15 Jan
2008
15 Jan
'08
6:20 p.m.
From: "Jason T" <silent700 at gmail.com>
Any idea if he's willing to ship it?
I expect that he is going to ship it (at the expense of whoever gets it).
My friend was quite surprised when I forwarded him e-mail from 4 people
who were interested in it.
alan
From:
Alan Perry <alanp at snowmoose.com> <alanp at snowmoose.com>
A friend of mine has a Coleco Adam (and bits to
go with the system) that
he wants to get rid. I do not yet have the complete list of what he
has. Anyone here interested in it? It is located in Shelton, WA. It
sounded like it was free, but I need to confirm that.
9:19 p.m.
On Jan 15, 2008, at 4:15 PM, woodelf wrote:
Block-structured cassette...Very interesting design, reminds me of
DECtape (in the logical sense).
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
Dunno.
There are so many ebay sellers not willing to ship
something overseas...I think there must be something impeding
them, don't now what.
Less profit margin???
BTW was the Adam the computer system with the cassete I/O and the
cleap daisy wheel printer? 
9:26 a.m.
BTW was the
Adam the computer system with the cassete I/O and the
cleap daisy wheel printer?
Block-structured cassette...Very interesting design, reminds me of
DECtape (in the logical sense). 
16 Jan
16 Jan
10:23 a.m.
BTW was
the Adam the computer system with the cassete I/O and the
cleap daisy wheel printer?
Block-structured cassette...Very interesting design, reminds me of
DECtape (in the logical sense).
6:07 a.m.
New subject: Coleco Adam system available
> I've got a couple surplus Adams (Ottawa,
Ontario Canada) if anyone
> wants...
I would be interested. How much do you want for one?
Could you also give me
an idea what the shipping would to ...
I've had a couple of calls on these ... just to clairify:
It's probably best if both units go together, because:
- One is a tapeless version - apparently Coleco sold a few
of these as "smart typewriters"
- The other one has a note on it that the expansion connector
does not work.
- I'll have to check, but I may only have one good condition
keyboard for them.
It's my thought that someone could easily make one really nice
unit, and one "working parts machine" from the two of them.
I'd also like to unload an extra printer (in addition to the two that
go with the units).
So preference is given to anyone who wants to haul the lot away.
(Free assuming I have to do little to no work)
I'll consider shipping, but please don't ask me unless you are really
and seriously interested - I'll have to essentially pack the machines
to get the weight and dimensions in order go get shipping quotes.
Given the amount of material, it's not likely to be super cheap.
Dave
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html
12:40 a.m.
And thusly were the wise words spake by woodelf
Alexandre Souza wrote:
Yes.. Unreliable high-speed digital cassette and the power supply is
in the *printer*! No printer, no computing for you!
Cheers,
Bryan
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not
willing to ship something
overseas...I think there must be something impeding them, don't now what.
Less
profit margin???
BTW was the Adam the computer system with the cassete I/O and the
cleap daisy wheel printer? 
1:15 a.m.
To make it worse, the damned power supplies in the Adam printers are
like a small scale EMP (Electro-magnet Pulse) Generator.... any media
near it is bulk erased when you power on. To add insult to injury -
the power plug is also proprietary. I love the Adam Computers for
what they promised, but hate them for how they short changed everyone
looking forward to them when they came out. Hence the 1983(?) cover of
Videogaming & Computing Magazine that had a big red mushroom cloud with
an Adam in the middle of it with the title "Adam Bomb"
Curt
Bryan Pope wrote:
And thusly were the wise words spake by woodelf
Alexandre Souza wrote:
Yes.. Unreliable high-speed digital cassette and the power supply is
in the *printer*! No printer, no computing for you!
Cheers,
Bryan
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not
willing to ship something
overseas...I think there must be something impeding them, don't now what.
Less profit margin???
BTW was the Adam the computer system with the cassete I/O and the
cleap daisy wheel printer?
12:27 p.m.
To make it worse, the damned power supplies in the
Adam printers are
like a small scale EMP (Electro-magnet Pulse) Generator.... any media
near it is bulk erased when you power on. To add insult to injury -
the power plug is also proprietary. I love the Adam Computers for
what they promised, but hate them for how they short changed everyone
looking forward to them when they came out. Hence the 1983(?) cover of
Videogaming & Computing Magazine that had a big red mushroom cloud with
an Adam in the middle of it with the title "Adam Bomb"
So... while we are "Adam bashing", lets not forget those lovely preformatted
cassette tapes - The system had no ability to format a tape, hence you had
to use "official adam tapes", and once they got corrupted (frequently) they
didn't work any more. Great way to sell tapes I suppose.
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html
6 p.m.
Dave Dunfield wrote:
So... while we are "Adam bashing", lets not
forget those lovely preformatted
cassette tapes - The system had no ability to format a tape, hence you had
to use "official adam tapes", and once they got corrupted (frequently) they
didn't work any more. Great way to sell tapes I suppose.
Is there *any* way to reformat these tapes, or are they all doomed?
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
6:16 p.m.
--- Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> wrote:
Dave Dunfield wrote:
Well, sorta. You need one good formatted tape to start
off with, and then some blanks. Basically, all you
have to do is drill extra holes in a regular 60 minute
audio cassette so that it will fit into the Adam, then
either drill holes in your formatted blank, or
transfer the tape into a normal audio cassette shell
(so it fits into a regular tape deck). Then, use a
dual well audio cassette deck and copy the Adam
formatted blank tape onto the blank audio tape. I've
actually done this before, and gotten it to work.
Of course, a bigger problem is the fact that the
rubber rollers in those stupid "Digital Data Pack"
tape drives are have mostly turned to goo by now.
-Ian
So... while we are "Adam bashing", lets
not forget
those lovely preformatted
cassette tapes - The system had no ability to
format a tape, hence you had
to use "official adam tapes", and once
they got
corrupted (frequently) they
didn't work any more. Great way to sell tapes
I
suppose.
Is there *any* way to reformat these tapes, or are
they all doomed? 
7:40 p.m.
another way u can do it is to go to ecoleco.com For a Buck ($1) each you can
have one original Loran (brand) center directory Loran Digital Datapack
originally programmed for use with software (SmartLetters & Forms, Recipe
Filer, Flashcard Maker, or other). These tapes are new, sealed, and you can
actually run the programs on the Coleco Adam Computer just like they come.
However, if you just want to use them as blank datapacks then you can easily
initialize and reset the Directory using File Manager or other software
utilities file manager 3.0 is 7 dollars i have delt with theese guys before
without a problem
Chris
On 1/16/08, Mr Ian Primus <ian_primus at yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> wrote:
Dave Dunfield wrote:
Well, sorta. You need one good formatted tape to start
off with, and then some blanks. Basically, all you
have to do is drill extra holes in a regular 60 minute
audio cassette so that it will fit into the Adam, then
either drill holes in your formatted blank, or
transfer the tape into a normal audio cassette shell
(so it fits into a regular tape deck). Then, use a
dual well audio cassette deck and copy the Adam
formatted blank tape onto the blank audio tape. I've
actually done this before, and gotten it to work.
Of course, a bigger problem is the fact that the
rubber rollers in those stupid "Digital Data Pack"
tape drives are have mostly turned to goo by now.
-Ian
So... while we are "Adam bashing", lets
not forget
those lovely preformatted
cassette tapes - The system had no ability to
format a tape, hence you had
to use "official adam tapes", and once
they got
corrupted (frequently) they
didn't work any more. Great way to sell tapes
I
suppose.
Is there *any* way to reformat these tapes, or are
they all doomed?
10:19 a.m.
Alexandre Souza wrote:
Yes. It had a high speed cassette drive on it. The printer was also the
power supply for the whole system.
Greg Manuel
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not
willing to ship something
overseas...I think there must be something impeding them, don't
now what.
Less profit margin???
BTW was the Adam the computer system with the cassete I/O and the
cleap daisy wheel printer?
15 Jan
15 Jan
9:29 p.m.
On Jan 15, 2008, at 4:27 PM, Alexandre Souza wrote:
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not willing to ship
something overseas...I think there must be something impeding them,
don't now what.
Tons of pain-in-the-butt paperwork.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
It could be five, but I doubt he would be
interested in
shipping that to Brazil :o(
Why not? That is real shipping, mate :) 
9:47 p.m.
On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dave McGuire wrote:
It wasn't a hassle for me to ship an Altair to England.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
Dunno.
There are so many ebay sellers not willing to ship
something overseas...I think there must be something impeding them,
don't now what.
Tons of pain-in-the-butt paperwork. 
9:48 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave McGuire" <mcguire at neurotica.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: Coleco Adam system available (Jason T)
On Jan 15, 2008, at 4:27 PM, Alexandre Souza wrote:
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not willing to ship
something overseas...I think there must be something impeding them,
don't now what.
Tons of pain-in-the-butt paperwork.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
I shipped small items to Australia and Canada and USPS just wanted me to
fill out what I was sending, to who it was going to, and its value (marked
as gift so people would not pay customs duties). Not that much to fill out.
It could be five, but I doubt he would be
interested in
shipping that to Brazil :o(
Why not? That is real shipping, mate :)
10:51 p.m.
On Jan 15, 2008, at 4:48 PM, Teo Zenios wrote:
Tons of pain-in-the-butt paperwork.
I shipped small items to Australia and Canada and USPS just wanted
me to
fill out what I was sending, to who it was going to, and its value
(marked
as gift so people would not pay customs duties). Not that much to
fill out.
That wasn't the case with FedEx a couple of years ago. It was so
much trouble that I just gave up on shipping outside of the paranoid
USA.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
> It
could be five, but I doubt he would be interested in
> shipping that to Brazil :o(
Why not? That is real shipping, mate :)
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not willing to ship
something overseas...I think there must be something impeding them,
don't now what. 
11 p.m.
On Jan 15, 2008 2:51 PM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
On Jan 15, 2008, at 4:48 PM, Teo Zenios wrote:
I shipped small items to Australia and Canada and USPS just wanted
me to
fill out what I was sending, to who it was going to, and its value
(marked
as gift so people would not pay customs duties). Not that much to
fill out.
That wasn't the case with FedEx a couple of years ago. It was so
much trouble that I just gave up on shipping outside of the paranoid
USA.
-Dave
Perhaps things have changed since your experience, but last year I did
a LOT of foreign shipping with Fedex, UPS, and the USPS. In all cases,
it was pretty easy to send stuff. I just had to deal with the
strangely-formatted addresses (Japanese addresses were really hard, I
recall, and Sweden threw me a few times) and fill in one extra web
form (I was doing this online) for the customs stuff, which took
basically no time. I've only had problems shipping internationally
ONCE, when I was trying to send a bottle of flammable conformal
coating to the Philippines and wasn't really sure about the
procedure... had to order some special hazardous materials boxes, fill
out lots of extra forms, and then drive it directly to the local
distribution warehouse because the college post office didn't want to
be accept hazardous materials.
Basically, I've never had any problems with international shipping;
don't overthink the customs forms, and most certainly don't overvalue
the computer you're sending--avoid paying duty that way, and it's not
worth that much anyway.
John
--
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
>> It could be five, but I doubt he would be
interested in
>> shipping that to Brazil :o(
> Why not? That is real shipping, mate :)
Dunno. There are so many ebay sellers not willing to ship
something overseas...I think there must be something impeding them,
don't now what.
Tons of pain-in-the-butt paperwork.
6198
days inactive
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20 comments
14 participants
participants (14)
-
alanp＠snowmoose.com -
alexandre-listas＠e-secure.com.br -
bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
bpope＠wordstock.com -
curt＠atarimuseum.com -
dave06a＠dunfield.com -
dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu -
halarewich＠gmail.com -
ian_primus＠yahoo.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
slawmaster＠gmail.com -
teoz＠neo.rr.com -
trixter＠oldskool.org -
vze323vd＠verizon.net