The ADAM was my first computer, received 41 years ago this week on Christmas! We were very lucky with ours and never had any of these sort of reported failures... and ended up using the machine till the late 80's, eventually replacing it with an IBM. Honestly.. I have learned more about reported failures of the computer more from youtube in the past few years than I ever did owning the thing in the first place.
I'm in the same boat! First computer, never had problems with it. I played Coleco games on it, typed out schoolwork, learned a little about basic programming. I also was in the scholarship program where if you graduated from college you got the 500 bucks back that you paid for it! Not sure why any business would do that, but I took advantage of it.
@@franwexhad mine when I was a kid. Used to use the smartfiler (database) for my parents motel records and he used the print out for his tax returns. SmartLogo taught me my first programming language and I was using my internal modem to play Island of Kesmai on Compuserve. Never ever had a problem with the system. Had a disk drive and used a Panasonic p1091 printer hooked up to it along with a 64k RAM expander.
me too, it was my first computer, i did have an issue with the motherboard, but it got fixed after i sent it out for repair (all paid by coleco) used it until i graduated. I loved it
I have read online that there were many users out there that did not experience any issues whatsoever. Unfortunately, it's the bad experiences that make the most noise.
In 1985 I bought a Coleco ADAM system which fully replaced my ColecoVision game console. It has a Z80 CPU and is compatible with CP/M operating system as well as many Apple BASIC programs. In 1986, I created an Assembly Language Bulletin Board System for ADAM with chat mode, message boards, and file transfer libraries. This was YEARS before the Internet was available to the public. The ADAM peripherals have microprocessors that allow hardware multitasking which is demonstrated in the included Super Buck Rogers game. The game continues playing while the NEXT screen loads from the automatic high speed tape drive. This system has a LOT of positive features. Coleco failed in their rushed rollout of the system, but this 8-bit system had a LOT of benefits. I still enjoy working on ADAM projects 39 years later.
@@leolozano999 Possibly. My software was called ADAMCastle BBS in 1986. I sold slightly customized copies directly to people wanting to run an ADAM BBS. It was also used by a company called Orphanware in Akron Ohio. After my software was ready for sale, I started finding out about other ADAM BBS software such as A-NET. Mine was the only Assembly Language high efficiency BBS. Others were written in SmartBASIC, or written for 80-column CP/M machines that didn't fully take advantage of ADAM's requirements. In 2021, I renamed the software simply to ADAMBBS as I put new refinements into it for serial port WIFI modems. If you have other questions, just let me know. Thanks!
Same here. The modern power supply is small and quiet. The ADAM printer power supply is bulky and had a very slight hum. The letter quality printer was noisy, but a miracle of the 1983 era since other letter quality printers cost as much as the entire ADAM system. Today few people care about the printer, but still expand their ADAM system for more fun.
I have read on some forums online that people are still coming up with ways to improve the Adam, even in modern time, which I find fascinating. Here's to many more fun years for you and the Adam!
Bundling a floppy disk drive with it would've been a terrible idea. Those things were incredibly expensive, sometimes costing more than the computer itself. And 12 seconds to get to an operating environment is pretty fast, especially considering that was loading from tape and not disk. And I can defend the forced use of a printer. If they had a version without the printer, it would probably sell better initially, but consumers would be more likely to see it as a toy. Having a bundled printer and a word processor in ROM meant people would be more inclined to start using it and seeing the value of a computer right away, and probably be more likely to buy software and accessories to support it. The cascade of hardware design problems nonwithstanding.
So many things wrong I don't know where to start. How about if I pick something at random? Donkey Kong was (and IS) a Nintendo property, not Atari. Coleco got the license from Nintendo and then put out versions for the Atari 2600 and the ColecoVision. Atari also had a license but only for computers, not consoles. The street price of the Atari 800XL or Commodore 64 was about half the price of the Adam when it came out and would drop down by half again within the next year.
I never said that Atari made Donkey Kong, only that Coleco won the right to produce the game for the console side over atari, since both were fighting for that right. I think that 99 percent of the internet knows the history of donkey kong and Nintendo. As for the pricing of the 800XL and the C64, I could not get my hands on actual pricing ads for these, so I had to go by what was posted or discussed in forums and gaming websites to get a general idea of what the costs were for that time.
I wanted one bad at the time, but by the time it came out, i had went with a 1200xl and ataris cheap letter quality printer, and 1050xl drive, for about the same price...so glad I did...I bought my atari stuff a piece at a time which was huge because at the time $700 was like a moon launch...never knew what I missed until many years later and youtube exposes the Adam for what it was...now I love to collect retro computers from this era...but the adam is still not making the list.
the good thing is that the Adam computer community has improved many things, one of them being a standalone power supply. I had a friend that had an Atari PC, but I can't recall what model it was. But we had fun playing with it and he was teaching himself how to use basic on it.
I still have mine boxed (Heavy as F) the Blue Box one, got an extra beige controller 2 tape drives, now upgraded to Jujinet and built-in PSU ditched the Printer ;)
The Adam was bad if you look at conventional metrics like reliability, stability, user friendliness and dependability. However, it was my first computer and I first learned how to program in BASIC. Our family got it for Christmas '85 when they were on closeout because Coleco stopped supporting them earlier that year.
yes, i think i got it at the end of 85 too, and once i started using it i was so disappointed to learn it had been discontinued (i loved the word processor and bought a special software to print graphics on the daisy wheel printer -all my classmates and teachers were wowed and though i had been doing all that typing manually lol), i joined several adam groups after and was able to use that pc until i graduated from high school
A reasonable argument for the Expansion to your ColecoVision versus a complete ADAM, beyond redundancy, is that the Colecovision consoles were deployed world-wide by many many people. Those foreign consoles output video in the format of their host countries, NTSC here, PAL in Western Europe, PAL/M in Brazil, SECAM in France and the Soviet Union.... It would be a major task to produce ADAM units for each broadcast system and get those units close to people likely to buy them. The expansion module side-steps that issue neatly, as it need have no output of its own, relying on the host console video and audio signals.
It actually booted up to an electric typewriter mode. Everything you typed went straight to the screen and printer. Pressing a function key would enable the word-processor.
One thing I did forget to mention in the video is that (this is based on online reports) Coleco had a very strict policy when it came to developing for them. Does the Adam deserve to be considered among the greatest debacles in PC history?
Where did you find your "facts" for this video? Surely you could have checked some groups and actually gotten the full story and realized this is far from a debacle or failure.
@@G8rJimbo This was not researched at all. He spent maybe 20 minutes pulling together the same cut and paste facts. Shameful. To say nothing of the fact that he deleted the comment which links to my deep dive video showing precisely what the system is and what it can do. (I have reposted the comment, let's see how long it stays up)
They could have made it MSX compatible. There were MSX computers with built-in printers and word processors in rom. For the msx standard it would have needed msx basic in rom and either ordinary tapes or a disk drive. It would have been possible to make it colecovision adaptor as Spectra video has one for it's computers Amstrad sold in Europe many millions of cheap z80 based 256k cpm 8256 computers. They came with a dot matrix printer, 3" disk drives, monitor capable of more than 80 columns. The power supply was in the monitor. They cost about the same as a C64 with disk drive
@@gamingquarterly6353 Still, great job! I bought every magazine back in the day, can still see the pages in my mind if I try. Hard to believe I'm older than ADAM lol
Some of your information is incorrect. It is true that when the Commodore 64 was launched in 1982 it was priced at $595. However its price went down over the years, and by 1984 when the Coleco Adam was actually available, a Commodore 64 cost was down to $200. Adding in a datasette (tape drive) for the C64 was another $40, and a printer ran around $250 to $300. So comparing the cost of an Adam with an equivalently equipped Commodore 64 in 1984, the Commodore was actually a little bit less. Also both of them used a TV for the display. You could buy a monitor, but it cost extra for both. It appears you have not used an Adam either. Several of your criticisms of the system don't actually line up with people who have used it back in the day. Looks like most of this video came from a Wikipedia page.
I never said I used an Adam, but thanks for pointing that out anyway. Lots of info did come from wikipedia as well. So again, thanks for pointing that out.
The ADAM was my first computer, received 41 years ago this week on Christmas!
We were very lucky with ours and never had any of these sort of reported failures... and ended up using the machine till the late 80's, eventually replacing it with an IBM.
Honestly.. I have learned more about reported failures of the computer more from youtube in the past few years than I ever did owning the thing in the first place.
How did you use it? Gaming, work, a bit of both? I’m fascinated by how people used their computers before internet as we use it now.
I'm in the same boat! First computer, never had problems with it. I played Coleco games on it, typed out schoolwork, learned a little about basic programming. I also was in the scholarship program where if you graduated from college you got the 500 bucks back that you paid for it! Not sure why any business would do that, but I took advantage of it.
@@franwexhad mine when I was a kid. Used to use the smartfiler (database) for my parents motel records and he used the print out for his tax returns.
SmartLogo taught me my first programming language and I was using my internal modem to play Island of Kesmai on Compuserve. Never ever had a problem with the system. Had a disk drive and used a Panasonic p1091 printer hooked up to it along with a 64k RAM expander.
me too, it was my first computer, i did have an issue with the motherboard, but it got fixed after i sent it out for repair (all paid by coleco) used it until i graduated. I loved it
I have read online that there were many users out there that did not experience any issues whatsoever. Unfortunately, it's the bad experiences that make the most noise.
In 1985 I bought a Coleco ADAM system which fully replaced my ColecoVision game console. It has a Z80 CPU and is compatible with CP/M operating system as well as many Apple BASIC programs. In 1986, I created an Assembly Language Bulletin Board System for ADAM with chat mode, message boards, and file transfer libraries. This was YEARS before the Internet was available to the public. The ADAM peripherals have microprocessors that allow hardware multitasking which is demonstrated in the included Super Buck Rogers game. The game continues playing while the NEXT screen loads from the automatic high speed tape drive. This system has a LOT of positive features. Coleco failed in their rushed rollout of the system, but this 8-bit system had a LOT of benefits. I still enjoy working on ADAM projects 39 years later.
never got the modem, but i do remember Adam BBS, was it you?
@@leolozano999 Possibly. My software was called ADAMCastle BBS in 1986. I sold slightly customized copies directly to people wanting to run an ADAM BBS. It was also used by a company called Orphanware in Akron Ohio. After my software was ready for sale, I started finding out about other ADAM BBS software such as A-NET. Mine was the only Assembly Language high efficiency BBS. Others were written in SmartBASIC, or written for 80-column CP/M machines that didn't fully take advantage of ADAM's requirements. In 2021, I renamed the software simply to ADAMBBS as I put new refinements into it for serial port WIFI modems. If you have other questions, just let me know. Thanks!
i found a couple of the adam computers at goodwill back in the 90's.
Not gonna lie, if I see one at a thrift store, I am definitely picking it up.
I still own and love my Coleco ADAM, though about 3 years ago I did have a custom power supply built for it.
Same here. The modern power supply is small and quiet. The ADAM printer power supply is bulky and had a very slight hum. The letter quality printer was noisy, but a miracle of the 1983 era since other letter quality printers cost as much as the entire ADAM system. Today few people care about the printer, but still expand their ADAM system for more fun.
I have read on some forums online that people are still coming up with ways to improve the Adam, even in modern time, which I find fascinating.
Here's to many more fun years for you and the Adam!
I loved my Adam. It was a winner to me.
Bundling a floppy disk drive with it would've been a terrible idea. Those things were incredibly expensive, sometimes costing more than the computer itself.
And 12 seconds to get to an operating environment is pretty fast, especially considering that was loading from tape and not disk.
And I can defend the forced use of a printer. If they had a version without the printer, it would probably sell better initially, but consumers would be more likely to see it as a toy. Having a bundled printer and a word processor in ROM meant people would be more inclined to start using it and seeing the value of a computer right away, and probably be more likely to buy software and accessories to support it.
The cascade of hardware design problems nonwithstanding.
good point.
Failure or not, We loved our Colecovision Adam :)
I have one now, it's a neat system. I added a new modern switched power supply. Runs much cooler.
So many things wrong I don't know where to start. How about if I pick something at random? Donkey Kong was (and IS) a Nintendo property, not Atari. Coleco got the license from Nintendo and then put out versions for the Atari 2600 and the ColecoVision. Atari also had a license but only for computers, not consoles. The street price of the Atari 800XL or Commodore 64 was about half the price of the Adam when it came out and would drop down by half again within the next year.
I never said that Atari made Donkey Kong, only that Coleco won the right to produce the game for the console side over atari, since both were fighting for that right. I think that 99 percent of the internet knows the history of donkey kong and Nintendo.
As for the pricing of the 800XL and the C64, I could not get my hands on actual pricing ads for these, so I had to go by what was posted or discussed in forums and gaming websites to get a general idea of what the costs were for that time.
@@gamingquarterly6353 at 2:00 the video says "They had managed to snag the rights for Donkey Kong from Atari"
I wanted one bad at the time, but by the time it came out, i had went with a 1200xl and ataris cheap letter quality printer, and 1050xl drive, for about the same price...so glad I did...I bought my atari stuff a piece at a time which was huge because at the time $700 was like a moon launch...never knew what I missed until many years later and youtube exposes the Adam for what it was...now I love to collect retro computers from this era...but the adam is still not making the list.
the good thing is that the Adam computer community has improved many things, one of them being a standalone power supply.
I had a friend that had an Atari PC, but I can't recall what model it was. But we had fun playing with it and he was teaching himself how to use basic on it.
I still have mine boxed (Heavy as F) the Blue Box one, got an extra beige controller 2 tape drives, now upgraded to Jujinet and built-in PSU ditched the Printer ;)
you got rid of the best part! Now you have no more fun EMPs.
The Adam was bad if you look at conventional metrics like reliability, stability, user friendliness and dependability. However, it was my first computer and I first learned how to program in BASIC. Our family got it for Christmas '85 when they were on closeout because Coleco stopped supporting them earlier that year.
yes, i think i got it at the end of 85 too, and once i started using it i was so disappointed to learn it had been discontinued (i loved the word processor and bought a special software to print graphics on the daisy wheel printer -all my classmates and teachers were wowed and though i had been doing all that typing manually lol), i joined several adam groups after and was able to use that pc until i graduated from high school
I am still looking to add this system to my collection. Great vid!
ADAM is one of the best 8-bit computers of the age. It was well-designed and well-made. All the difficulties were in meeting a difficult time target.
A reasonable argument for the Expansion to your ColecoVision versus a complete ADAM, beyond redundancy, is that the Colecovision consoles were deployed world-wide by many many people. Those foreign consoles output video in the format of their host countries, NTSC here, PAL in Western Europe, PAL/M in Brazil, SECAM in France and the Soviet Union.... It would be a major task to produce ADAM units for each broadcast system and get those units close to people likely to buy them. The expansion module side-steps that issue neatly, as it need have no output of its own, relying on the host console video and audio signals.
Great point. That makes perfect sense.
The printer running out of ink would not cause the computer to fail.
Huh? It was a daisy wheel printer, it used a typewriter-style ribbon.
@@HailAnts He claimed the computer would stop working if the printer did.
Thanks bro, very interesting 👍🏼
I remember it starting up to a word processor
never had a problem with mine back in the day
It actually booted up to an electric typewriter mode. Everything you typed went straight to the screen and printer. Pressing a function key would enable the word-processor.
I have heard of Coleco but now I know why I have never seen one. Many of them were returned.
The system had great potential but yea, it's a shame it was rushed to the market.
One thing I did forget to mention in the video is that (this is based on online reports) Coleco had a very strict policy when it came to developing for them. Does the Adam deserve to be considered among the greatest debacles in PC history?
Thank you for deleting my critical comment. You suck.
Where did you find your "facts" for this video? Surely you could have checked some groups and actually gotten the full story and realized this is far from a debacle or failure.
@@G8rJimbo This was not researched at all. He spent maybe 20 minutes pulling together the same cut and paste facts. Shameful.
To say nothing of the fact that he deleted the comment which links to my deep dive video showing precisely what the system is and what it can do. (I have reposted the comment, let's see how long it stays up)
and it's gone again. Is someone afraid of those who do a good job?
They could have made it MSX compatible. There were MSX computers with built-in printers and word processors in rom. For the msx standard it would have needed msx basic in rom and either ordinary tapes or a disk drive. It would have been possible to make it colecovision adaptor as Spectra video has one for it's computers
Amstrad sold in Europe many millions of cheap z80 based 256k cpm 8256 computers. They came with a dot matrix printer, 3" disk drives, monitor capable of more than 80 columns. The power supply was in the monitor. They cost about the same as a C64 with disk drive
Interesting. Good info!
I am planning to look into the whole UK 80s computer scene sometime in a future video.
The First Computer with Elecronagnetic pulse (EMP) support 😆
The Super Game Module wouldn't have been an ADAM accessory. It was a canceled accessory that the ADAM replaced. Wafer-tape vs data drive.
Yea, it was for the colecovision. I caught that after I had published the video. 😪
@@gamingquarterly6353 Still, great job!
I bought every magazine back in the day, can still see the pages in my mind if I try.
Hard to believe I'm older than ADAM lol
I also bought it back then. But I ended up with an Apple Iie.
Some of your information is incorrect. It is true that when the Commodore 64 was launched in 1982 it was priced at $595. However its price went down over the years, and by 1984 when the Coleco Adam was actually available, a Commodore 64 cost was down to $200. Adding in a datasette (tape drive) for the C64 was another $40, and a printer ran around $250 to $300. So comparing the cost of an Adam with an equivalently equipped Commodore 64 in 1984, the Commodore was actually a little bit less. Also both of them used a TV for the display. You could buy a monitor, but it cost extra for both.
It appears you have not used an Adam either. Several of your criticisms of the system don't actually line up with people who have used it back in the day. Looks like most of this video came from a Wikipedia page.
I never said I used an Adam, but thanks for pointing that out anyway. Lots of info did come from wikipedia as well. So again, thanks for pointing that out.
no way man
Just wondering..what would you consider the greatest PC failure of all time to be? not a loaded question, just curious.
your dedication to your viewers comments is great, don't see this much, is this reply automated? I have no knowledge of retro computers, I build AMD!