ADAMnet Drive Emulator by Sean Myers

[Killjoyy27]

Hello All,

 

This may be a stupid question but I just recently got my Coleco Adam and I am loving it but I have looked high and low and cannot locate a real floppy drive or the old SD emulator option. I am hearing about this new project but this might be just beyond my skills to put together is any one Interested in putting together of these things for me and shipping it to me , I would be happy to pay a very reasonable price for it. If not no worries and I will watch the project with interest to see if anything goes into production.

 

Thanks again in advance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CharlesMouse]

Hi Killjoyy27,

Like you I'm a relatively recent ADAM owner and am enjoying it's special brand of strangeness. For what it's worth I'd certainly recommend this device - it works really well, is cheap, and you do have options to get one.

-Over on the Coleco Facebook page I believe there's a run of production versions being made, maybe you can snag one?

(not on Facebook myself)

-If you can solder at all it's not so hard to DIY - The two main boards plug together, a microSD adaptor to solder to the Arduino, two resistors, one Transistor, and wiring in an ADAMNet cable. Then program the firmware and plug in... I left a step-by-step guide further up the thread for further info.

-Where do you live? If you need one building I'm in the UK, and if that's too far (postage) there may be volunteers closer to home.

[NIAD]

Hello All,

 

This may be a stupid question but I just recently got my Coleco Adam and I am loving it but I have looked high and low and cannot locate a real floppy drive or the old SD emulator option. I am hearing about this new project but this might be just beyond my skills to put together is any one Interested in putting together of these things for me and shipping it to me , I would be happy to pay a very reasonable price for it. If not no worries and I will watch the project with interest to see if anything goes into production.

 

Thanks again in advance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Join the Coleco ADAM Facebook page and send a PM to John Lundy as he has made a couple runs already and looks like he has supplies to build another 15-20.

[Mike Harris]

I dig this and would like to get one.

 

I have two VDD's from MicroFox and although they do the job there are shortcomings.

Personally to do what I want it's just a hassle with the MF VDD's and my emails just to put it frankly is there will be no updates or improvements.

 

So, I have no issue buying at least one of these and use the MF for backups or sell them.

 

If I had a wish list it would be one that you can literally place it in a DDP drive space and plug it in to the DDP connectors.
Powered by ADAM and a direct connect to ADAMNET.

I really wish I took electronic engineering in school instead of puzzle and game theory.

 

Someone PM me who is selling these things.

I seen it a picture on FB but no address or links by someone named John Lundy but I deleted my FB account a long time ago because of their security issues.

[NIAD]

John Lundy doesn't frequent AtariAge as far as I know, so you're going to have to bristle up and join Facebook to contact John and then delete your account after.

[NIAD]

A lot of updates to the ADAM Drive Emulator (ADE) by Sean Myers that have been posted about on the Coleco ADAM Facebook page (you need to join the group to see the posts) over the last couple months.

 

ADE firmware was updated a number of times and now is at version 0.73 and another BIG update to add more features such as directory support is being worked on. https://github.com/Kalidomra/AdamNet-Drive-Emulator?fbclid=IwAR0YMIc-HI1ACdwOVlT82DCEd-uvHy6YFMc4ZmYyyv3831fkkQofSKySsGA

 

Version 0.73
- Fixed the timing issue with some games causing corruption due to a double write.
- Re-implemented the "Disable Next Reset" option.
Version 0.7
- Moved the time critical AdamNet send and receive functions to the CommandInterrupt function. This ensures that data is being sent to the Adam with the correct timing and not being delayed due to LCD writes or button processing. This fixes the I/O errors in some titles and also prevents errors from buttons being pressed while blocks are loading. This is a major re-write of how the ADE interacts on the AdamNet.
- Added the ability to detect the type of reset. A "hard" reset is from physically activating the reset switch on the Adam or turning it off and on. A "soft" reset is initiated by the Adam software. Only a "hard" reset will cause the book.dsk to be re-mounted. This fixes the issue with some games calling a software reset during loading.
- Removed the "Disable Next Reset" option from the SD Command "0xF3 - Mount/Unmount Disk". This is no longer required now that the ADE can detect the type of reset.
- The filename for the boot disk is no longer case sensitive. "Boot.DSK" will work even if the file is really called "boot.dsk"
- Added status information to the block that is transmitted when the DEADBEEF block read is sent. See the SD Commands text file for the format. The basic program INIT on the ADE Test disk image will demonstrate this read.
- Re-wrote most of the LCD scroll and LCD refresh functions. They are more efficient now.
- In the SD command 0xF4, added the ability to initiate an LCD refresh with the high word only. This will prevent any Adam Image manager from initiating a write to an actual Adam disk drive.

Version 0.6
- Fixed bug in entering config mode. If using the digital buttons, ADE would sometimes go into config mode with no button pressed.
- Added separate button delay timing for analog buttons and digital buttons.
- Added a variable to set the sensitivity of the analog read.

 

ADAM Image Manager by William Hicks (MilliV) has been updated to v1.2 with many great new features and an update it being worked on to add more features and functionality. AIM is a menu program that can be setup to load automatically when the ADE or ADE Pro (made by John Lundy) is turned on and used to make disk/ddp image selection instead of using the buttons on the ADE / ADE Pro device. It automatically loads when used with the ADE Light made by John Lundy. http://adamware.us/

 

ADE Pro units made and sold by John Lundy on the Coleco ADAM Facebook page have been sold out for a while now, but if you have the skills, you can make your own with all the info supplied by Sean on his GitHub page.

 

ADE Light is a newer version made and sold by John Lundy. He still has some available for purchase!

The ADEL is designed for the ADAM user who doesn’t require the full features of the ADE or ADE Pro with LCD and button interface. It is a great option for gaming and just about anything else with few limitations. The ADEL relies on using a boot disk (liteboot.dsk) software interface using the SD Command structure to remotely control the ADEL from the ADAM itself.

Features:

- Unit is powered directly from ADAMnet.

- Supports both floppy (.dsk) and digital data pack (.ddp) images.

- Emulates all four drives (D1-D4) at once with the ability to disable Drive 2 to allow for a physical drive connection to the ADAMnet chain without conflict. When using the ADEL with a physical Drive 2 connected will require an ADAMnet (RJ12) splitter to power the ADEL. This is because a physical drive doesn’t pass the power through to the output connector to supply the ADEL. This is offered as an optional accessory item as many people do not use physical drives and would rather pass the savings on to buyers that don’t require it.

- Multi-disk swap support for images. This feature requires that all images in the set must have the same name except for the file extension. Multi-disk support allows up to four images (.dsk,.ds2,.ds3,.ds4) and can be selected by pressing the swap (gray) button on top of the ADEL. Pushing the button from one to four times will mount the disk in that set to the corresponding .dsk-.ds4 image. Each button press will flash the light to verify the button was pressed. After inactivity from the final button press, the ADEL will acknowledge the swap was made by a single flash indicating it is now safe to proceed using the next image.

 

Pricing:

ADEL base package includes the drive and 2.5’ ADAMnet cable - $80 + shipping and insurance

Optional accessories at time of purchase:

Option 1: ADAMnet (RJ12) splitter (includes 6” ADAMnet cable) - $5

Option 2: 16 GB SD card (preloaded with ADAM WARE Image Manager as ‘liteboot.dsk’ and multi-disk image examples - $7

 

Important facts:

It was the willingness of Sean Myers to share his ADE project code for all to enjoy that made this project possible. This device and modified code are NOT supported by Sean Myers in any way. More specifics on the ADE project in general can be found on Sean’s GitHub page at https://github.com/Kalidomra/AdamNet-Drive-Emulator.

 

Internal installations of the ADE Pro and ADE Light in the Data Drive bay have been posted about as well! You can see in the first picture the ADE Light sitting on top of the Memory Console and the ADE Pro installed internally.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2019 by NIAD

[NIAD]

Directory support and Rom Image support (up to 32K) coming soon for the ADE, ADE Pro and ADE Light!

 

 

[NIAD]

Sean Myers ( https://github.com/Kalidomra/AdamNet-Drive-Emulator?fbclid=IwAR0YMIc-HI1ACdwOVlT82DCEd-uvHy6YFMc4ZmYyyv3831fkkQofSKySsGA ) has released V0.80 of the ADE firmware for the ADE, ADE Pro and ADE Light...

 

Version 0.80

• Added SD card directory support.
• The right button (mount/unmount) action has changed. A short press will mount files and change directories. A long press will unmount the currently selected drive.
• A long press on the drive select button will turn the boot disk on and off.
• A short press on the left button will now go back one directory. A long press will go back to the root.
• Added ColecoVision cartridge ROM support (Maximum 32k). Files needs to have a COL, BIN or ROM extension. Mounting a ROM file dynamically creates a disk image containing the required boot code and the ROM data. Nothing is saved to the SD card. In testing this feature there are a small number of ROM's that do not work.
• Added a "Debug Mode" option to the Device Setup menu. When enabled this will display debug information on the LCD.
• SD Command 0xF2 (Return Currently Mounted Disk) will now include the directory.
• SD Command 0xF3 (Mount/Unmount Disk) will return the file type in the block. This will enable the controlling Adam program to see the file type being mounted.
• SD Command 0xFA (Format Disk) now requires a confirmation step to start the format. The confirmation needs to be the next read in order to work.
• Added additional information to the block that is transmitted when the 0xDEADBEEF block read is sent. Including LCD name length, number of files in the current directory and the current directory string.
• Changed the 0xFACE format command. It is much faster now.
• Added support for a disk swap button. The disk swap only works on Device 4. Holding down the swap button on startup will either disable Device 5 if it is currently enabled, or enabled all of the devices if Device 5 is currently disabled.
• Added a check for the maximum number of files per directory. A warning will be sent to the serial port and the LCD.
• Fixed the hard reset detection timing while using the IDE Boot rom. If this is still an issue, using the Debug Mode can help to determine the correct timings.
• Fixed SD Command issues mounting D3.
• Fixed the LCD Name Length bug. This can now be set to any number 99 or less. Using 12 or under will enable dos 8.3 file names.
• Fixed the issue with programs sending continuous unknown commands and locking up the LCD. The ADE will still show that it received an unknown command, but this will not lock up the display.

[Tornadoboy]

Well I just bought a project Adam main console off Ebay and aside from fixing it if it doesn't work this is the first thing I'm going to try to build for it! In fact this thing is pretty much the reason why I decided to pull the trigger on getting one, if I had to rely solely on the cassette deck (which is probably junk on my console) or the expensive/impossible to get/always broken disk drive I probably wouldn't have bothered. 

 

Dumb question:  The console I'm getting doesn't have anything with it including the keyboard, I plan to install an internal power supply but it may be a bit before I have the extra $ to chase down a keyboard, in fact I may play around with just making one just to see if I can do it. Will an Adam work without the keyboard and just a controller for cartridge games and cassette games like Super Buck Rogers? And can the emulator be used without it too? It would be cool if I could start using it right away!

 

I too have a 3D printer and may play around with making things for this like something to put it in the one of the cassette deck ports, though the floppy drive-like case in itself is already pretty damn awesome!

Edited October 3, 2019 by Tornadoboy

[NIAD]

Congrats on the Adam pickup and hope it's in working condition once you get everything setup.

 

You can check with MilliV or Adamcon via PM as they should both have keyboards available at reasonable prices. MilliV might be easier to get a hold of on the Coleco Adam Facebook page, his name is William Hicks.

 

You don't need the keyboard to play ColecoVision cartridge games as well as most Adam specific game titles like the Super Games. Just the Memory Console with one controller will do. Track down or make a DIN Monitor cable for Composite Video with Audio for best video out although RF on the Adam is pretty good.

 

To make your own keyboard using a PS/2 or USB keyboard would be an endeavor because you would have to make your own Adamnet controller. It's been done using an old PC keyboard, but then all the key translation would have to be accounted for.

 

The ADE is the way to go especially now that it supports rom images up to 32K. Just an awesomr hardware device.

[NIAD]

Note that the Adam Image Manager program by Adam Ware (the menu program for the ADE written by William Hicks) requires a keyboard to use, but hopefully controller input will be added in the next version.

 

Without a keyboard, you will need to use the functions buttons on the ADE to move around the directories, scroll through the image lists and make selections.

Edited October 5, 2019 by NIAD

[Tornadoboy]

17 hours ago, NIAD said:

Congrats on the Adam pickup and hope it's in working condition once you get everything setup.

 

You can check with MilliV or Adamcon via PM as they should both have keyboards available at reasonable prices. MilliV might be easier to get a hold of on the Coleco Adam Facebook page, his name is William Hicks.

 

You don't need the keyboard to play ColecoVision cartridge games as well as most Adam specific game titles like the Super Games. Just the Memory Console with one controller will do. Track down or make a DIN Monitor cable for Composite Video with Audio for best video out although RF on the Adam is pretty good.

 

To make your own keyboard using a PS/2 or USB keyboard would be an endeavor because you would have to make your own Adamnet controller. It's been done using an old PC keyboard, but then all the key translation would have to be accounted for.

 

The ADE is the way to go especially now that it supports rom images up to 32K. Just an awesomr hardware device.

Thanks!

I have one of the older F18 chips I originally bought for my TI 99/4a but I may end up putting it in the Adam and give it VGA out, someone is working on a motherboard upgrade for the TI and if I get one of those I may invest in one of the upcoming newer F18's for it. Coin operated arcade games has been my big hobby but I'm slowly dipping my toes back into the water with Coleco/Adam, as a Colecovision was my first console, and the 99/4a as it was my first computer. 

 

It's possible to get individual keyboard keys and their switches if I wanted to build an entire keyboard from scratch, https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/ has them as does Ebay and no doubt other places, but again just starting out I guess it might make more sense just to bite the bullet and find an original one as like you said I'd have to make the controller board too. I managed to dig up a couple of original Adam controllers I had stashed away so I'm ahead of the game for that, I've just got to figure out what type of power supply I want to put in it now and see what happens when I try it. Any suggestions on the make/model power supply?

 

Oddly enough I used to have a complete Adam set in really good shape someone had given me with the printer and working cassette deck, I played Buck Rogers a few times on it. But sadly I had to move and there just wasn't room for everything so the Adam is one of the things that got left behind, back then there was pretty much zero software that could be gotten for it and I had a regular Colecovision for the cartridges so making room didn't seem to make sense. In hindsight I wish I had at least hung on to the console, keyboard and controllers but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The ADE is a godsend for this thing and I'm really looking forward to getting it to work with one of those!

 

Anyway I don't want to hi-jack the thread, god knows I have questions galore so I'll probably start my own on it once it comes and I get to see what condition it's in internally. 

Edited October 5, 2019 by Tornadoboy