cctalk Digest, Vol 61, Issue 27

[Geoffrey Oltmans]

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Ethan O'Toole" <ethan at 757.org>
> To: Murray McCullough <c.murray.mccullough at gmail.com>, "General
> Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 11:11:49 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: Coleco & Atari
> > old? 1983. Coleco ADAM, my favourite, and Atari 600XL, not so much. I
> still
> > have my ADAM. No not why. But isn’t this why we all belong to
> classiccomp. And
> > $600. How quaint! BTW(sorry), it had an update on CP/M called CP/M Plus.
> > Gosh, I miss those old days.
>
> Oh man, the Atari 8bit is second to the Adam? IIRC the 800XL and Floppy
> Drive cost less than the Coleco Adam kit. You didn't get a daisy wheel
> printer, but you got better sound and a much larger library.
>
> I grew up on the ColecoVision, neighbor had the Atari 5200. I used to say
> the ColecoVision was better when younger but now I have to say I think the
> Atari 5200 is better.
>
> Have yet to own an Adam, but I always thought of the Adam as something of
> a failure? There was a large number of them that shipped DOA or close to
> DOA as well due to power supply issue (in the printer) ?
>
>
>
The ADAM was a well-designed system with a great set of launch software
hobbled by a rollout/gamble for the Christmas buying season that didn't pay
off. If they had a proper release to work out the manufacturing issues they
would have been a lot more successful I think. Nevertheless, any system in
the wild you come across should work just as well as any other vintage
machine by this time. It's my favorite machine pre-Amiga/ST/IIgs/Mac.