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Derrick aka "else" at AtariAge tells that the Adam was his family's very first computer, which
he still
have to this day.
After watching lots of other old systems get CF and/or
SD card solutions (such as the Atari, Commodore, Apple II, etc), began "else"
feeling jealous and sorry for his lowly Adam.
And so, after years of
waiting and seeing nothing similar emerge for the Adam, he began thinking
that it can't be so hard to do that only an idiot would try making such a
thing.
Then he slowly began to realize that he was probably just the idiot
to try !
Well, after spending far more time on this than he dared to admit, are he
happy to report that it have been quite successful...
more successful that he even dreamed of, when he started working on this.
So here's what he came up with, and "else" call it:
The Coleco ADAM SD Drive
Coleco ADAM SD Drive For The Adam Family Computer
System.
Features:
Full Compatibility: Works with all existing Adams.
It bridges to the
AdamNET protocol to the FAT16/FAT32 file system on the SD Card.
This
means no software to install on the Adam (or the PC/Mac). Simply plug
and play.
Big Capacity: With standard SD Cards, it provides up to 32 "disk"
pairs (64 "disks" total).
Note: it could actually store a lot more disks
than this.
It can be much larger than the standard 256KB tapes or 160KB that Coleco
produced.
The "disks" automatically grow in size as needed and should be able to
grow all the way up to 32MB.
Small Size: Small enough to mount inside the Adam, if desired.
Fast: Programs load and save nearly instantly -- virtually as fast
as cartridges do.
More features:
Drive Emulation: Acts as Disk Drive #1, Disk Drive #2, both, or
none.
This is selectable by using a push-button.
Disk Pair Selection: Selects which of the 32 "disk" pairs to use (64
"disks" total).
This is selectable by using push-buttons.
Disk Pair Swap Selection: Each pair of "disks" can be mapped
straight to Disk Drive #1 and Disk Drive #2, or this mapping can be
swapped (reversed).
This feature is necessary because some Adam programs
do not behave well (or work well) with Disk Drive #2.
This is selectable
by using a push-button.
Still more features:
Disks are Files (and vice versa): These "disks" are simply files on
the SD Card, and can be manipulated as such when the SD card is plugged
in to a PC/Mac.
The names of these files follow a strict naming
convention so that the Adam SD Drive can find them for the Adam
(additionally
the Adam SD Drive will automatically create a new file whenever an
existing one is not found).
Some examples of valid file names are:
adam0-a.ddp adam0-b.dsk (disk pair #0)
adam1-a.dsk adam1-b.ddp (disk pair #1)
Existing Disks: Works with .dsk and .ddp images found on the
internet.
Put the SD Card in a PC/Mac, copy the files on to the SD card,
and rename them to follow the naming convention mentioned above.
Now put
the SD Card in to the Adam SD Drive and go! Or vice versa -- provides a
simple and easy way to move Tapes and Disk to a PC/Mac, for backing up
and/or sharing Adam data.
Below are some pictures of the Adam SD Drive, click for larger images.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The first shows the
prototype 1. |
The second shows the bare
1 of 2 PCB. |
The third shows
a fully assembled
Adam SD Drive. (Proto 2). |
The
4th. one shows you the newest
boxed prototype. (Proto 3). |
More about the SD Drive will follow when new information is
available.
Webpage : xxxxxxx
To get in touch with XXXXX, try this: e-mail.
Last updated: June. 27. 2010. |
