Flashback: 1983 - The Coleco ADAM


My first computer was an ADAM, the Coleco computer. I wrote the first versions of Romulan Hunt and Taxman on it.   It had a version of BASIC that was almost identical to Applesoft BASIC, the difference being that the screen area had a few more pixels and more colors.

The picture isn't entirely accurate, as there were 2 versions of the ADAM. The all-beige unit was sold as a computer. I had the black Coleco game unit and an "adapter" ADAM that plugged into the game unit. The keyboard and printer were the same as pictured here.

I heard about the ADAM before it was released and ordered it from Montgomery Wards. The first one I got had a tape drive that ate my tape the first day I used it! We took it back to Wards and demanded a replacement. They only had units that had been special ordered, like mine, and we told the gal to give us one and delay someone else's order and she did!

ADAM's Stats: 

Processor: Zilog z80
OS: Adam OS
Memory: 80k
Storage: dual tape drives

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