Our Typewriter Plays "Donkey Kong", Or, The History Of The Coleco Adam And Its User Community

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Presented at Notacon 2 by

Rich Drushel

The Coleco ADAM was one of dozens of interesting microcomputer architectures that were developed during the adaptive radiation period of the home computer in the early 1980s. When Coleco abandoned the ADAM in January 1985, during the great extinction caused by the emergence of the IBM-PC standard, nearly a million units had been sold, most to ordinary folks who had never before used or owned a computer. Unfazed, ADAM owners banded together in various ways to support their computer, trade information, fix bugs, and push it to heights undreamt of by Coleco's engineers. Through local users groups, monthly newsletters, BBSes run on ADAMs, the Internet, and 16 ADAMcons held all over the US and Canada, the ADAM community remained vibrant into the new century. This is the story of how one quirky home computer created a unique and enduring family, one that will share ADAMcon 17 in Ontario this July.