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Is ADAM's House reliable?


jeremysart

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http://coleco.freeservers.com/proddes.htm#supplies

 

I was thinking about buying a few things for my ADAM, namely ADAMs Desktop, a 5 1/4 drive, maybe one of the hard disks and some software.

 

Has anyone had any dealings with ADAM's House recently, or at all?

I've bought from them twice and they have always delivered what I purchased. Unfortunately I bought a ide controller for the adam and had all kinds of issues, thinking it was me I never contacted them. Then about1-2 years later I found out that all the stock of the ide controllers had a bad chip on them. I figured it was to late to try and contact them, so I guess that would be my fault. I am pretty neutral in my felling for them. I do know that sometime what they list on the site may not be in stock.

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Ecoleco ?

 

From my experience with them... I would say that

 

They sucks, really... I always had bad experience with them...

 

I already ordered sealed games, but they were actually re-sealed (with a RED tape!)

 

They're also hard to contact, if not, impossible! at least when comes Customers Service

 

My two cents :)

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http://coleco.freeservers.com/proddes.htm#supplies

 

I was thinking about buying a few things for my ADAM, namely ADAMs Desktop, a 5 1/4 drive, maybe one of the hard disks and some software.

 

Has anyone had any dealings with ADAM's House recently, or at all?

 

I have only had two dealings with them several years ago for two software purchases and those went ok. What I have heard from others on the forums here and at the different ADAMCon conventions I have attended is:

1. They dont have any floppy drives in stock but if you want to check with them feel free.

2. They dont sell hard drives and the IDE hard drive cards they sell are defective, you will wind up wanting a refund.

3. For a 256K memory expander and the requried addresser card, they want over $100, you may get one less elsewhere.

 

For hard drive alternatives, I am leaning towards else's SD-card solution, a lot less hassle than trying to set up a classic IDE hard drive and good for many different applications.

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http://coleco.freeservers.com/proddes.htm#supplies

 

I was thinking about buying a few things for my ADAM, namely ADAMs Desktop, a 5 1/4 drive, maybe one of the hard disks and some software.

 

Has anyone had any dealings with ADAM's House recently, or at all?

 

I haven't heard too many good reports concerning ADAM's House/eColeco over the last couple of years. This is unfortunate because during the best of times for the ADAM (1986-1992), Terry Fowler did a tremendous job with his mail-order, newsletter and repair business. The only problem I had back then with him was the lack of royalty payments for software I wrote and allowed him to distribute... I've heard the same from other software developers as well. I never persued the issue as I ended up placing all my warez into the Public Domain.

 

Other than that I considered Terry a good friend even though he was competing against us, by us I mean NIAD. I do give him a lot of credit also for making a huge investment in ColecoVision and ADAM hardware and software in the late '80's to insure that parts and supplies would be available for years to come (he bought so much that he also had to have a storage building built to store everything!).

 

As far as a disk drive, you should check with RarityNine as they had one available on eBay for a while that did not receive any bids, it looked to be in immaculate shape. Also, forget about the IDE Interface Card as was mentioned above and wait for the ADAMnet SD drive to be made available. You can see a video of this new drive on Daniel Bienvenu's YouTube page that was taken at the recent ADAMcon.

 

Jim

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  • 2 weeks later...

As far as I know, ADAM's House / EColeco does not have any disk drives or ADAM's Desktop's in stock. At least that's what I was told a few months back. Terry Fowler used to be very dependable, but I don't know if I can recommend him in recent years. My last purchase from him was supposedly an original disk of PrBOOT. It didn't work properly. I contacted the original author Jim Walters in case I was doing something wrong and was told the copy I had purchased was most likely exactly that -- a copy -- because it didn't have a proper serial number on it. I then contacted Terry Fowler and confronted him with this information. His story changed saying the one he had sent me was actually out of a software collection he had purchased (yeah, I thought, I'm sure the person who had it went to the trouble of putting a semi-authentic looking label on it). He then sent me another one...with exactly the same kind of label on it...and it functioned in the exact same manner as the previous one did.

 

Draw your own conclusions...but buyer beware.

 

 

http://coleco.freeservers.com/proddes.htm#supplies

 

I was thinking about buying a few things for my ADAM, namely ADAMs Desktop, a 5 1/4 drive, maybe one of the hard disks and some software.

 

Has anyone had any dealings with ADAM's House recently, or at all?

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I might also add to this that this was the first time I had any problems with EColeco. I think the well is drying up for Terry and he just doesn't care much anymore. I did eventually get a working copy of PrBOOT, but it wasn't from him.

 

As far as I know, ADAM's House / EColeco does not have any disk drives or ADAM's Desktop's in stock. At least that's what I was told a few months back. Terry Fowler used to be very dependable, but I don't know if I can recommend him in recent years. My last purchase from him was supposedly an original disk of PrBOOT. It didn't work properly. I contacted the original author Jim Walters in case I was doing something wrong and was told the copy I had purchased was most likely exactly that -- a copy -- because it didn't have a proper serial number on it. I then contacted Terry Fowler and confronted him with this information. His story changed saying the one he had sent me was actually out of a software collection he had purchased (yeah, I thought, I'm sure the person who had it went to the trouble of putting a semi-authentic looking label on it). He then sent me another one...with exactly the same kind of label on it...and it functioned in the exact same manner as the previous one did.

 

Draw your own conclusions...but buyer beware.

 

 

http://coleco.freeservers.com/proddes.htm#supplies

 

I was thinking about buying a few things for my ADAM, namely ADAMs Desktop, a 5 1/4 drive, maybe one of the hard disks and some software.

 

Has anyone had any dealings with ADAM's House recently, or at all?

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You would be WISE to follow Joe's advice Jeremy. While I also had many delaings with Terry of ADAM'S House over the years, of late I cannot and will not recommend him. ALL his products are "AS IS" as I found out when I purchased the last ide cards he had - they did not work and he did take them back begrudgingly. He has no disk drives, he is raising the prices of the things he has dramatically, any merchandise is most likely copied and/or not complete, he is trying to stiff buyers with non working hardware cards. My advice, STAY away as far as possible from ADAM'S House; try Ebay, ANN's stash or ADAM Svcs in Toronto for your purchases.

 

 

As far as I know, ADAM's House / EColeco does not have any disk drives or ADAM's Desktop's in stock. At least that's what I was told a few months back. Terry Fowler used to be very dependable, but I don't know if I can recommend him in recent years. My last purchase from him was supposedly an original disk of PrBOOT. It didn't work properly. I contacted the original author Jim Walters in case I was doing something wrong and was told the copy I had purchased was most likely exactly that -- a copy -- because it didn't have a proper serial number on it. I then contacted Terry Fowler and confronted him with this information. His story changed saying the one he had sent me was actually out of a software collection he had purchased (yeah, I thought, I'm sure the person who had it went to the trouble of putting a semi-authentic looking label on it). He then sent me another one...with exactly the same kind of label on it...and it functioned in the exact same manner as the previous one did.

 

Draw your own conclusions...but buyer beware.

 

 

http://coleco.freeservers.com/proddes.htm#supplies

 

I was thinking about buying a few things for my ADAM, namely ADAMs Desktop, a 5 1/4 drive, maybe one of the hard disks and some software.

 

Has anyone had any dealings with ADAM's House recently, or at all?

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  • 7 years later...

I had an experience with Adam's House. I purchased instructions from him. This was around 2002-2005. He send me PRINTOUTS of instructions in non-original sizes, and some were Black and White of releases that weren't in B/W. One of them was scanned so bad it was illegible. I paid 20-40 instructions for $2-5 per instructions, plus $5 shipping, and I got instructions of varying quality. If I were going to get copies, I'd buy the .JPG copies on disc, which I have bought on a $2+S/H DVD sent to me (back then I had dial-up) and print them out myself. I don't know whether it costs more for Adam's House to print it out, or whether it'd cost more DIY full color? Obvious separate Cyan / Magenta / Yellow packs would be easier, I just buy a lot of Cyan for Coleco Brand instructions.

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Wow I just found this website yesterday when looking how to repair an Expansion Module #2. All the feedback had been positive, albeit a couple of years old. I ended up today ordering a couple of controller extension cords, a new RF cable and a (likely reprint) manual for 2010. And I did email Terry regarding my controllers which are causing me some trouble and service for the Expansion Module #2. He got back to me right away, and did confirm they don't have a refurbished Expansion Module #2 nor could they take one in for repairs due to his stock of parts drying up. He said they have the parts for the controllers but not the coiled cables.

 

You guys are all making me scared to send my controllers to him... Advice? Should I cancel the repair and look elsewhere?

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I've bought from them twice and they have always delivered what I purchased. Unfortunately I bought a ide controller for the adam and had all kinds of issues, thinking it was me I never contacted them. Then about1-2 years later I found out that all the stock of the ide controllers had a bad chip on them. I figured it was to late to try and contact them, so I guess that would be my fault. I am pretty neutral in my felling for them. I do know that sometime what they list on the site may not be in stock.

IF you still have the IDE card and need a working GAL chip to make it work, we have them $22 including shipping.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Another thing Adam's house did. I've been having problems with using an Atari Track N Field controller with the Colecoviison game, The Activision Decathlon. I've got great times in the 1500. I try using a DB9 pin splitter to get the # and * active, and have been having problems with it since. He told me to "pull the joyport 1" which I thought implied that the part was removable and re-insertable. As it turned out it was hard wired soldered. He later told me to "poll" the joyport, which had no meaning to me.

 

So Now I'm stuck with a "mostly working colecovision", except for joyport 1, which is physically pulled out.

 

I also have 3 "mostly working" Super Action Controllers. 2 I'm looking to get cleaned and minorly fixed if necessary, and a third I'm looking to get prepped for a hookup to a multi-console fight stick.

 

I've been trying to call Adam's house, and It's been 3 months since I wrote him, and I got no response.

 

Would someone else like to take my mostly working Colecovision in return for labor on my Colecovision Super Action Controllers? (plus or minus some paypal offset) Any takers?

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