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G8rduc
North Florida

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:40 pm

Hey everyone!!! Well, I stumbled upon this forum by accident and love it.

In 1984, I was 11 years old and my dad bought my my first computer. A Coleco ADAM. Now while many of you may be rolling your eyes at this, it was an incredible machine. Still love it so much that I'm acquiring one next week!!

But about 2 years later, I took on two new computers: a C64 and an Amiga 1000. Why 2? Well, my friend was getting rid of his C64 so I took it (for free!) and then I gave a friend my ADAM cause he needed a computer for school and I got the Amiga 1000. Both were amazing but the Amiga was on another level. I quickly got the RAM expander, had the 1084s monitor, a 1010 external drive and loads of games and utilities. I remember using Deluxe Music Construction Set to enter dozens of songs from Piano/Vocal books I had with modern rock/pop songs it it. It was awesome!!

My senior year, in 1991, I gave the C64 to another friend, sold the A1000 and my dad got me a used A2000. This was next level. More RAM, HD, and the 8088 (I think that's right) to emulate DOS (definitely was clunky). I used that machine until 1996 and finally succumbed to building my own Windoze machine....since 1998, I've been a Mac guy (got into marketing/design, etc).

Several years ago, I started using MAME a lot for emulating stuff. Then I saw the Amiga emulator and started using that....Soon after, I started looking at getting an Amiga off of eBay or the web. Then....around December, I had one of our extensions office send out an email asking if anyone wanted an A2000 before they junked it. I raised my hand and it was delivered to me last week. It has bad battery bleed, no keyboard or mouse, but it does have a 1084S monitor and a GVP HD combo board. So I need to pull the motherboard and clean it, hope it works (cause I'm horrible at soldering). I have a usb mouse adapter on the way and will also get the VDD.

Excited to put this great stuff in my Mancave!

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:56 pm

Dude that is so awesome!

First off, welcome to AmigaLove - thanks for joining.

I love the Amiga 1000 and 2000. Those are my two main machines and are almost always on my desk at any given time. I need a 2nd desk, though, as my various C64s (which I grew up on originally) and C128D need their own space these days, but I hate packing the Amigas away. I kinda needs them alls! :)

So, I am probably about 2 years older than you. I graduated high school in 1989. I remember in the early 80s - when I had a Colecovision - drooling over the ADAM in the ads in a magazine. I was so desperate to get a computer back then, but it didn't happen until much later.

If you need any help sourcing things for your 2000 let me know. I share your fear for your 2000's motherboard. I have a spare 2000 but the battery killed that one. It became an organ donor. My daily, though, just rocks. I need to take a more recent picture of it, but I've posted pics of it all over this site. Hah! Here's a typical setup of mine, though.

I even had this one in my possession briefly before selling it (to help pay for my C=/Amiga obsession/hobby).

I'm a designer, too (web/mobile mostly, but other stuff, too). What do you do?

User avatar
G8rduc
North Florida

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:03 pm

Between you and me and everyone else on this board, I'm in a bidding war over a very clean looking 2000 MB on Fleabay right now...hoping I get it!!! LOL....

Tell you what, I did EVERYTHING on that ADAM. Music, graphics, managed my parents customer base for the motel we owned, school papers, etc. It was so awesome. And the games...even better than the ColecoVision games :)

I will definitely start posting pics as soon as I finish up the corner of my cave that will have my systems all set up!!!

Currently, I am an IT guy at the University of Florida, for one of the smaller departments. Pretty, if you plug it into a wall, they call me, ROFL.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:13 pm

That is VERY cool!

By the way, I connect my Commodores on a near-daily basis to BBSes that still exist to this day, and one of the members of one of the boards is a huge ADAM guy. He connects to the board using that thing (probably in ANSI mode?) which I assume is in 32-column mode? I read somewhere a long time ago that thing could get pushed to 80 columns somehow, which would be mind-blowing I'm sure.

Anyhoo, I digress. Welcome to AmigaLove! And feel free to post your ADAM exploits in the Retro Corner or wherever when you get things figured out. Would love to see things!

User avatar
G8rduc
North Florida

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:31 pm

Oh how I remember the good ol’ BBS days. The ADAM does have 80 column capability, but if I remember correctly, it was dependant on the software being used. I think the later versions of the modem software, ADAMLink, took advantage of the 80 column card that was available.

I remember using Compu$erve on the ADAM and being addicted to Islands of Kesmai. SOOOO awesome. There was a website that had a telnet port to an exact copy of the game, but it’s sorta gone off track the past year :(

User avatar
Mr.Toast
Roseville, CA

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:28 pm

Welcome and what an awesome intro! I too would dabble in emulation-but it never felt like I was using an Amiga until I started to get back into real hardware. Now, emulation is a valuable tool to get original hardware working again! Its like that Paul McCartney/Stevie Wonder duet. (uhh, where is he going with this???)

With all the awesome new and modern hardware that has come out for these platforms, its incredibly exciting times to get into all this 8 & 16bit hardware again.

Gainesville Rock City! No fan of football here, but love my home state. Go Gators!

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:48 pm

emulation is a valuable tool to get original hardware working again


Interesting side-note: it's the fantastic advancement in software and hardware emulation that we can thank for the new boom in Amiga/C64 software these days. A ton of programmers who are very comfortable in their modern environments can run emulation to test brand new code they are writing for their new games, artworks, songs, etc.

User avatar
G8rduc
North Florida

Posted Sat Feb 02, 2019 8:59 pm

Any advice on the best Gotek USB Floppy emulator to get? I assume it can fit in the 3-1/2” floppy bay?

User avatar
McTrinsic

Posted Sun Feb 03, 2019 1:50 am

Hi,

great to hear about another Retro System. The Adam always seemed to be something of an obscure system that I don’t remember anyone to use.

The sales in Germany must have been almost zero back then.

The Gotek should fit in a normal 3,5” bay. Personally I have a HxC which I prefer as I think the display is a great help. It seems to have a few functions more. The (internal) software for the Gotek, the firmware, is based on the HxC afair.

Definitely helpful devices.

User avatar
A1-X1000
Toronto, Canada

Posted Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:25 pm

welcome back to AMIGA! have fun again :D





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