My name is Mark Perrella and I worked at Coleco from September 1982 to May 1984.
After receiving my Associates degree in Applied Science in June of 1982 from Fulton Montgomery Community College, I began working for Coleco Industries in September as part of my work/study program with Rochester Institute of Technology.
Continue readingWhile visiting a website about vintage computers, I noticed a comment from a user named, “Raz” who said they worked at Coleco making the ADAM computer. Intrigued, I wanted to reach out and know about their time there. However, the comment was from several years ago and I was not feeling very confident that the email address would still be in use. I got a response. Check it out.
Continue readingI was going over some of my old posts and realized some of the links are broken. One of which is the link to the video I made for the Coleco ADAM episode of the Retroist audio podcast. It’s no longer on the Retroist site, hasn’t been for years and it’s no longer on YouTube, but I uploaded to Vimeo some time ago. I shared it on the Coleco ADAM Facebook page not long ago, but want to make it official by making a post here.
While trying to find an answer to something that has bothered me for a while, I came across some information I thought I’d share. Now I know many users of the Coleco ADAM are also avid vintage computer enthusiasts, so this information will not be new to many of you. For the rest, brace yourself, but the Coleco ADAM is not the first ADAM computer. I know! I know.. I was in disbelief too. The thought of having a few drinks to settle my nerves did cross my mind, but at 9:43 AM while on break at work, well, it seemed like a bad idea.
Continue reading
Are there secrets today hidden from even the owners of the Coleco ADAMLink modem? Yes, but they are accidental secrets, simply lost to the passage of time alongside our assumptions about modern technology. I recently re-acquired one of these modems to further the development of my 1986 ADAMCastle BBS re-release for Christmas 2021.
Continue reading
My family was fortunate to receive a ColecoVision game console with the bundled Donkey Kong cartridge as our 1982 Christmas gift from our grandparents. The ColecoVision was a really big treat because my family was not often afforded such expensive hot sellers as gifts. Compared to the other gaming systems of that time, ColecoVision offered the best home version ports of many popular arcade games. I also witnessed Coleco’s advertised promise of an eventual full-blown computer add-on with great interest! (This add-on version would later be known as the red-boxed model 2404 and called the Coleco Expansion module #3.)
Continue readingEarlier this month I made a video about the Coleco ADAM Monitor… that doesn’t exist. I did a horrible job, but it gave the monitor a dated, abused look. And even with that, it does look like it’s another Coleco ADAM component.
If I wanted it to look like a new item, I would have sanded the monitor before painting and/or used primer. And… not throw caution to the wind and spray paint everything. A few people asked how I went about making that monitor so I made a short video explaining what the monitor is and how I made that label with ADAM logo.
And another commercial for the ADAM computer I have never seen before. Frankly, I don’t recall ever seeing any Coleco ADAM commercial on television when I was a kid, but clearly other folks do. Check out this one.
Back in 2013, The staff at IGN wrote about the first time they unboxed a game console or in this case, a computer. Jared Petty wrote about getting a Coleco ADAM when he was 5. At first I was amused by how he described the flaws of this system, but then he went overboard. With just word in the last sentence, Jared showed how callous he can be. See for yourself.. https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/12/igns-console-launch-memories-the-first-unboxing
Coleco ADAM 