My Coleco Adam Computer: Does it Still Work?
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- The Adam Computer is was a beast of a machine that came out in 1983. Coleco gambled a lot on the success of this computer coming out at a very challenging time for any new products to thrive. In this video, I unbox my Adam Computer and see if it still works. I also unbox my Coleco Expansion Module #3 and test that as well. Do they still work?
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I can tell ya my notifications still do! Good morning!
Good morning to you! Thank you for dropping a comment and have a good day :).
John Hancock Love your channel! Keep up the great content! 👍
I got no videos from John in my Sub page,heard of that issue before but that´s the first time it happened to me.
John, thank you for the shout-out. It's appreciated ☺. Reach out anytime 🙂
Glen knows his stuff!!
Brian's Man Cave .. thank you Brian. I try 😎☺ and I know Retro system rescue and I will get John going again.
oh cool! Maybe you could help with my Vic-20 one day... Black screen :(
Brian's Man Cave yea.. I will be happy to try
I bought 2 of them off ebay back in the late 90s. They both worked. I loved mine. That daisy wheel printer was LOUD!!! I had to sell all of my vintage systems when i was broke in Chicago. Some day i will buy another. Love your videos.
Loved the Coleco! Quality control was never their strong suit. I remember having to return 3 or 4 consoles before I got one that worked consistently.
My first computer was an Adam. Nice to see it again!
Mine to, Christmas of '83
I first started programming on this old computer back in 1988-1989 before I was 10 years old. I wrote a Ducktales text adventure game for me and my little sister. So 80s it hurts, but this machine started me on my lifelong love of computer programming. My BASIC cartridge was so heavily damaged it took about 25 minutes to start up... but I waited for it so I could play around.
Thanks John for doing ColecoVision. You know it's my favorite. Very cool. 100k subs is right around the corner
i hate to see this happen to you john thank you for showing us even when it didnt work for you its good to see stuff like this and i could tell you were bummed when the first one didnt work by the tone of your voice showing the second model u have hope someone nice repairs all 3 of them for you
Thanks for the steady stream of great content John.
I loved my Adam II computer... I remember writing long code to make the screen dance and if you missed one thing you had to start over again. It was in the book that the computer came with and I practiced for hours having to start over and over again. I finally got it all typed in and it worked. I had little pixel squares of all different colors blinking all over the screen. It was so awesome. I was hoping to find a video of the screen dancing to show my kids.
Love all of your videos, very instructive for myself, Big up from France
That was a lot of fun man! I always worry when I go to plug in some of my older systems that I will get the black screen of death. Also I had no idea that the expansion 3 existed... my friend (who funny enough was named Adam) had the computer and I remember playing many Colecovision games on it :-)
I love how positive you were at the end even after everything failed. You're a good man Mr. Hancock. PS: At a PhillyClassic a decade or so ago someone offered me an Adam for FREE in box to take it off their hands. Knowing the extensive list of problems with them and already having a working ColecoVision at home, I said no. (Wouldn't exactly have fit in my suitcase for the flight home anyway!)
Great Video!!! Your passion is infectious👍
Had one fun and taught myself to code with their info...!!!
Bummer man. I think a updated 2018 room of doom tour in the near future would lift everyone’s spirits. 🤞
I loved having the Adam computer as a kid. So many hours playing Buck Rodgers and Smurfs paint and play.
Classic.
That was quite an adventure, John!
Great story: My brother wanted a C64 so bad but my cheap parents bought him this. I loved it I played Dragons Lair Zaxxon, and my Colecovison games. This brought me way back.
Buck Rogers was a great one too
John's knuckles look like he's in fight club
This was the first "Computer" my family had. I remember mom playing Buck Rogers, and my five year old self not being able to even get my name on the high score table, which she had completely filled. We installed a second tape drive, I recall, and something happened to one of the chips that controlled the tape drives (It was U-26 on the board) which took it out of commission. In addition to Buck Rogers, we had some other game for little kids that I don't recall very well, seems like it was Richard Scary's something or other - I remember a worm driving a car shaped like an apple around a little path for different activities. I would have been four or five at the time.
Ok a quick google tells me it was "Richard Scarry's Best Electronic Word Book Ever"
John, give it to a museum, the only wright place for this old computer stuff😉.
I still can't believe my Atari 400 still works. I was playing Jumpman Junior on it when I was 10. Now I'm 45 and I'm still playing Jumpman Junior on it, from time to time.
Johnnyfalcon613 and then my Xbox one breaks after like 2 months of having it lol your lucky
Soul Glo my Atari 2600 is around 40 years old and it still works... lol
Credit to you for still showing this even though they didn't work. Still interesting: )
I'm happy you're getting it fixed.... Would love to see a follow-up video with it working. Thanks
Good video, you made a great point with it. I hope you'll get a working Adam sometime soon and show it off for us.
Too bad John :) I had ylod on one of my ps3 fat's 2 days ago. Need to get the ps2 disc out still :D. Good Luck! And keep up the good work. Always enjoy watching your video's. Greetings from Belgium!
Interesting look, thanks!
I actually liked watching all of your attempts even if they all failed. It just feels like I'm more honest video. Please keep us posted and follow-up if you fix it
I remember having an Adam in the 1980s. I believe mine died in 3 days. The power for the whole unit went through the printer from what I remember, and that was the weak point. It was returned and an Apple IIc was the replacement, never had an issue with that computer.
This Pc Destroyed my Hometown of Amsterdam, NY. Where most of Coleco factories were. We were riding High with the Cabbage Patch doll, then the Colecovision Gaming system and than the Adam came out.........Everyone got laid off......The End 😥
The "holder" prevents wobble between two units joined by a connector. This was a big problem on many platforms from the early '80s.
John, did you say how you were connecting to the TV? Are you using a TV/Antenna game switch box, is it set to "Game", and are the twin leads screwed to the VHF antenna input? If you are using the coax input, is there a 75 ohm to 300 ohm converter?
I have the same Adam as the first one you showed...box and all! I got it for Christmas when I was about 13. Last time I tested it was a couple of years ago and it still worked. Try moving the printer away from the tv. That printer throws out a LOT of interference!
*wow it's huge!* a twin tape deck and roman numerals on the keyboard? interesting video. hope you can get it repaired.
Great video...
gonna get them serviced John? Ive recently delved into the ColecoVision on my Pi, and been really enjoying the library (i use a CRT and run the games in 240p for a bit more authenticity). Lovely system, and the game library was SOLID from what i've seen!
Could be electrolytic capacitors drying out in those machines. Hard to tell though, but old electronics always seem to have issues with capacitors.
Too bad it didn't work for you. I still have my original ColecoVision with the original foam that is still working. I got it used 20 years ago and I usually use the Expansion Module #1 I believe what it's called that runs Atari 2600 games. I am currently waiting for another power supply so I can test a light sixer 2600 that I picked up at an Antique store last month. I am hoping it works as it looks to be in pretty good shape.
I still have my Coleco vision and it still works... but I never even knew this concoction existed lol
Awesome stuff John ,)
Please do an update video if and when you get your Adam up and running. Quite curious about it.
I never have planned to cross the Atlantic... Yet if.. no when your museum will open for public. Im comming!
Whoaaaa...this thing looks heavy
Bummer. I was looking forward to seeing it work. I have some Atari 2600's that are dying that way. I need to repair them. Rat chewed my coleco power supply cable and the controller cables off my intellivision consoles. I've been too angry about it to repair them. Lol. Be sure and do a follow up when you get these coleco computers repaired, please!
My Colecovisions work just fine, but my expansion module 3 stopped working years ago. 🙁 It was my family's first console/computer so I can't bear to part with it. I might have to look into fixing it, I didn't know that it was an option.
The only thing I dont like about the coleco adam is that you have to have the printer connected for it to work.
I think there's a new PSU someone was selling that allowed you to ditch the printer.
Ah Coleco, hometown pride right there, even if it wasn't as good as Nintendo.
Was this system released worldwide? I've never heard of it or seen one...
My wife and I went Antiquing yesterday and I found a RS TRS-80 and a IMAC. Also a Smith Corona XL 1700 electronic typewriter. They wanted $300 for RS TRS-80, I’m not sure if that is a deal or a little inflated. I tried looking online and couldn’t find a price point to compare.
Silly question.. when u had the one expansion module #3 connected and on the colecovision screen.. did u pull the reset on the expansion module #3. When u press the reset swich on the colecovision it puts it in colecovision mode. Yoy need to press thr reset switch on the expansion module #3 to swich it to the Adam mode.
I did and it did nothing.
John Hancock .. I would try if you can just clean the expansion port with Q-ips and rubbing alcohol.. but might need chips reset.. but cleaning could give some results...
If the Adams not working, its the printers fault. We went through 3 of them. The power supply was in the printer so when it went, time to get a new printer
That's too bad that those beasts don't work correctly. I remember playing with my friend's Adam computer back in the day, and we played Buck Rogers a number of times. They look soooo similar to regular cassettes, it's kinda hard to tell!
can you post a link to the guy you use for repairs?
Nice video
I remember having one of these and the tapes would just get pulled out and tangled sometimes. Memories. And the printer it would make the floor shake.
Try to look at the capacitors. Those seem to go bad just sitting. Chances are if you re-cap it it may work.
Please get these up and running and post a new video
That's too bad it didn't work. I'm 30, and grew up with one of these. Bought a complete unit with two drives and a ton of games from my neighbor for $100 when I was 12.
My favorite games were Donkey Kong and Fortune Builder. I also learned Basic accidentally and didn't realize at the time how useful that was. That was $100 well spent.
Hey John.. Do you need the printer to power the expansion module 3?
Having owned one, I can say yes you did. But there were third-party power supplies that allowed you to use the system without the printer.
I've never seen a Coleco Adam work. After reading a thread on AtariAge, I thought I'd come to RUclips to check out a video of a real live Adam in operation... (sigh).
I have a brand new adam complete in the box ,is it worth anything ? Im thinking of taking it to the dump ...
Look up on completed sold eBay auctions.
The hell happened to your hand, did you punch a wall or something?
I injured my hand skateboarding at a kid. Grated my knuckle on the road doing a flip. It was nasty.
John Hancock damnn...rip
He's just waiting for the last 2 Infinity Stones.
I just pissed myself reading this.
The rapidly-aging John Hancock.
I would bet that there are bad capacitors on the board. Caps are notorious for going out with age and causing issues - the worst of which happens when the electrolyte inside the cap leaks onto the board and damages surrounding components.
You might need the 8 bit guy or BBISHOPPCM to look at your boards
Basically using the ADAM computer was an issue
Captain Brambles lol
You will need to look around for someone that can do repairs. Most of the people I know that do repairs on things like that are in Europe though. Im sure you know people that can look at it though.
Never heard of it and what year?
retroguy 25 1983
For being a 1983 hardware that's pretty creative for it's time I think so that is
Too bad they don't work. Fingers crossed it's an easy fix.
If anyone needs just the buck Rogers game get at me
My Adam computer got me through the last two years of high school before I "upgraded" to a commie 64.
good choice ;)
it is older than me
It's dude from American Pickers 😂
Couldn't you just have read the instruction manual or no?
Did these ever work? I remember my older brother, who loved Colecovision bought the Adam addon when it came out. It didn't work, so he brought it back to Target and got another one. That didn't work either. Maybe the ADAM fiasco didn't cause the video game crash, but it didn't help either. And it did hasten the downfall of Coleco. The only thing that saved the company that Christmas was the popularity of the Cabbage Patch Kids ( If I'm remembering correctly, Coleco took a bath on their video game sales because of ADAM. The return rate was pretty bad.). Our experience was they were pieces of junk, and after 2 bad ADAM units, my brother switched over to playing computer games on the C 64.
Mark Hanson Exactly why the Adam failed, they were all pieces of crap.
Bugger, sorry bro
Good videos, John. Can you get a new theme song?
You going to make it for me ;)?
Dude, I have NO idea how you even made the one you have now ;) It just sounds like circus music, ya know?
Alot of people like it. It sounds like the Sega Genesis.
Yeah, I guess you're right. Can't argue with that ;) Keep up the videos, I dig them.
1st BOOM
Not surprised they didn't work, they barely ever worked when brand new. The Adam was NOT a great computer for the time, it was a piece of junk. That's why it failed.