POWERMATE PRESS RELEASE # 3
 
                  Revised Press Release - 12/1/89
 
 
      Micro Innovations of Reston, Virginia is pleased to announce 
 the immediate availability of their new expansion products for 
 the Coleco ADAM computer.  The Powermate 2 and Powermate 4 are 
 add-on stand-alone subsystems that give the ADAM two RS-232 
 serial ports, an ADAM-compatible parallel printer port, an 
ADAM-compatible memory expansion board port, one or two 10, 20, 
or 30 MB hard disk drives, and one or two 360K or 720K floppy 
disk drives.

     The Powermate 2 consists of an attractive and compact 
external cabinet (which houses up to two disk drives), an 
interface board (which mounts in the center expansion card slot 
inside the Adam), and all necessary cables and software.  The 
Powermate 4 offers a four drive external cabinet in place of the 
standard two drive cabinet.  Both models have sufficient power 
supply capacity for their full complement of disk drives, as well 
as an internal fan for effective cooling.  Installation of the 
Powermate requires no modifications to the Adam.

     All Powermate units come standard with two RS-232 serial 
ports - one set up for direct connection of a CRT terminal or 
serial interface printer, and the other set up for direct 
connection of an external modem.  Also standard are an ADAM- 
compatible Centronics parallel port for direct connection of a 
parallel interface printer and a memory extender board port for 
connection of an Orphanware or E & T memory expansion board.  The 
serial ports are addressed so that they do not interfere with 
existing Adam expansion products.  All ports are fully supported 
by the included TDOS software.

     The standard Powermate 2 unit offers a single 10, 20, or 30 
MB hard disk drive.  A second hard disk drive or a single 360K or 
720K floppy disk drive can be added as an option.  The Powermate 
4 also comes standard with a single hard disk drive.  However, a 
second hard disk drive as well as one or two floppy disk drives 
can be added as options.  The supplied software fully supports up 
to two Powermate physical hard disk drives (many logical hard 
disk drives) and two Powermate floppy disk drives, along with the 
four ADAM floppy disk and tape drives.

     Micro Innovations supplies two operating systems with each 
Powermate unit - TDOS release 4.0 and EOSHD release 3.3, both 
from AJM software of Ottawa, Canada.  TDOS is a significantly 
improved replacement for the Digital Research CP/M operating 
system and EOSHD is the standard Coleco EOS operating with 
Powermate hard and floppy disk capability added.  Full support is 
provided for all Powermate capabilities - both serial ports, the 
parallel printer port, the memory expander port, and up to two 
hard and two floppy disk drives.  

     Utility programs are provided to perform disk and tape 
formatting, set hardware parameters (to change the floppy disk 
formats, the serial port defaults, and the IOBYTE assignments), 
backup and restore hard disk data, and to park the hard disk 
heads.  In addition, Micro Innovations provides many public 
domain programs, including Z80 assembler, debugger, text editor, 
archiving, de-archiving, and communications packages.  Also 
included are patches to allow the more common EOS applications 
programs to execute from the Powermate hard disk(s) and a custom 
version of AJM Software's popular File Manager to perform the 
patching.

     To install Powermate, the user simply plugs the interface 
board in to expansion slot #2 (the center slot), connects the 
external disk drive enclosure to the interface board, inserts the 
boot disk or tape, and pulls the reset switch.  Both TDOS and EOS 
are pre-installed on the hard disk.  As delivered, TDOS is the 
default operating system.  To go to EOS, type "EOS" and hit the 
return key.  To go back to TDOS, hit the "Wildcard" key.  
Instructions are included for the user to make an EOS boot tape 
or disk, if desired.  Also, software is provided for the user to 
change the size or number of EOS or TDOS partitions.

     Micro Innovations is currently shipping 10 and 20 MB 
versions of the Powermate 2.  Introductory pricing for orders 
received before January 1, 1990 is set at $399.00 for the 10 MB 
unit and $499.00 for the 20 MB unit.  The 30 MB Powermate 2 
configuration and the Powermate 4 units are expected to be 
available in January, 1990.  Floppy disk drives (either 360K or 
720K) can be added to either product for an additional $100.00 
when ordered with Powermate. All units come with a 90 day 
warantee and are completely assembled, tested, and ready to run.  
The component parts of the Powermate products are not available 
separately.  A hard disk BOOT ROM, either in cartridge or ADAM 
CPU plug-in form, will be available in first quarter 1990. 

     To place an order or for additional information, contact 
Mark Gordon on the AWAUG BBS or write or call Micro Innovations 
at 12503 King's Lake Drive, Reston, VA 22091, (703) 620-1372. 
 Normal office hours are 6 to 10 pm, Monday through Friday.  A 
 telephone answering machine takes messages at all other times.


     orders 
received bef
