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LoTonah

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Posts posted by LoTonah

  2. Posted

    I'm not sure if its fair to compare an 8-bit computer keyboard to a Model M., so I'd prefer to categorize.

    On the 8-bit machines, I think my favorite keyboard is the Coleco ADAM.  Worst is the Sinclair ZX80.

    On the 16-bit machines (not counting the obvious Model M), I actually liked the Amiga 500 keyboard, and the Apple //GS keyboard was nice.  I liked the feel of the original Mac keyboard, but I'm particular about having cursor control keys so the Mac was a no-go for me.  Sorry, Mr. Jobs, that was a dumb design decision.  Worst of the 16-bit machines for me was the Sinclair QL.  I thought I wanted one for the longest time, then I got to actually touch it...

  4. Posted

    12 hours ago, Geoff Oltmans said:

    Not yet. I ran into issues with the Windows compiler and got sidetracked on other more interesting stuff at the time. Santa brought me a new Windows 10 laptop though, so I'm raring to give it another go. Finally, 2020 may be the first "official" release. ;)

     

     

    It didn't bug me much at the time that it was Mac only, but when I finally took the rose-colored glasses off and saw what shite Mojave was, I am now 80% back in Windows land (still have one laptop and one iMac at the shop).  I look forward to you getting the bugs worked out  :)

  5. Posted

    10 hours ago, Pixelboy said:

    Looking back, I think Coleco did just about everything wrong where the ADAM was concerned. The Digital Data Packs were nice but too proprietary and stressful to use, the daisy-wheel printer was outdated right out of the box, the floppy drive was expensive, Coleco's software offerings (aside from games) was rather poor and uninteresting... You could tell Coleco got in over their heads from the start with the ADAM. They didn't have the developer framework in place to support it, and the ADAM "community" formed despite Coleco's lack of effort to promote the ADAM with proper technical documentation, compilers and other development tools (although to be fair, I was too young at the time to program in anything but SmartBASIC anyway, but I would have liked extra documentation on SmartBASIC to code more advanced programs).

     

    In my humble opinion, they should have just gone with a simpler and cheaper computer expansion module: Something smaller, shaped like the original Super Game Module, with some ports for a keyboard, an optional stand-alone printer and a DDP drive (sold separately, so also optional but recommended as the minimum peripheral for getting the most out of the computer module) or floppy drive. Software like BASIC, Logo, etc. would have been on cartridge, DDP or floppy. RAM should have been limited to 64K with no possibility for memory expansion, because at the time, the need for more memory wasn't all that necessary for those kinds of early "family computers". A computer expansion like that would have had a better chance of surviving the video game crash of '84.

     

    I know from talking to ex-salesmen that more than a few ADAMs were sold because they were positioned as cheap word processors (that could also do that other weird stuff, like games and programming).  People paid more for IBM Selectrics and this gave them something with more power, so for Coleco the printer was non-negotiable. 

     

    I have made my share of jokes about the printer over the years, but really my only real beef with it was you couldn't easily swap it out for a different printer--even if you did upgrade to a dot matrix printer, you still had to keep the old printer around.

     

    I agree about the tapes, bad choice but the timing wasn't right for floppies--another year, the price of drives came down a lot.  Would our families have shelled out another $100-200 for a 5.25" drive instead of the DDP?  The timing/price problem also extends to the printer as well.  I also wonder if 64K would have worked better, but I still believe that having expansion possibilities beats having none.

     

    Would it have been better to not put in all those 6801 co-processors and just use some LSI tech, and base everything around a more simple serial bus (instead of ADAMnet)?  Would it have been better to make it more like the MSX machines?

     

    Ultimately, all these quirks made the ADAM the ADAM.  Would we still be talking much about a computer that was anything else?  I think some of us stuck with it all these years because we liked being the underdog, and that's not so bad.

  6. Posted

    I wonder if it would actually sell to people who never owned an Atari computer, always wanted to, but had all their money invested in something else like C64 or Apple or whatever.  I know a few people who never owned a C64 but bought the Mini console.

     

    I didn't note which YouTube "review" I saw of the new full-sized unit, it was by one of the developers.  It wasn't objective, but it sure showed off how to deal with some of the perceived issues.  And the last third of the video showed that you could use it for development, even though you can't use an Action Replay cart on it.

     

    Also, of course these aren't as good as the real deal.  Didn't say they would be.  Makes me laugh how angry some of you are about it.  Purists gotta hate, I guess! 

  7. Posted

    I've never used that, but I used HiSoft Pro BASIC pretty extensively back in the day.  I seem to remember they're related.

     

    I used it because it was Microsoft QBASIC compatible.  Trying to get any Atari VDI stuff working gave me migraines and I never got the hang of WERCS (I may be remembering the name wrong) which was their resource construction kit.  But that was just for fun, my main thing was writing programs that could work on Atari and the PC.  My Atari programs looked just as ugly as a standard text-based MS-DOS programs, though... but they worked great.

  8. Posted

    I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with the full-size one (I only have the C64 Mini, but I've been seeing a lot of review videos).  I know that the Atari scene is a bit smaller, but I'd totally buy an Atari version if it ever came out.  I don't really care about having the ability to connect tape drives or disk drives, just give me a couple USB ports and an HDMI out with a proper Atari keyboard.  Or even just make a USB Atari keyboard and a small replica case to put a Raspberry Pi into and I'm probably sold!

     

    I have almost every North American Atari model, but time is marching on and I guess I could just use an emulator and put stickers on my keyboard, but there's something so much cooler about having stand-alone hardware.

     

    So, anyone doing anything like this?

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    15 minutes ago, carlsson said:

    A CPU is a CPU is a CPU. Your secondary question about which software to use though is more relevant. For learning purposes, do you want something like a tutorial package or just a very good assembler that you can grow with? On the C64 side, things like Turbo Assembler has been popular for many years, but I'm sure equal software exists for most of the other systems too.

     

    The BBC Micro is one of few systems that allow inline assembly code in BASIC, so you can type it in with line numbers and everything. Not sure if that makes it more suitable though. Even if you intend to use real hardware in the end, you could consider shopping around for emulators to get a feel about each system and available software before spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on items you really didn't want.

     

    Also since your signature is in the shape of a Fuji symbol, I would suppose A8 computers go into your mix of possible targets.

    I agree that the BBC Micro would be a great choice, except the original poster is in California so he'd have to deal with both voltage and television standards issues.  For a brief moment in time a North American version of the BBC was produced but I think it would be extremely hard to find now, there were so few sold back in the day!

     

    I guess it would depend on what the original poster would want to do in the long run.  If it is game programming, the Apple is pretty tough to deal with--the graphics are weird (non-congruent graphical memory), the sound is primitive and dealing with joysticks is a pain.  The VIC-20 with memory expansion is a better environment overall (dead-simple graphics, joystick controls, sound), but typing for a long time with that screen font is a pain (I love 80 columns).  So that leaves what?  Maybe the C128 would be the best bet.  Or an Atari (or C64) with a 80-column adapter.

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    On 11/18/2019 at 5:05 PM, doubledown said:

    If you want the right stick version, than you want this one:

     

    Mouse Trap Edition - VVG Experience Controller

    Rvu95o.png

     

    This new, Mouse Trap Edition - VVG Joystick Controller is smaller, less expensive, and compatible with most ColecoVision games, versus the purpose-built limited game compatible Experience Controller.

    If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the player one/two buttons from?  Been looking (half-assed, to be sure) for awhile but never knew what they were called.

  15. Posted

    I really liked the Amico's approach to handicapping gamers.  Since all the games are multiplayer, how do you keep it fun for the noobs?  Give them extra health, bigger paddles, etc.  Also their approach to multiplayer is pretty interesting: on games like Moon Patrol, say player one is the tank at the bottom, while players two thru four are the space ships dropping the bombs.  And when player one dies, player two becomes the tank and player one becomes a space ship, and so on.

     

    Tommy has said that he wants people to start playing together, most of the games are designed like that.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    Not to derail, but weird... that is not the Front Line control panel I used back in the day!  The one at my local pool hall had a joystick that you could also twist to aim, and there was a separate fire button.  Kinda like this:

     

    image.png.ccaad24b34ff63e43dc9513e6459bfcf.png

     

  17. Posted

    I *love* the idea of a secret game, it is a great way to drum up extra money.

     

    What I don't love is exclusive games.  I *hate* limited run games (like when there's only 10 of something ever made, no more after that).

     

    I'd like to see something like this: Secret game for 6 months.  Sell it to the rest of us after that.  After another year, release the ROM.  But yeah, its yours to do what you want with, that's just what I'd like to see.

     

    The suspense is killing me though.  How long until we can know what it is?  LOL

  18. Posted

    I'm really hoping that my inheritance money comes through before you sell out.  It was my Mom who decided that I was getting an Adam for Christmas instead of some other brand, so in a way it's fitting that I spend part of the money from her estate on this.  Of course I would want the Adam version.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    I sold a few of the Radio Shack version back in the day.  The reason it seems low-tech was... because it was.  Portables were either still bulky beasts with decent power/storage but the size of a lunchbox, or smaller like this, no hard drives and slower.  This was one of the first I'd seen with a battery, for instance.  It had Deskview in ROM to make life with a floppy easier and to stretch out the battery life.  Also, I believe low-powered portable CPU's were still a few years away.  So all things considered, it really wasn't so bad.

  20. Posted

    Tommy, that podcast interview was incredible and really sold me on it. I was previously pretty blah about the whole thing, saw the latest commercial, got a bit more excited, heard the podcast and now I don't just want one, I want the SDK now!  Four player Moon Patrol where the other players who are waiting their turn to be the buggy control the aliens instead?  Genius!  But I think that the one thing that sets you apart and needs to be emphasized in the advertising is the handicapping system.  Holy crap what an ace-in-the-hole.  No wonder that Candace was crying...being able to play with your family like that is more powerful than I previously imagined and I can't wait to try it with my own family.  PS not kidding about the SDK...how can I get it?

    • Like 3
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