Coleco Adam
The Coleco Adam is a historic home computer with a Zilog-Z80 processor, marketed exclusively in the USA . The American company Coleco tried from 1983 to build on the success of its game consoles ( ColecoVision ) with the Adam . However, the Adam was plagued by various technical problems, especially at the start of production, and it was not successful on the market. Coleco stopped selling the Adam in 1985; the company filed for bankruptcy in 1988 .
hardware
The Coleco Adam was sold as a complete system with extensive software and peripherals, which also included a tape drive (later a 5¼-inch floppy disk drive ) and a type wheel printer . As was common with home computers back then, it was planned to use a television as a monitor.
The games of the ColecoVision system could be used on the Adam via a cartridge slot. Conversely, a ColecoVision console could also be expanded to an Adam by purchasing hardware.
The Adam generates a strong electromagnetic field when it starts, which can impair or even delete data carriers if they remain in the device.
The printer contains the power supply for the entire system, which cannot run without it.
Technical specifications
- CPU: Zilog Z80 with 3.58 MHz
- Auxiliary processors: three Motorola 6801 1 MHz for memory management, tape drive and keyboard controller
- Total memory: 80 KiB, of which
- RAM: 64 KiB
- Graphics memory: 16 KiB
- ROM: 32 KiB
- internal slots, one cartridge slot; proprietary serial bus ("AdamNet") with 62.5 kbit / s half duplex .
- Digital Data Pack tape drive , 256 KiB
- Graphic: Texas Instruments TMS9928A; Resolution 256 × 192 pixels; 32 sprites
- Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489AN, three-part
software
Unlike contemporary competitors was Colecos variant of BASIC - Interpreter , Smart Basic , not in the ROM stored, but settled on a disk. Smartbasic was largely compatible with Applesoft BASIC , which opened up an extensive, existing range of software.
The system initially boots into typewriter mode when it starts up. You can switch to a word processor ("SmartWriter") at the touch of a button . Further system components are the Elementary Operating System (EOS) and the ColecoVision operating system.
The CP / M operating system was available as an option.
marketing
Coleco introduced the Adam in June 1983 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The sales target by Christmas 1983 was given as half a million units. From the time the system was introduced to the time it was shipped, the retail price rose from $ 525 to $ 725. Including comparable accessories, it was roughly on par with the competing product, the Commodore 64 , and significantly below the IBM PCjr .
The Adam was largely rated positively by the American trade press; Keyboard and printer were of good quality, sound and graphics were the standards of the time. However, the sales figures did not meet expectations; in addition, many customers have withdrawn from the purchase due to the technical issues mentioned above. In the fourth quarter of 1984 the Adam Coleco made a loss of 35 million US dollars.
As a countermeasure, Coleco issued a new operating manual for the Adam, reduced the retail price, and granted the option of a college scholarship of $ 500 for every device purchased. Still, fewer than 100,000 units were sold in total, and the Adam was withdrawn from the market in 1985.
The Adam project weakened Coleco and consumed a large part of the capital the company had accumulated with the sale of the "Cabbage Patch Kids" doll figure series; Coleco filed for bankruptcy in 1988.
Until at least 2012 there is or was an annual Adam Convention in the USA , AdamCon .
See also
- Video Game Crash - 1983 US game console market crisis
Individual evidence
- ^ Coleco Discontinues Its Adam Computer Line , LA Times, Jan. 3, 1985
- ↑ a b Bateman, S .; Halfhill, T .: Coleco's Adam: A Hands-On Report , Compute! No. 46, 1984
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ InfoWorld, Vol. 6, Num. 17, p. 66. April 23, 1984. ISSN 0199-6649
- ↑ Greenwald, John: How Does This , Time Magazine. June 18, 1984. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
- ↑ AdamCon - Coleco Adam Convention News and Adam News Archives ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Expandable Computer News - Archive of an English language magazine for ADAM users
- Oldcomputers.net: Adam (English)
- Techtite: ColecoVision Adam (English)
- Coleco Adam Technical Reference Manual
- Coleco ADAM Schematics