adds the complete Coleco Adam emulation, including keyboard, printer, disk, and tape drives. Both .DSK and .DDP file types are now supported. There are multiple new menu and command line options for working with printers, disks, and tapes. Please note that since Coleco Adam emulation is very new, it may have bugs. If you encounter any problems, or any Adam software that does not run, please, report it here.

Recent ColEm releases also added support for 2kB SRAM found in the Lord Of The Dungeon game, Super Game Module (SGM) emulation, AY8910 PSG, 24c08 and 24c256 EEPROM emulation, and other modern features important to the homebrew community. See below for all the changes in the latest release.


ALL CHANGES:
* Coleco Adam emulation is now operational, with keyboard, printer, disk, and tape drives. Use -adam command line or "Hardware $ Adam" menu to enable. Requires EOS.ROM and WRITER.ROM files.
* Emulator will load .DSK files into disk drive A: and enable Adam mode.
* Emulator will load .DDP files into tape drive A: and enable Adam mode.
* Printer output can be sent to a file with -printer option.
* Adam disk drives can also be loaded with -disk* options.
* Adam tape drives can also be loaded with -tape* options.
* Windows version has got full support for Adam-specific media images and hardware.
* Added "File $ Save Printer Output" menu to ColEm-Windows.
* Added "Hardware $ Disk Drives" menu to ColEm-Windows.
* Added "Hardware $ Tape Drives" menu to ColEm-Windows.

Enjoy!

Visit our store for coloeco adam software and hardware. We sell refurbished systems too!

Please visit the new Coleco Adam Google Group. The URL is: https://groups.google.com/forum/$!forum/coleco-adam

I was married to my 1st wife when her parents bought us one of these for Christmas our 1st year of marriage. I comtained the Z80 processor that was in my 1st computer that I built while living in England. Back then the Sinclair ZX81 was a kit you could buy in basement computer shops around Norwhich England, I bet I spent 1000.00 US building and adding on to it..anyway the Adam was our 3 rd PC in 1983 and helped paved the way to the home PCs, 8086,80888,286,386,286,586 up to todays multi processor systems I now have. It also helped to launch my career in IT which I hope to retire from in a few years.

I was an original ADAM owner way back when and although I jumped in and out several times, I still have an ADAM setup right next to my PC. Please check out my web page at www.sacnews.net/adamcomputer. There is a section there with PDFs of old ADAM Newsletters, including a complete set of NIAD Newsletters. The site itself contains HTML copies of an old ADAM Newsletter called Expandable Computer News.

Still have all my Adam stuff and it works great.

I was a hardcore 8-9 year old doing some fairly legit programming on the old Apple II in the early 80s.....

I vividly remember my parents getting one of these Adam things to score the free $500 scholarship before my bro went off to college. I don''t think we ever got Buck Rodgers to work and the whole computer was just an amazing piece of garbage. I remember sitting with my Dad trying to get the tape drive to work for hours and hours....

Good memories....

I still have mine. Haven''t used it in ages. When I upgraded to a PC, it just got packed away and forgotten about. It was a great machine. I found it the other day while cleaning out my garage. Still trying to find the Buck Rogers tape though. Never did figure out how to play the game, but used the system for my small business. Served a great purpose for a long time. Now, I think it''s time to part ways.

I bought the second generation of the Coleco Adam in 1984 at Sears for $800. It came with a printer, cpu, single tape drive, the Colecovision game module, two game controllers, 1 program tape, Basic, two blank tapes for storing data, one game tape, Buck Rogers - Planet of Zoom, and one Colecovision Game Cartridge, Donkey Kong!!. I also added a second tape drive which made storing data much easier, and added a memory module which maxed out the memory to 80kb with the Colecovision plugged in too. The built-in word processor was pretty basic, but It worked well and was useful for my needs at the time. Typing papers. I had to send it away one time for repair only, otherwise it worked great the entire time I had it. I used that machine from 1984 when I bought it until 1992, when I bought my first PC. I sold the entire package for $55.00. I wish I still had it.

I don't know a lot about the specs and the tech stuff but i had one of these when i was a kid and it was old then, i loved it i had tons of game for probaly at least 60, had some cave man games and trolls, it took sega cartridges, and i rember buck rogers on the cassete tapes , and the newest thing we had for it was the big 5" somthing floopy. the graphics seemed way ahead of there time on par with a 286 atleast and the sound was quite good, coming from some one who had a 386 with just the pc speaker 16 colour!

I owned the coleco Adam computer and I remember that it came with a game called Buck Rogers on the data pack format. The tape would spin back and forth and take an extremely long time to load but the game had features that the regular colecovision version did not have. I did a lot with the included basic language and even tried to "port" some crude games over to it with minimal success.

Thank you so much Oliver. I will give that a try.
Katy

The Adam is compatible with the Colecovision console. War Games was in fact a Colecovision game. You can play it on your PC by downloading and installing one of the Colecovision emulators available (http://www.zophar.net/coleco.html) and then downloadinf War Games cartridge (http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary's/Emulation/Coleco/Roms/coleco_games_summary.htm). Enjoy

Does anyone remember the game "War Games" for the Adam? Does anyone know if it is available in a modern format?
Owned one in 84 or 85 but can't remember how much. Maybe $200. It was new, so not sure if the price is right. Wrote my first book using the Adam. Lost it all in a fire.

the power supply for these was in the *printer* so if that's gone your sol

some people would accedently leave their boot-up tapes on the consle, and the machine created a magnetic field that would erase the tapes. the company did not manufacture parts outside of the consule: so if this happened, you would be stuck

By any chance, can someone tell me the specifications of the Disk Drive PSU please ?

Thanks a lot !

My expansion module #3 doesn't seem to work : everything is plugged, but I turn the Adam on, nothing but a blank screen. Nothing else ;-(

Can anyone help or give me a piece of advice in order to solve the problem ?
Thanks.

I remember buying mine at Canadian Tire for $1000

I bought a used ADAM at a local second hand store, for approx $50 CND. It (the ADAM) was sold to me (Adam Moreau) from the salesperson (Adam S.) when we noitced the connection between names. It worked fine, and I still use it to play games, and for SmartBASIC, of course!

Check eBay ... they usually have the best selection! Most of the "dealers" that still sell Adam computers and accessories are ridiculously overpriced. If you don't see what you like, wait a week, more will come ...

How do I get one/another one.
I had one back in 1986.

Thank you,
Paige

Why use Perl when you have SmartBASIC?