^A PRESS RELEASE 
Downloaded from AWAUG BBS.
      Micro Innovations of Reston, Virginia is pleased to announce 
 the imminent 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, a Centronics compatible parallel 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 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.  Installation of the Powermate requires no modifications 
 to the Adam.
 
      Both Powermate models come standard with two 50 baud to 38 
 Kilobaud RS-232 serial ports - one set up as a Data 
 Communications Equipment (DCE) for direct connection of a CRT 
 terminal or serial interface printer, and the other set up as a 
 Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) for direct connection of an 
 external modem.  Also standard is a Centronics parallel port for 
 direct connection of a parallel interface printer.  All three 
 ports are fully supported by the included CP/M BIOS software as 
 devices UC1: (the external CRT terminal port), UP2: and UR2: (the 
 modem port), and UL1: (the parallel printer port).  The ports are 
 addressed so that they do not interfere with existing Adam 
 expansion products.
 
      The standard Powermate 2 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 physical hard disk drives (many logical hard disk drives) 
 and two floppy disk drives.  The standard ADAM floppy disk and 
 tape drives are still available for use after installation of the 
 supplied software.
 
      Micro Innovations supplies a full auto- installing BIOS on 
 ADAM-compatible diskette or tape with each Powermate product.  
 The BIOS contains full support for all serial and parallel ports 
 and up to two hard and two floppy disk drives.  The BIOS does not 
 interfere with the operation of the stock ADAM serial and 
 parallel ports, or tape and diskette drives.  Disk formatting, 
 hard disk park, and BIOS load utilities are supplied for the 
 Powermates' external disk drives.  
 
      To install the Powermate BIOS, the user boots up CPM from 
 the normal ADAM CPM diskette or tape.  He or she then replaces 
 the diskette or tape with the Powermate BIOS diskette or tape and 
 executes the install program.  The install program moves the CCP 
 and BDOS down 2KB and places the Powermate BIOS in memory between 
 the relocated BDOS and the ADAM BIOS.  The relocated CCP and BDOS 
 and the Powermate BIOS are then written to the boot track of hard 
 disk number 1.  The Powermate BIOS is now installed and running.  
 
      When the user powers down the system, it is highly 
 recommended that the heads be parked on the hard disk drive(s).  
 This avoids any possibility of power off glitches that can affect 
 the data on the track that the heads are currently at (normally 
 the directory tracks).  The next time the user powers up the 
 system, the hard disk automatically homes to track 0.  The user 
 boots from his or her normal CP/M floppy diskette or tape and 
 executes the Powermate BIOS load program, which loads the 
 relocated CCP and BDOS and the Powermate BIOS from the BOOT track 
 of the hard disk.
 
      Introductory pricing for the Powermate 2 is $399.00 for the 
 10 MB configuration, $499.00 for the 20 MB configuration, and 
 $599.00 for the 30 MB configuration.  The equivalent 
 configurations of the Powermate 4 are $499.00, $599.00, and 
 $699.00.  Floppy disk drives can be added to either product.  A 
 360K drive costs an extra $100.00 when ordered as an option with 
 the basic Powermate 2 or 4.  A 720K drive (either a 3 1/2" or a 5 
 1/4") is an extra $150.00.  All Powermate configurations 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.  Larger hard disk drives than 30MB (up 
 to 1024 cylinders and 16 heads) can be supplied as custom 
 configurations.  A hard disk BOOT ROM, either in cartridge or 
 ADAM CPU plug-in form, will be available before Christmas.  An 
 EOS driver package is also anticipated to be available in the 
 same timeframe.
 
      To place an order or for additional information, contact 
 Mark Gordon on the AWAUG BBS or write Micro Innovations at 12503 
 King's Lake Drive, Reston, VA 22091.
           

 
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