Mike Harris

Just curious when is the time frame for implementing the other cores? It seems to be released not to far in the future and after watching the first look video on youtube the only thing it does is play Colecovision games. The other concern I have is that you can't even play it from day 1 unless you already have a controller of some sort. I guess I never paid attention but are you guys saying for $200 it doesn't even come with a single controller? I would suspect that at release time, and for a new system, that it does more than just play Colecovision games and that it is better than what is currently on the market for 1/3rd the cost or free. Don't get me wrong, I really want one of these but that's a lot of cabbage for something that if you want to relive your childhood you can already do that on an original equipment.

Someone say BBS! Anybody remember the Night Owl or John Gault Line from the 80's??? Coleco ADAM at 300 baud. Good Times

I recapped one ADAM and the other one I just can't figure out. I have the first working just fine but when I went to repair my second ADAM I encountered an anomaly. Of course I checked the power supply and all lines are correct. 12v 5v and -5v...Ground... Well, after changing a burned out tant cap the voltage on that line stabilized to +5 which it should however.. The trace feeding L4 and all the circuits on that line shows 24v which leads me to believe that 2 12v lines are being combined if such a thing is possible. I mean, it's only being fed 12v into the system so how can there be 24v unless the power is being double by something. Capacitor filled to 24v then dumping the power somewhere? If someone has suggestion then I can give a more accurate detail of my testing but that is the major points. All the main chips seem to be fine and are all being fed only 5 volts. The 12v is only used for the digital data drive motors so the circuit is isolated to my knowledge. Either way, I can't get it to boot up until I stabilize that back down to 12v

Where did you get such a clear picture of the pattern, background and colors? I can look online all day and can't find this stuff or any information about moving 8 pixels at a time. You have the source to study as well? I am curious about the logic.

I was playing Blasto the other day and I noticed that the tank is not a smooth ride. So I am really curious if the Tank is just a set of tiles that jumps from area to area or is that just how the sprite is programmed to move. I really like the game and I was interested on the inside scoop. I've seen similar things in many TI99 Games. A programing technique? Limitations of the TI99? A signature of the programmer?

I don't suppose you could create a simple interface that you type in a series of notes from some sheet music or a simple tune then it outputs compileable assembly code... Just checking. Music and Sound effects seem to be the hardest part of Coleco programing.

His tool just plays a sound list and does not rip or do anything while your tool actually gives a notes and duration list ect... Anyway....It was a thought that would be extremely helpful to myself and the programing community at large and I have yet to find a post of where he released his ripper in DOS from a long time ago.

newcoleco https://atariage.com/forums/profile/3651-newcoleco/ seems to be the authority on Coleco Sound. This is the last hurdle before I start cleaning up the game I am working on and future ones. I get the concept but still have a few issues. Maybe you can decipher more than I can.

What would be really awesome if this was modified to output Assembly language to other formats such as Coleco. It would be awesome to rip sound effects and/or music from established games which would cut down programing time for those of us that can't hum a digital tune.

Just curious as to why when it's running the TI Splash screen pops up. I an thinking now that this is not original code after all. Hey, if you can get it to run just by altering a few things then why reinvent the wheel. I do want the ADAM Colored Collectorvision but am going to wait until it's been released for a couple months after they get any kinks out that might show up.

Every game that was on the TI994A should be on the Colecovision being as they has the same graphics chip. I am working on Blasto as of this entry. I suspect the only reason why TI games have not been ported is because they are not MSX games and it takes effort to reprogram the code to a Z80 CPU. You need to rewrite the routines and the most you can really use from the TI994A would be pattern and color data where as MSX is pretty much add a Super Game Module and there you go. (simplified but you get the idea) My Adventure clone, which is almost done, had to be completely rewritten from the Atari 2600 due to so many differences that I could go on for another thousand words. TI games...Not so hard.

No one has seem to notice that I have already deleted my blog entries. I don't find programing hard or a challenge more than I do to get information pertaining to a bios function. My issue is that in this day and age I have one person looking at my stuff and that one person was the only one to comment. One time. When you spend a solid weekend coding 800 lines of assembly code just for everyone to ignore your work then it sends a clear message. So now I'm just going to work on my games at my pace and on my time. Trust me when I say there is no one waiting in earnest for the Coleco version of Adventure. I have zero animosity towards anyone and I enjoy the people around here but the Colecovision no longer attracts fans I guess. Either way, that "On Fire" attitude I had in the beginning has just died out and at age 53 I have a ton of other things to do other than program a game no one has interest in.

Trust me when I say I have looked, I have asked, I have prodded, I have knocked... You don't need such a complicated power supply. The only reason why you would try that large PC power supply is if you can't spring for the $20 or so dollars for whichever link you follow. Nothing implied, just you want to use what you have handy. The one that I ended up with is just the right size to go inside the ADAM Well and not block any of the expansion ports. A switch, a plug for the wall and a few pieces of wire. Of course minimal soldering skills and whatever to make it look fancy even a power LED. So far it has been a solid device and just works. Why complicate things more than they have to be.

Ripoff in the fact that I have seen so much bogus software and then trying to sell it for $200. The idea was to get more information about it. Whoever is selling it has the right to make whatever they want off it. When I can not find it in the public domain anywhere or my collection I just thought it was fake. I read that Walters Software was now legal to share but still have yet to see it. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Either way, the more I research the more I learn about Coleco history. And just found it by a different name...

When you have a game like Diablo then there is no reason why you can't make this. There are similar things I am working on but coming across movable tile patterns is one of those BIOS functions that getting information is hard to come by so it takes longer to develop new routines.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T9RKD2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Solder lines to your power supply plug. Connect to a power line. Works perfectly at least the one I bought. Of course this is a quick and dirty way to write this but that is the basics. As part of a larger guide I am going to put this in my blog along with the disk drive emulator and RECAP. I am not the first one to do any of this so any one of these guide should do. However, I am suggesting that if you change the power supply to something more stable and strong that you might want to RECAP your ADAM for a smoother ride for years to come. I plugged my ADAM in that was never used and it blew a TANT cap which controlled the 12 volt line. Meaning all of these old parts can go at any time.

I keep seeing this and I KNOW it has to be some ripoff but for my education can someone fill in the blanks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Graphics-Design-Cartridge-Project-Name-by-Line-for-the-Coleco-ADAM-computer/113718630113?hash=item1a7a2896e1:g:ZmYAAOSwlsda5nVs

I bought my 1982 Trans-Am because of Knight Rider and when it wasn't broke down it fish tailed when turning corners thanks to being heavy in the front where the engine was and nothing in the back where the ONE drive wheel touched the pavement. I'll still defend ADAM to this day but it was garbage in it's design and about the only cutting edge development would be the ADAMnet aspect of it. If I tried hard enough I am sure that I could connect an Arduino up to it so it could control my entire house. If Coleco didn't bail and continued development on the damn thing they would be running the show today and the competition would be the Amiga.

Seriously, what are the odds Steven Spielberg actually played video games in the 80's. In every one of the movies that they rely on ticket sales to go to some middle aged dude reliving his teenage or childhood years. They throw a ton of crap together, obviously from a thrift store, with no theme to it then put a kid from today that would spit on a console from back then after growing up around an XBox 360. Add Tom Sayer as background music and there you go. Both Pixels and Ready Player One were lame and I have a love hate relationship with the 80's. The best time growing up, would not mind visiting with a time machine but I would not want to settle there. Bally's Alladin Castle at the mall was it but that also came with a lot of broken hearts dating. And that's my rant.

I am STOKED about developing for the ADAM however here is the consideration... The differences between the ADAM and the Colecovision but not what you think. The main is the Disk Drive and the Digital Data Drive while all else is moot unless you create a game or software that uses the keyboard. Sure, a tiny bit of extra memory but the same sound and the same graphics chip. So, you want to make a DDP based game within the 256k world then you are giving or selling to someone with that drive. When you create a nostalgia game for the Commodore 64 the norm was a C64 and disk drive. You create a disk or a tape with all the packaging... For the Coleco ADAM the norm is pretty much Cartridges or DDP. Very little was released on Disk. In any case, bring it on... I'll contribute where I can. Upgrade the CPM to 2.3 Create a new Smart Basic Create a version of Dos that could run old EGA games??? Who knows

This is not to sound negative but the ADAM was a piece of garbage that I loved. I write programs for it the best I can but as far as original hardware they are like the FBody Trans AM GARBAGE and not a classic no matter how you slice it. The only reason why the drives are so high on ebay is because people can sell them for that price buying into the illusion that just because they are from the 80's they are worth it. Maybe last year but not now when there are alternatives. I wanted one just to transfer my old files but you have some unreasonable dude that wants to over price them so I put an old disk drive in my PC and backed up all my disks that way. Now they are all on an SD card along with every other piece of Coleco software I can get my mitts on and it did not cost me $300. If I were a collector then I would buy and set it on a shelf. After my mothers funeral where all her stuff went to good will or the garbage...All I see is my collection going back on ebay for some estate sale, trash or the recycle center. So at the end I decided to use my money for vacations and my family. Get what you can for them and move on.

Being as this is specific and I see no hardware area to post in then I will do it here. Can I safely assume that the Digital Data Drives Hardware is nothing more than a motor control unit and that the independent 1601 CPU that controls with BIOS instruction is mounted on the ADAM logic board? Unlike the Disk Drive which is an all in one device that connects to the ADAM NET. I am finding that the pin outs on the main board for DATA do not connect to the DATA on ADAM NET directly. Technology that makes sense in the 80's, especially when you would have redundant chips and space on the DDDrive. Definitely not for today especially with surface mount.

Can someone update the link or post the latest version. TIA

Found 3.3 somewhere in the forum. Uses Java. Thanks

I went to the TI99 Forum and the link is dead