 xO                                                                 onsider subscribing) there is an article which finds fault with E&T for not producing several items of hardware. 

I would like to respond to that article in defense, IN THE AUGUST l989 ADAM'S ALIVE (A fine publication to which you should seriously consider subscribing) there is an article which finds fault with E&T for not producing several items of hardware. 

I would like to respond to that article in defense, if any be required, of all our Adam hardware producers. 
 
First I must compliment Ed Jenkins for publishing a letter so apparently critical of him.  I do not know if I would have the integrity to do so. 
 
The writer seems to fault E&T for announcing they were gong to develope a scanner, mouse, hard drive,etc. for Adam. 
 
Well there is a mouse for Adam which apparently can be easily adapted from a Commodore mouse.  (I have seen articles on how to do it, but have not seen them recently).  There is a hard drive for Adam, from BJ. 

I am not sure that E&T has given up on the scanner and they still may be working on it.  BJ is also working on a scanner. 
 
So the hardware is available for Adam if you want to look for it.  Of course, that will take a little work and as the article writer stated you cannot just pick these items up off the shelve. 
 
When any of us bought an Adam knowning it was NO LONGER MANUFACTURED, we had to have an idea that things would NOT be available off the shelf for us.  In that respect the author was correct. 
 
As to our hardware developers, ALL of them.  They are serving a very useful place in the Adam world and are to be encouraged and discouraged. 
 
With hardware (& I have no technical knowledge of the subject) you will require electrical components, parts, boards, etc.  Some of these may be such that an individual can hand produce these but most must be made by professional electronic manufacturing companies. 

I have seen BJ mention he needed l00 orders before a manufacturer would make boards for him; Syd Cartier that he required 25 orders before he could obtain the components for a disk drive for Adam, etc. 
 
Many times it is NOT the Adam hardware producer who is the problem but the electrical component manufacturer who wants his minimum run of 50,l00,200 items before he will start production. 
 
This is often why the Adam hardware producer indicates he is starting to work on a project and tries to find out what the interest level is in the project.  He cannot work in secrecy and then suddenly put out an announcement, we now have 3500 Hard drives in stock, you can order off the shelf.  There are just not that many interested Adamites desiring to purchase such items. 

I want a scanner really bad and have tried to drum up interest and support in it but still only a few Adamites are interested in it. 
 
Besides the problem with components and required minimum runs, there is the costs of development.  How do you develope a scanner.  IF you start working with existing scanners to modify for Adam you MUST BUY VARIOUS ONES TO SEE IF THEY CAN BE EASILY MODIFIED.  All this costs money. Same with Hard drives, etc.  How much can we expect these people to put out of their pockets for the research when there is only a limited market for the product when finally developed. 
 
There is NOT the vast amount of product literature for Adam that there is for other computer companies and products.  Coleco buried much of the important data rather than give it to the Adam world.  I finally came across an old Coleco manual on programming for the Coleco vision games. I ran a few pages of it as an article in an Adam newsletter.  I got one response but that was from an Adam software producer who told me he had spent 6 months decoding that same type information from the Colecovision unit & cartridges.  6 months because the information was buried. 
This is the type problem our Adam hardware producers run into daily. 
 
The author of this article suggests that the hardware producer make a few of each item to send out for review.  Again many of these items can only be made by purchasing lots of l00 items of a component at a time.  There is no simple way to make l or 2 at low cost to try to see if they will sell.  You must get an idea ahead of time as to your market and then see if it will support your efforts.  Our hardware producers, like our software programmers are not big companies, making much money.  Many of them work long and hard evenings and weekends to create these Adam hardware items for us.  Then they must work with software producers to get the software to make these items run and be compatible with Adam.  It is no easy job; no short job; no simple job. 
 
The Adam dealers/developers do not want to keep Adam owners on a Merry-go-round as the author suggests.  It is necessary to get the word out early that you are working on a project, so that the market and interest can be judged; some others having knowledge that may help shorten the time and lessen the cost of the hardware item, can find out that someone is working on it and make their knowledge, skills, etc.  available.  
 
If the Adam developers reach for the brass ring but never quite make it, then the loss is all of Adam's but the one who pays must heavily for this loss is not he who writes the critical article but the hardware developer who spent his time and money in the effort.  Better to have tried & failed and increased our knowledge of Adam than not to have tried at all. 
 
You really need to have read this prior article to understand why I am so upset about it.  It ignores the fact that individual Adam owner who engages in or encourages piracy, Adam wars,etc. is hurting Adam and not the hardware producer who attempts to meet a need for Adam hardware. 
 
The author of this article cries about no scanner (that is presently true), no mouse (that is not true, besides the articles on converting the commodore mouse, I believe Ruth Co. had ads for another Adam compatible mouse) and no hard drive (Again not true, just call BJ and you shall have your hard drive), but makes no effort to take advantage of the Adam hardware available to him. 
 
In any case, I wanted to express my appreciation to all of the Adam hardware producers, for both their successes and their failures.  All they can do is make their best attempt and if they fail, they hurt more than we do.  If you look at Adam before and present, you can see how far we have come with both software and hardware.  I sit here with my 80 column monitor (CP/M only), my 1200 Baud Modem, 720 K disk drive, 320 K disk drive, Panasonic printer, etc.  and compare that to the initial Adam unit I first purchased and we have come a long long way. 

r who attempts to meet a need for Adam hardware. 
 
The author of this article cries about no 
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