adamcon

6:54pm today sent to robbalvey@themeparkreview.com ............................from adamcomputer@live.com check your junk folder maybe.........................

Snowbird, that has nice ring after what happened a thome yesterday! And we complained about 69*...........tsk, tsk. YES, the ADAM News Network is alive and well even as I sit in warm FL. I replied to you already via regular email about ordering the cf package.

I also have it backed up.

Geoff, I have 2 that take a warm up time also, and 1 that only wnats to work cold - once it warms up it gets flaky. May be caps or if I remember correctly, Dan Elliott adjusted something; possibly the tiny adjustable caps ont he way to the drive mech (??????)

NICE "collection" you picked up. Pic #1 is an MIB2 for MIcroInnovations paired with an Orphanwre memory expander which appears to be a handwired upgraded 256k to possibly a 512k. Pic #2 are 2 Coleco 160k disk drives which have been upgraded to double sided 320 disk drives; the reason they look different on the locking mechanism is that both drive mechs are from different manufacturers - they both work the same as the original 160k drive mechanisms. Pic # 3 does look like a parallel interface for a printer, and it is for the ADAM from Tek Research, although the cable seems to be in the wrong place. THAT may be a treasure in itself.

I totally agree with you on the looks of the unit, BUT if JF says he has the software to make it work, it is true! If JF says so, I believe; his reputation preceeds him.

That's a BUMMER. First thing to do is to find a 5 1/4" cleaner disk along with a little denatured alcohol to pur on it. IF they worked before, they are probably dirty and need that cleaning. NEVER throw out a data drive or disk drive, they may be fixable in the future.

Welcome to the club juicy!! Remember the customer is always right, even when it is operator error. I have zipped my lip more than a few times and ate shipping to check product and reship when there was nothing wrong, or the user screwed it up; and babysat customers by walking them thru cleaning ports, etc to make sure the new parts work with the old hardware. The CV and the ADAM are, after all, 30+ years old. If they were new, things would work as built, but............................................hang in there and don't take it personal. The bad feedback can be reversed when the buyer is happy with a refund or new part.

Luc, you are one AWESOME dude! As well as a great ColecoVision and ADAM promoter. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!

Yes.....problem being; the program will put .dsk files back into ADAM format, but onto an ADAM formatted disk which then could be transferred to data pack using the ADAM. But without an ibm 5.25" disk drive and an ADAM 5.25" disk drive, this is not possible.

As CP/M was a universal version of CP/M which many computers in that era used, it is an operating system all it's own. The only things it shares in common with the ADAM system is that the Coleco version implemented the SmartKey system and it's related commands to get a directory, save files, and use internal utilities. Even better than CP/M is TDOS (Tony Morehan's CP/M replacement for the ADAM. TDOS has more commands and larger work areas than the original Coleco CP/M.

You got it figured out! The only proprietary part of the modem was the fancy little plug in Coleco had to go between the slots of the cover.

Specifically http://ann.hollowdreams.com/colfacts.htmlwhich is SmartKey II below the platen of the SmartWriter typewriter

Specifically http://ann.hollowdreams.com/colfacts.htmlwhich is SmartKey II below the platen of the SmartWriter typewriter

My very well be "dirty". As you use data packs, they "shed" magnetic particles and must be cleaned. Denatured alcohol and a clean cloth do the trick. Put the cloth around your finger, dip it in the alcohol and then rub the read/write head clean, being careful to not get it on the rubber wheel to the right. Might not hurt the wheel, but why take the chance. Let the rea'write head dry and then try it again.

You assume correctly. You could either solder the wires at the board level OR cut the wires and solder the new motor wire onto the original wire and tape; both ways work. I have many motors in bad drives, but no guarantees on quality or previous hours of use. They can be tested, but still no guarantee.

It is a fairly easy fix. You said you took the drive apart and looked at the timing wheel and encoder. This is easier; carefully take the door off (some have screws & a block; others simply pul lthe wings and take off) then take out the 3 tiny screws holding the motor on.; next take the drive apart to the point of seeing the motors and the wiring from them to the circuit boards; the motors will be loose at this time. Replace the old motor(s) with a different motor and put back together. The squeal won't hurt anything except your ears, it is probably just the motor shaft spinning in the brass bushing bearing of the motor. You could take the easy way out and gingerly put a drop of "3 in1" oil on the motor shaft - only 1 motor at a time and test to see if the problem goes away; or at least isolates the noisy motor.

It can be either the data pack or the motor. Usually I have found it is the data pack, especially if the data pack is homemade or aftermarket - not Loran. The motor, on the other hand, is easy to replace and they are plentiful from non operating data drives.

Me NO squirrel ...................... but I got lots of stuff. Hopefully, it is attached here is a 2 disk set I found. ADAMemulator .dsk format SNOWMAN2.DSK SNOWMAN1.DSK

I think most will find the game fun and will get some replay value out of it with the 3 levels of difficulty. For me I really like trying to come up with the gameplay from scratch. The more I do the better I get at it. I'll wait til everyone has received it and see how they feel about it. Feel free to leave any feedback or not. I don't think I left any amount of feedback for anyone else's game. Some I really liked some not so much so but often it's the game type wasn't my type of game rather than the execution. It's defiantly homemade and I'm not sure if I'll make anymore but I liked making this project so probably. I don't want to be the Ed Wood of colecovision games either though. I got it and i think it is a great game. Haven't gotten too far into it yet; but a list of cheats is always a good thing to have!!!

I sold mine for $300 buy it now, maybe could have gotten more??? don't know. BUT, no box, instructions, or tracing samples

Pretty much correct Rey; and some ADAM's are different for some reason or other. When ADAM turns on, he looks to see what is hooked up (disk drives, data drives) and IF he sees a disk drive plugged into ADAMnet, ADAM expects it to be working. Turned off = not working; plain and simple, therefore ADAM freezes. This is all due to what steps ADAM goes thru before booting SmartWriter. All of this can be eliminated by using a power strip to plug in ADAM & it's peripherals. I always stress this when selling ADAM merchandise; all these problems get solved very easily. ADAM looks first to any cards inside the cpu, then disk drives, then data drives, then onto th side port, etc; until every port or ADAMnet device is accounted for.

The problem here is that there is NO extra space for the heat to get out. With a heat buildup, it will fail; sooner than later. At the very least there should be a fan to take the heat out, and the case should have more space to disapate that heat. I also have ps like that one except that it has more space around it.

AWESOME Gerry !!!!!!!!!!!!1

Goto ann.hollowdreams.com; click on the platen roller link which says ColecoVision Programming. Then download the file Coleco ADAM Hardware Schematics and unzip it with 7zip.com. Should have the schematics within if I recall. the Module 3 is a duplicate of the standalone ADAM bottom board, so is almost identical.