ZIP drive for ADAM?

[LoTonah]

I was at my local Value Village (our version of Goodwill) and they had a parallel ZIP drive with about 20 cartridges dirt cheap.

 

Did anyone come up with a working solution for the ZIP? What, besides the obvious parallel port, would be needed?

 

Thanks!

 

note: ultimately I want to get some sort of CF or SD drive, but that is a few months off. I'm just about to put an order in with Bob Slopsema, and if all I need is a parallel card, then I'll add that to my order and go get the ZIP drive tomorrow. Any help is appreciated!

[adamcon]

I was at my local Value Village (our version of Goodwill) and they had a parallel ZIP drive with about 20 cartridges dirt cheap.

 

Did anyone come up with a working solution for the ZIP? What, besides the obvious parallel port, would be needed?

 

Thanks!

 

note: ultimately I want to get some sort of CF or SD drive, but that is a few months off. I'm just about to put an order in with Bob Slopsema, and if all I need is a parallel card, then I'll add that to my order and go get the ZIP drive tomorrow. Any help is appreciated!

You are a person after my own heart!!! That is the way my mind always worked until my computer guru son set me straight. Just WHY can't it be that simple. Anyway, it could be IF !! someone could write the programming to access the drive thru the parallel port for the ADAM. Since that never happened, what we have is the fact that you need theADAM's IDE card to access the hardware terminology involved with modern IDE protocal. That leaves the IDE with a cf setup or similar; along with the printer card with onboard eprom boot for the IDE card for ease of use. You "can" use a Zip drive with the IDE card instead of a cf setup, BUT it has to be an original IDE Zip 100 drive and ONLY that drive; the Atapi ones with packet interface won't work. I personally have Zip drives and Sparq drives working as well as the physical IDE hd's on my ADAMs.

[NIAD]

I personally have Zip drives and Sparq drives working as well as the physical IDE hd's on my ADAMs.

Yeah, but that guy down in Georgia keeps hogging everything up!!!

 

BTW, on your converted Zip and Sparq drives that are housed in the Coleco Disk Drive casing, how is power supplied to the drives? Do you leave the old Coleco disk controller board in the drive, it acts as a pass thru to supply power to the newly installed drive and then you use the Coleco power transformer?

 

@ LoTonah: Your best option is the IDE Interface Card with CF Card Package that ADAMcon sells, but don't forget to purchase the newly released Parallel Interface with IDE Boot Prom for it's ease of use... turn on the ADAM and the IDE driver and menu control program instantly boots up. It's a great package and very reasonably priced. The other benefit is that everything can be placed inside the Memory Console under the lid so that there is a lot less clutter as can be seen in pics on ADAMcons website.

 

Pics for everyone's enjoyment....

[adamcon]

Yeah, but that guy down in Georgia keeps hogging everything up!!!

 

BTW, on your converted Zip and Sparq drives that are housed in the Coleco Disk Drive casing, how is power supplied to the drives? Do you leave the old Coleco disk controller board in the drive, it acts as a pass thru to supply power to the newly installed drive and then you use the Coleco power transformer?

 

@ LoTonah: Your best option is the IDE Interface Card with CF Card Package that ADAMcon sells, but don't forget to purchase the newly released Parallel Interface with IDE Boot Prom for it's ease of use... turn on the ADAM and the IDE driver and menu control program instantly boots up. It's a great package and very reasonably priced. The other benefit is that everything can be placed inside the Memory Console under the lid so that there is a lot less clutter as can be seen in pics on ADAMcons website.

 

Pics for everyone's enjoyment....

I know, eh? Anyway Jim, the case was stripped of everything and then the drive installed with a long ide cable and a mini power supply as supplied with the compact flash setup. I fyou know just where to put a screw in the case, you can set it inside the case and just plug in a reg 110v computer cord. Problem is getting the Coleco ADAM drive cases, they are not plentiful locally or cheaply.

[LoTonah]

You guys crack me up I've got to say, the Adam subforum is my favorite forum on AtariAge, and it is mostly because almost everyone on here is funny and helpful, not much ego-tripping and butt-kissing.

 

I'm slowly getting a better idea of what is going to work best for me. So, in summary (please correct me if I'm wrong):

 

I need to (over the course of a few different orders from Bob):

- IDE "hard drive" card $45 + shipping

- Printer card w/ onboard IDE boot eprom $50 + shipping

- IDE card Accessories $25 + shipping

 

And that will give me a hard drive solution for the Adam, right?

 

I'm assuming that the drive comes formatted, but with no software to speak of. I'd probably want to have EOS, CP/M and maybe T-DOS partitions. I'm ordering CP/M on datapack from Bob with my first order (Bob, you may recognize my email exchange to you under my username SpriteShack). I then need to figure out how to get Turbo Pascal over to it.

 

I'm guessing I also need to consider a serial card so I can null-modem some software from my PC.

 

Sorry if this email jumps around, the wife wants to get out of the house before the stores close so I don't have time to edit

 

 

 

[adamcon]

You guys crack me up I've got to say, the Adam subforum is my favorite forum on AtariAge, and it is mostly because almost everyone on here is funny and helpful, not much ego-tripping and butt-kissing.

 

I'm slowly getting a better idea of what is going to work best for me. So, in summary (please correct me if I'm wrong):

 

I need to (over the course of a few different orders from Bob):

- IDE "hard drive" card $45 + shipping

- Printer card w/ onboard IDE boot eprom $50 + shipping

- IDE card Accessories $25 + shipping

 

And that will give me a hard drive solution for the Adam, right?

 

I'm assuming that the drive comes formatted, but with no software to speak of. I'd probably want to have EOS, CP/M and maybe T-DOS partitions. I'm ordering CP/M on datapack from Bob with my first order (Bob, you may recognize my email exchange to you under my username SpriteShack). I then need to figure out how to get Turbo Pascal over to it.

 

I'm guessing I also need to consider a serial card so I can null-modem some software from my PC.

 

Sorry if this email jumps around, the wife wants to get out of the house before the stores close so I don't have time to edit

 

 

 

Yes sir, tis I mineself !! The ide compact flash card will come with most all original ColecoVision games on partitions 1-3, SmartBASIC, ADAMcalc, PowerPaint, SmartLOGO, 4 TDOS (cp/m 2.2) partitions. I can also put Pascal on it for you no charge, no guarantees that it will boot though. Prices are correct but you have to add shipping.........probably $20-25 (?) for the lot. A serial card is available also, best way is the external off the side port.

Edited September 9, 2013 by adamcon

[NIAD]

Problem is getting the Coleco ADAM drive cases, they are not plentiful locally or cheaply.

And with as rare as they are (especially in working order), it'd be a crime to sacrifice one for a project like installing an IDE Drive into it.

 

It's cool to have the IDE drive (HD, Zip, Sparq, etc.) installed in an old Coleco disk drive housing for the LOOK of it, but a generic hobbyist case is best to use now-a-days.

[NIAD]

LoTonah... if money is a consideration when placing an order, you will definetly want to at least start with the IDE Interface Card ($45) and the IDE Card & Accessories ($25). These two items will give you a fully functioning setup and ADAMcon provides the necessary IDE Boot software on Data Pack or Disk so that you can start using it right away. Then later you could always add the Parallel Interface Card with IDE Boot Prom so that you don't have to boot the system from the IDE Boot data pack/disk.

 

There's a wealth of software already pre-installed on the IDE CF Card and hopefully in a couple months, I will get back to adding all the other software that I didn't get around to last winter as well as writing up some instructions/help files. I got a lot that I want to do with it, but I have been sidetracked for far too many months with a couple other projects that I need to finish up first.

 

BTW, I never was able to get CP/M to work properly with this IDE setup, so you will have to use the far superior CP/M replacement O.S. called T-DOS... which is pre-installed on the CF Card. You can still use CP/M on the ADAM, but you have to leave the IDE setup unplugged. I'll have to play around with this one some more as well.

[adamcon]

LoTonah... if money is a consideration when placing an order, you will definetly want to at least start with the IDE Interface Card ($45) and the IDE Card & Accessories ($25). These two items will give you a fully functioning setup and ADAMcon provides the necessary IDE Boot software on Data Pack or Disk so that you can start using it right away. Then later you could always add the Parallel Interface Card with IDE Boot Prom so that you don't have to boot the system from the IDE Boot data pack/disk.

 

There's a wealth of software already pre-installed on the IDE CF Card and hopefully in a couple months, I will get back to adding all the other software that I didn't get around to last winter as well as writing up some instructions/help files. I got a lot that I want to do with it, but I have been sidetracked for far too many months with a couple other projects that I need to finish up first.

 

BTW, I never was able to get CP/M to work properly with this IDE setup, so you will have to use the far superior CP/M replacement O.S. called T-DOS... which is pre-installed on the CF Card. You can still use CP/M on the ADAM, but you have to leave the IDE setup unplugged. I'll have to play around with this one some more as well.

Actually, you should not have to leave anything unplugged. Whether or not you have the auto boot eprom card installed, the ADAM will ignor it and boot whatever program might be on data pack or disk. The ADAM; when reset is pulled; will boot disk 1, then disk 2, then ddd 1, then ddd 2.......in that order, IF a ddp or disk is in any of those drives. Next time you turn on the ADAM, the cf had will come up again. You never have to pull or disable the hd system to boot anything or run any other program.

[JamesD]

I thought about creating a USB interface for AdamNet.

After researching everything for moving the IDE driver to a cart and looking at AdamNet, I know it would not be terribly difficult.

Then you could use a USB floppy, USB Zip Drive and/or USB hard drive.

I already have some PIC chips that support USB, a USB programmer and most of the required odds and ends.

AdamNet and USB protocols aren't particularly difficult and one controller could support multiple devices.

However, I *think* the PIC chip was aimed more at being a device than as the host controller.

I'll have to look up the docs.

Any device powered from USB would need to be plugged into a powered hub since I'd just power the adapter from the AdamNet connection if possible.

 

*edit*

Speed would be limited by AdamNet of course.

Edited September 9, 2013 by JamesD

[chart45]

i guys my message is off topic but I need help with my adams computer ok everything start when I receive my super zaxxon game from teampixelboy and no news from opcode for

my sgm so I remember that my father still have the adams computer but when I start it come alive but the screen is all mess up

 

help

[NIAD]

Judging from those screenshots you posted, I would venture a guess that you have some bad RAM chips on the Delta Board in the Memory Console. There are two PCBs in the Stand-Alone ADAM Memory Console and the Delta Board (ColecoVision) is the board on top that you can see through the cartridge slot. The second large PCB is the Logic Board (ADAM) that is at the bottom and can be seen under the pop-off lid were the expansion cards and data drives install. If you don't have the skill set to test and replace each ram chip, then the easiest thing to do would be to replace the entire Delta Board and the only one who has them available is www.ecoleco.com unless someone on here is willing to help you out.

 

BTW, if you have the Expansion Module #3 ADAM (the one that attaches to a ColecoVision to make a working ADAM), you can always try a known working ColecoVision to see if this remediies the problem.

 

However, you can't take the PCB out of the ColecoVision and place it into the Stand-Alone ADAM Memory Console as there are numerous differences with the obvious difference being the shape of the boards.

[NIAD]

Posted that previous message too fast....

 

I would take the front bezel and top of the Memory Console off to gain access to the Delta Board and then proceed to clean everything very throroughly with Isopropyl Alcohol and Deoxit to see if this fixes the issue and don't forget to remove the ribbon cable at the back of the Delta board (it connects the Delta and Logic boards) and clean that as well. Leave the top off and test everything once it has completely dried to see if you have favorably results and if not, go the extra mile and remove the Delta board so that you can get to the Logic board and clean that one as well.

 

It's worth a shot to do all this first.

[NIAD]

You never have to pull or disable the hd system to boot anything or run any other program.

I guess I should have been more clear....

 

I meant to say that if I know a program isn't compatible with the IDE driver software, I just don't plug in the power cord for the IDE CF Adapter/Card and in fact, I don't plug it in unless I know that I will be using it. I never remove the IDE Interface Card, CF Adapter board or CF Card. Sorry if I caused any confusion.

[chart45]

ok ill give a try to clean up everything first cause that thing didnt see the light for a least 20 years

 

if the clean up dont work do you know someone who repair adams computer on this board.... and this computer have been use only for colecovision when i was 10 or 12 years old nobody play inside or install hard or software on this computer

[NIAD]

Don't know anyone that specifically offers ADAM repairs, but there are a lot of talented people that frequent this forum and maybe one of them lives close by to you. The alternative is to swap out the CV Delta board as I mentioned before (which is a pretty easy process), but I think eColeco charges $69.95 for this board. You could always try to pickup a Memory Console on eBay or from ADAMcon... I would recommend contacting ADAMcon as you know you will be getting a tested and working unit.

[LoTonah]

Just to get this back on topic...

 

The compact flash card: if I have a CF card reader for my PC (or Mac), can I just take the card out of the reader, plug it into the PC reader, and add software to it? In other words, is it formatted in FAT or something similar? That'd make everything a whole lot easier, but I guess that's not likely.

 

If that doesn't work, I think I may also need to get a serial card to null-modem software over. But I think if I want the IDE card, parallel card w/IDE boot ROM, and memory expansion, I'm going to be in trouble

 

Actually, I'm in trouble anyhow...everytime I look at ADAMcon's webpage I feel my bank account shrink. There's so many goodies!

[NIAD]

Just to get this back on topic...

 

The compact flash card: if I have a CF card reader for my PC (or Mac), can I just take the card out of the reader, plug it into the PC reader, and add software to it? In other words, is it formatted in FAT or something similar? That'd make everything a whole lot easier, but I guess that's not likely.

 

If that doesn't work, I think I may also need to get a serial card to null-modem software over. But I think if I want the IDE card, parallel card w/IDE boot ROM, and memory expansion, I'm going to be in trouble

 

Actually, I'm in trouble anyhow...everytime I look at ADAMcon's webpage I feel my bank account shrink. There's so many goodies!

Unfortunately you can not simply place the ADAM CF Card into a PC reader and transfer the ADAM software/files onto it. This whole process of placing software onto the ADAM CF Card has to be done on the ADAM. I would venture a guess that a PC transfer program could be written that would allow for the extraction of files from a PC format Disk or Data Pack Image File (the image files that are compatible with emulators) and then properly written to the ADAM formatted CF Card, but someone would have to step up and write this transfer program. It should be possible seeing as the Virtual ADAM emulator allows for the viewing of disk and data pack image files contents from within it's Windows frontend, so then all that would be needed is to figure out how to write the files to the ADAM CF Card properly.

 

Currently, the only thing you can use the ADAM CF Card with on a PC is to make a complete raw backup of the entire CF Card which you can then write back to another ADAM formatted CF Card or to repair a corrupted CF Card.

 

To use a serial card to null modem transfer will be a bit of a process and I honestly haven't done this since the 80's. I would venture a guess that the best option is to use a T-DOS utility/modem program for this endeavor to transfer the ADAM Disk Image from the PC to an ADAM data pack or the CF Card (I assume you don't have an ADAM Disk Drive). You will end up with one large file and if it is a standard EOS program, you will have to convert it with a T-DOS utility to an EOS file. From there, you will have to block copy this newly created EOS file to a Data Pack starting at Block #00. It's a bit of a process, but when the time comes, let me know and I will walk you through everything the best I can.

 

The easiest way to transfer ADAM disk/ddp image files back to ADAM format is with a 5 1/4" Disk Drive (one on your PC and then an ADAM drive). I have posted a lot of details on tis process in other threads so check out the links...

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/179825-was-montezumas-revenge-available-on-disk-for-the-adam/?hl=%2Bdcopy&do=findComment&comment=2251139

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/177853-looking-for-specs-on-coleco-adam-floppy-drive-model-#7817-power-supply/?view=findpost&p=2220845&hl=%2Bdcopy

 

There's a couple other threads with good info on all this but you'll ave to search thru the forum.

[adamcon]

Jim,

Just to clear up the confusion. You are right that you cannot read/write the CF card directly from your pc via a card reader, but there are additional alternatives.

 

With the latest Adamem that was released you can read a CF card backup image. This allows you to use Adamem on your computer to add software to the partitions on your CF card backup file. Once your modifications are complete, you can restore the modified CF card backup file back to your CF card.

[NIAD]

ADAMcon.... thanks for bringing up the version of ADAMem SDL that supports the IDE Interface/CF Card by Geoff. That is an excellent alternative solution and places all the wear and tear on one's PC computer instead of on the ADAM. I actually have it on my growing To-Do List to test things out after Doug and I had an email exchange about using the CF Card backup images with it. You won't have the ease of use that the Virtual ADAM frontend provides, but it's still a great alternative to Serial Card/Null Modem or DCopy tranfers.

 

Thanks!

[LoTonah]

Well, that sounds "good enough" for me. I can see how I could use this to get Turbo Pascal onto the CF card.

 

Now the next step is to wait for Bob to reply to my email I sent yesterday

 

P.S. What is the Assembler of choice on EOS?

[adamcon]

Well, that sounds "good enough" for me. I can see how I could use this to get Turbo Pascal onto the CF card.

 

Now the next step is to wait for Bob to reply to my email I sent yesterday

 

P.S. What is the Assembler of choice on EOS?

I did done wrote back to you from my hospital bed. TDOS is way better tatn CP/M. For one thing, it has a bigger TPA which allows for bigger programs to run all co/m of course. It IS cp/m only better with more bells and whistles, that is why Tony wrote it!

[LoTonah]

Hi Bob,

 

Actually, I never received an email from you. Did it get hung up because you're not at home?

 

I hope whatever you're going through you are coming through it okay. I'm on the mend myself right now, but at least I'm at home. Hospitals blow.

 

-Don

 

P.S. No one answered my question about what the best assembler/editor is for EOS. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[NIAD]

The only Assembler that I know of that was developed for the ADAM's E.O.S. environment was MacADAM, a macro assembler. The image file is in my collection which I made available a couple weeks ago on here and is still available for download via the MediaFire file sharer and contained in the image file are a number of SmartWRITER documentation files of the manual that I had a lot of fun typing in many moons ago. I think your best bet is to use the CP/M / T-DOS environment and all the tools that are available thru it seeing as most past programmers simply developed their programs in SmartBASIC either as straight Basic code or by poking their routines in memory and then binary saving the whole of memory. I'm sure there were some custom developed tools that the lkes of Walters Software and Steve Pitman used in making their warez, but nothing that was ever shared with the masses.

 

A good start also would be the E.O.S. Programmer's Manual that is available on ADAMcon's website and also all the Nibbles & Bits newsletters that are available on Joe B.'s website in PDF format and linked in my SIG below. Actually, there is a treasure trove of info in all the old PDF newsletters that Joe has made available.

[NIAD]

I thought about creating a USB interface for AdamNet.

.

Good luck with your efforts and hope this idea of your's comes to fruition... it would be a tremendous addition to the ADAM especially if you could use Disk or Data Pack image files through it like the ADAMnet SD Drive that Else developed.