

Ramblings
From The Ridge
Thomas
Rattigan, head of Commodore was recently fired. If you will recall he
is the former Pepsi executive who was hired to replace Marshall Smith.
Under Smith's management Commodore nearly went bankrupt. Under
Rattigan's leadership the company finally returned to profitability, so
naturally they fired him and about 50 other managers. Looks like
Commodore has returned to the kinds of decision making that brought us
the Plus-4 and other fiascos.
criticisms of the Macintosh. Now that Apple has seen the light and
begun producing Macs with open architecture, it only makes sense that
IBM would try to give their new systems a closed architecture. Look for
Apple to take advantage of this situation as well as companies like
Zenith and Compaq. Well boys and girls can you spell BIG BLUE MISTAKE?9 listAnd here is what it looks like when you compile and run it:
scr #9 SAMPLE.BLK
0 1/2 Example of double-size (32-bit) variables 1Jun86tcg
1 1/2 Interactively create a 32-bit variable d 1/4 for the OK tolerance
2 : tolerate ( n -- )
3 1/2 Store the input number for the allowable tolerance
4 s>d d 1/4 2! ;
5 : check ( d1 d2 -- )
6 1/2 check to see if the 32-bit number d2 is "close enough" to d1
7 d- dabs d 1/4 2@ ( find absolute difference )
8 d> if ." not" ( compare to tolerance d 1/4 )
9 else ." about the same"
10 then ;
ok
2 variable d 1/4 ok(Yes, experienced programmers, FORTH, unlike almost all other computer languages, DOES accept commas in INPUT numbers!)
9 load ok
2 tolerate ok
300,000 299,998 check about the same ok
300,000 299,997 check not ok
3 tolerate ok
300,000 299,997 check about the same ok
bye
395 POKE 16680 + x, 3In the MERGE program, line 230 should read as follows:
230 POKE 65534, 205: POKE 65535, 31Please accept his and our apolgies for any inconvenience this may have caused. NOTE: These have been corrected in the online Issue #19.
|
#1 Adam User's Group P.O. Box 3761 - Attn: Jay Forman Cherry Hill, NJ 08034 LOCAL GROUPS James E. Gilbert 4608 Lakeview Dr. Huntsville, AL 35810 Victor L. Watford P.O. Box 777 Russellville, AL 35653 Richard Bains 7210 Bulen Drive Anchorage, AK 99507 Danny Levitt 4525 S. White Pine Tucson, AZ 85730 Robert R. Marentes 9425 N. 38th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85021 East Bay ADAM Group (EBAG) Tom Ozretich 6097 Slopview Court Castro Valley, CA 94552 ph. 415-886-2884 Harvey Klein So. California ADAM Users 1736 So. Bedford Street Los Angeles, CA 90035 Frank Fleich 13381-19 Magnolia Ave. Corona, CA 91719 Central Calif. Adam User's Group James Turner, Jr. 20110 Ave. 19 Madera, CA 93637 San Diego Adam Users Group Dr. Harold Alexander 37 Catspaw Cape Coronado, CA 92118 AUG of San Diego County 868 N. 2nd St. #242 El Cajon, CA 92021 ph. 619/445-2400 Bay Region ADAM Information Network 550 27th St. #202 San Francisco, CA 94131 ph. 415/282-3056 Inland Empire Users Group Ann Quetel 6644 Seine Ave. Highland, CA 92346 ph. 714/862-5807 Denver ADAM User's Group 1416 Lipan St. Denver, CO 80204 ADAM Users Group #305 John F. Busby, II 6634 SW 41st St. Davie, FL 33314 Emerald Coast ADAM User's Group Howard Pines 1010 Gloria Drive Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548 Robert J. Niemeyer 292 Boca Ciega Point Blvd. N. St. Petersburg, FL 33708 ADAM User's Group Michael G. Graham 217 Albert St. Winter Springs, FL 32709 ph. 305/327-1387 |
John Moore 1870 Fisher Tr. NE Atlanta, GA 30345 Hawaii AUG Harlan Fletcher 2335C Apollo Ave. Honolulu, HI 96818 ph. 808/422-4019 Donald R. Lager 5415 N. 2nd St. Rockford, IL 61111 ph. 815/877-7786 KC Users Group Joe Reardon 1513 Tauromee Kansas City, KS 66102 913/371-7491 Greater Cincinatti Adam Users Group c/o Keith Bowman P.O. Box 434 Alexandria, KY 41001 ADAM Network P.O. Box 85 East Detroit, MI 48021 Bill & Nancy Rahn 12426-15th St. S. Afton, MN 55001 ph. 612/436-6577 Outsider's Users Group Donald Viltiard P.O. Box 771 Starkville, MS 39759 Omaha ADAM Users Club Norman Castro 809 West 33rd Ave. Bellevue, NE 68005 ph. 402/291-4405 Al Roginski 4327 Thorndale Pl. Las Vegas, NV 89103 Metro Adam User's Group Russell Williams 414 W. 149th St. New York, NY 10031 ph. 212/208-0645 (9am-5pm M-F) Genesee Valley Adam Users Donald K. Zimmermah 5132 Jordon Road Silver Springs, NY 14550 ADAM-X-Change (New York & Canada) Wade Rowley 12863 Washburn Wolcott, NY 14590 Tri-Angle Adam Users L-5 Oak Grove Chapel Hill, NC 27514 ph 919/968-0299 Mutual ADAM Users Group 412 Bettie Street Akron, OH 44306 Lake Erie Adam Users 2110 W. 36th Street Lorain, OH 44503 ph. 216/282-8467 Portland Adam Users Group Craig Frerichs P.O. Box 1081 Portland, OR 97207 The (717) Adam Users Steve Chamberlain 120 E. 4th ST. Bloomsburg, PA 17815 |
Roger Burford, Lot 142 NAS MHP Millington, TN 38053 Adam Users of El Paso Alan Samuels 4821 Vista Del Monte El Paso, TX 79922 Houston AAUG c/o Thomas Rutan 1805 14th Ave. N Texas City, TX 77590 Norfolk ADAM Group Gerald M. Steen 1000 Rockbridge Ave. #144 Norfolk, VA 23508 ADAM Users Group of Central Virginia Thomas J. Kelly 3B, Rt. 664 Earlysville, VA 22936 ADAM Washington D.C. Users Group 1811 St. Roman Dr. Vienna, VA 22180 Puget Sound Adam Network 22607 SE 322nd Kent, WA 98042 ph. 206/886-1167 Dave Sandahl USNH, Box 2844 FPO Seattle, WA 98778 CANADA Robert Dunstan 95 Harland Crescent Ajax, Ontario L1S 1K2 Derek Townsend Box 820 Claresholm, Alberta T0L 0T0 Edmonton Adam Users Group Richard Forges 14712 - 122 St. Edmonton, Alberta T5X 1V9 J.A. Girard 1420 Ave. Langevin Sud Alma, Quebec G8B 6B1 Mike Laurier 7350 Roi Rene Anjou, Quebec H1K 3G6 Mr. G. Hibbert P.O. Box 10 Mistatim, Saskatchewan S0E 1B0 First Canadian Adam User's Group P.O. Box 547 Victoria Station Westmount, Quebec H3Z 2Y6 Winnipeg Adam Users Group 729 Government Ave. Winnipeg, Manitoba R2K 1X5 Metro-Toronto Adam Group P.O. Box 123 260 Adelaide St. East Toronto, Ontario M5A 1N0 AUSTRALIA The Bendigo Colecovision Club C1-2 Fenton St. Bendigo, VIC 3550, Australia ADAM Owner's & User's Group 4 Norman Street Deakin, ACT 2600, Australia ENGLAND The U.K. ADAM Subscribers Keith A. Marner 33 Homer Road Croydon, Surrey, CR0 7SB, England |
Let's now take a look back and see what
developments have lead us to the present and how this model of the
typical home computer buyer evolved and affected the developments over
the last several years.
In 1971 Nolan Bushnell and his associates
introduced PONG under the Atari label. A later version included a
greater variety of options.
By 1982 Atari clearly had the lead in terms of
systems sold. Mattel's Intellivision was in second place and NAP
(Phillips) was in third with Odyssey. Atari, who had slowly been
introducing new games, was faced with a new problem — competition
in the software market. A number of companies had begun introducing
cartridges for the VCS. Some of these included Apollo (Space Caverns,
Spacechase, Skeet Shoot, Racquetball, & Lost Luggage), Activision
(Laser Blast, Kaboom, Grand Prix, & more), Imagic (Demon Attack
& Star Voyager), and Parker Bros. (Star Wars, Frogger). Of
these Activision, Imagic and Parker Bros, would become quite
successful. Apollo would be outclassed and would simply disappear.
Nevertheless, by the beginning of 1982, Atari was beginning to lose
control of the home video game market. Warner's acquisition, while
still turning large profits, was being doomed by internal and external
forces. No longer did gamers have to rely on Atari to quench their
thirst for games and the games from other companies were great. These
upstarts, particularly Imagic, were providing not only excellent game
play but brilliant graphics, pushing the VCS beyond its limited
capabilities.
Space Fury, Venture, Mouse Trap, Lady Bug, Cosmic Avenger, Zaxxon,
Carnival, Turbo, Side Trak, Spectar, Rip Cord, Head-to-Head Baseball,
Head-to-Head Football, Skiing, Horse Racing, Blackjack/Poker, Tunnels
& Trolls, Fidelity's Chess Challenger, Smurf, and Mr. Turtle. I am
sure that all of you have these, particularly the ones that I have
underlined. The threat of an expandable system by Coleco quickly got
everyone's attention.
Warner felt that nothing could go wrong. Warner
failed to perceive that sitting in the wings were a large number of
third party developers who would dump large amounts of VCS cartridge
software on the market. In addition, home computers were on the verge
of undergoing a major transition. Not only were other companies
greedily eyeing the potential for profits, but established competitors
like Commodore were preparing for a major price war that would make the
old gasoline wars look like child's play. Warner was not alone in
misjudging the situation. . A number of Wall Street analysts viewed the
growth potential of this new industry as virtually unlimited. Despite
the fact that their are only so many families in the U.S. that could
afford to buy game systems and home computers as well as their
expensive software, everyone was overly optimistic about the future.
At the June 1982 Consumer Electronics Show,
things began to happen. Emerson introduced the Arcadia 2001 portable
programmable game system that was to have offered some 20 unnamed
titles. Atari introduced the 5200. GCE introduced the Vectrex game
system with its built in vector-graphics screen and games like Berzerk,
Star Trek & Scramble. A number of third party software companies
introduced cartridges for the VCS. Finally, Coleco introduced a nearly
finished Colecovision system (they had not yet obtained FCC approval, a
problem that would delay shipment by several months).
In spite of all of the activity in 1982, 1983
would erupt in a virtual explosion of new introductions for the
Atari VCS and would see a number of other interesting developments
dealing with Coleco's efforts.
By late spring Coleco had decided to drop the
module and proceed with the ADAM Computer expansion module instead. The
ADAM at this point still had wafer drives instead of the data drives.
The list of Super Games had changed to Slither, Tunnels & Trolls,
Ulysses and the Golden Fleece, Sword and Sorcerer, Cranston Manor, Gorf
and Front Line in addition to the original games planned for the SG
Module. ADAM was set to ship in August with the Expansion Module priced
at $400 and the standalone at $600. All Super Games were scheduled to
be released by Christmas.
Meanwhile Coleco was having troubles with ADAM.
The company that originally produced the wafer drives for Commodore
products had gone into bankruptcy and Coleco was finding the system to
be too unreliable. After switching to the data drive technology they
found themselves experiencing difficulty meeting FCC standards. A
number of design changes were required that totally upset production
deadlines and resulted in the ADAM not shipping until late October of
1983.
The bugs that slipped into SmartWriter and
other software products were never fully corrected and would later lead
to Coleco's decision to drop the ADAM. Originally, SmartBasic was to
have been included in ROM. Most ADAMs should have the empty ROM socket
on the motherboard. Since SmartBasic was to be in ROM there was no need
to make provisions for backup copies. When the product didn't make
it into ROM no one realized that this would be a problem. And yet the
lack of a backup would be the reason many AOAMs were returned when
SmartBasic was inadvertently erased. Because of the many bugs in
SmartBasic, Coleco decided to keep the language on data pack. In the
first months SmartBasic went through many revisions. Often the manual
being shipped failed to reflect the capabilities of the current
versions. Manual pages were revised manually with stick on replacement
pages. A number of bugs were never fixed including the spaces that
automatically appeared in REM and DATA statements. SmartWriter was
burned into ROM with the infamous line-feed problem.
It is my opinion that all of these problems
could have been easily avoided. Why did they occur? Well, partly
because of Coleco's sensitivity to criticism, they simply did not
seek outside input. They also lacked staff that were fully familiar
with the home computer market and the technical understanding of the
product. Time was another factor. Because of the redesign of the
product and production delays, they simply did not have the time to
test the product and get it into production for the Christmas season
that would turn out to be a disaster. Much of the software for the
system was contracted to outside companies and to some extent Coleco
seemed to assume that these companies would provide them with fully
tested workable products.
NEW
COLOR MAILFOR JUST $11.95 Colorful Pre-Printed
Greeting Card Announcements (Fan Folded-Tractor Fed).
Spruce up your Business, Social, Personal Messages. *Special Sampler Pre-Pack Offer. 50 Cards-40 Envelopes Only $11.95. COMPUTER LABELS/ACCESSORIES/SUPPLIES 3 1/2" DISKS (SS,DD 25/$37.50-10/$16.50) Paper T/F-F/F White 9 1/2"x11", 20lb Labels T/F-F/F (Address)..............1000/$5.95 Labels T/F-F/F (Data Pack and/or Cassette Tape...100/$5.95 ADAM
DATA PACK
(Adam)...........................1/$3.95 - 10/$34.50RIBBON CART.....1/$5.50 - 3/$15.00 DAISY WHEEL (Adam) - Italic, Script, Elite, etc. 1/$5.50 ADAM COVERS - Set with logo for system......$18.95 ADAM DISK COVER - To match above......$7.99 TRACTOR FEED for Adam printer.....$68.95 PRINTER STAND - Front on/off switch......$16.95 POWER PACK - To separate printer/use CPU alone.....$29.95 PACK COPY - Backup SmartBASIC, etc......$29.95 BLACK GOLD - Look for oil. Survey-profits-fun.....$19.95 BOUNTY HUNTER - Text adventure.....$14.95 SERIAL/PARALLEL INTERFACE UNIT - This opens a whole new world for the Adam owner. Now you can connect a dot matrix hi/speed printer/use standard modem (300-1200 baud). Comes w/software used with SmartBASIC or CP/M etc. Serial or Parallel......$139.95 SPEECH SYNTHESIZER UNIT - SUPER TALK - Now add VOICE capabilities to Adam. Software included. $99.95 Disk Holder - Holds up to 50 disks-anti static.....$15.95 Monitor/TV Stand-360 rotation, up to 12.5 angle.....$22.95 Adam Monitor Cable.....$10.95 Star Micronics NX-10 Printer.....$289.95 Star Micronics NX-10 Ribbon....$6.95 PACKCOPY - Backup SmartBASIC, etc. .....$29.95 DIABLO - Mind Challenge - Graphic.....$19.95 EBU - SmartBASIC - Data Pack or Disk.....$21.95 HACKER'S GUIDE TO ADAM - Disk or DP.....$17.95 SIGNSHOP - Design & Printing System (DP)..........$20.95 MICROWORKS (DP) - 5 programs that work alone or together (1. Word processor/text editor 2. Database 3. Spreadsheet 4. Picture editor 5. Business graphics..............$25.95 PROOFREADER, Spell Checker (DP) shipping June.....call$ TurboLOAD - Speeds up loading programs...........$25.95 PRO-GOLF CHAMP (DP/D) - Realistic graphic game... $14.95 DEMONS & DRAGONS (DP/D) role-playing fantasy.....$19.95 QUEST FOR QUINTANA ROO (DP) Great all graphic game made for ADAM..........$11.95 S&H - $2.50 US $4.50 CN US $'s only VISA/MC Free catalog -
We stock what we sell for FAST DELIVERY.
M.W. RUTH CO., Dept. S26 510 Rhode Island Ave. Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 |
#1 ADAM USERS' GROUP By joining our group you will receive our newsletter. Advance updating, evaluations on programs and hardware. Technical information, problem solving, and be entitled to share in our program exchange. Plus much more. Send $15.00 for membership to: #1 ADAM USERS' GROUP P.O. Box 3761 Cherry Hill, NJ 08034 (609) 667-2526 VISA/MASTER ADD $1 PUBLIC DOMAIN FORTH for ADAM The Public Domain version of the FORTH 83 language is now available for the ADAM. This version has been made available to ECN subscribers by Thomas Gilmore who will also be contributing a series of articles on the language. A start-up set is available now and an advanced set, organized to complement the start-up set will be available later. The start-up set is available on two disks for $7 or two data packs for $10. These may be ordered directly from ECN and are designated CP/M public domain volume 12. This set requires that you have ADAM's CP/M 2.2. Send your order along with a check or money order for the appropriate amount to: ECN Sage Enterprises Rt. 2, Box 211, Scrivner Rd. Russellville, MO 65074 Be sure to indicate whether you want disk or data pack |