Disapointed with 1050 disk drive :(

[mimo]

in the UK there were homebrew versions of Happy

 

Namely Lazer/USD (that's a Lazer upgrade with a usd upgrade as well)

 

Hyperdrive (another name for Lazer)

 

And Warp Spped (another name for lazer)

 

There also used to exist something called i s plate, which in it's time was the most advanced a8 drive upgrade as it could emulate all the other upgrades as well i.e. SA/Sa2 happy etc

 

Yes, I had an i s plate, remember it well.

[tjlazer]

Yeah what I always found funny is Backup/Copy software that had a copy protected disk with it that the actual copier could not copy! I vaguely recall running into that with Atari/Commodore computers but cannot recall if it is true. LOL Most of them were unprotected though. Especially the Happy Software.

[Shawn Jefferson]

2) The US Doubler can be home brewed. If it is possible to home brew a Happy

it must be much harder.

 

I had a homebrew Happy that the local electronics guru made, back in the day. Still have it actually.

[Fröhn]

I just got my Atari 1050 disk drive today. There were no power supply, or cord to connect to the computer. I should have looked at the auction page closer. It looks like there is a cord on the back of the unit, but that is part of the floor it was on. The unit was "tested", so i just assumed it had everything.

 

I guess I am going to have to just buy another disk drive to get the cables? Will the Atari 810 power supply, connector cable, work with the 1050?

I noticed the same thing when I bought 1050's. It seems that Atari hardware sellers tend to sell every item in an own auction to make more money. Coming from C64 scene this was new to me, I thought that when I bought a disk drive, it would come with it's PSU and the SIO cable aswell (like when I bought a 1541 for C64).

[ijor]

Yeah what I always found funny is Backup/Copy software that had a copy protected disk with it that the actual copier could not copy! I vaguely recall running into that with Atari/Commodore computers but cannot recall if it is true.

 

Of the top of my head. Copiers and unprotectors that cannot copy/unprotect themselves:

 

Archiver for Happy 810

Archiver for Happy 1050

Super Archiver II

Chipmunk

The Protector

The Black Patch

The Backup Master

[carmel_andrews]

Ijor...you also forgot Happy to chip convertor and copier (also works on hyperdrive, apparently and def. works on lazer/usd)

[ijor]

Ijor...you also forgot Happy to chip convertor and copier (also works on hyperdrive, apparently and def. works on lazer/usd)

 

Hi carmel_andrews,

 

That's what I meant with "Archiver for Happy". You are right that it might be not the best name, because it might be misleading. After all the Archiver software was never protected, only the "converter". But they were bundled together in a single disk.

 

The actual product name for the Happy 1050, was Scan-It, by CSS. I don't know what was the "official" product name of the Happy 810 version by Spartan. Do you know? I have the original disk but no docs or packaging material. Anybody has the H810 version complete (I guess it didn't come with a box)?

Edited January 17, 2007 by ijor

[carmel_andrews]

Didn't spartan have something called 'The Chip'

 

Could this be what evolved into SA/SA2 (810 and 1050 versions)

 

Also the duplicator 1050, a rival to Happy (made by duplicating technologies)

 

If you read Chadwicks Mapping the Atari, he mentions a correlation betw. the unreleased version of revision 'E' rom for the Atari 810 and what became the SA/SA2

 

That's why i prefered the happy back up software, the archiver software layout (screen wise) looed at bit to techie for me, where as the happy stuff looked a bit more easier to undserstand/comprehend

 

I also remember seeing ads in antic and analog for a clone of USD (or am i mixing that up with something else)

 

I didn't like speedy, never saw super speedy (even though speedy looked faster then happy)

[ijor]

Didn't spartan have something called 'The Chip'

 

Yes, Spartan made "The Chip" and the Archiver. They also made the Archiver for Happy 810 (or To chip converter, or whatever was the name of it). And btw, the actual person (or at least one of them) that developed all the Spartan products was Mike Gustafson, that later founded ICD.

 

Could this be what evolved into SA/SA2 (810 and 1050 versions)

 

Yes, but the SA/SA2 was done by Bob Puff at CSS. I don't know if he had access to the original sources or if he just reverse engineered the Spartan stuff.

 

If you read Chadwicks Mapping the Atari, he mentions a correlation betw. the unreleased version of revision 'E' rom for the Atari 810 and what became the SA/SA2

 

Hmm, I don't recall anything like that. And it is unlikely that there was any relation whatsoever between the Atari Roms, developed by Tandom, and any of the Archiver products.

Edited January 18, 2007 by ijor

[carmel_andrews]

According to Chadwick, the E revision rom (810) was apparently capable of selectively formatting specific sectors, like the archiver/chip thing could do...hence the correlation betw. the archiver and the revision 'e' rom (810)

 

for more information look at the text for the memory location $30a/$30b, otherwise known as 'Daux1/2' bottom of page 79 and top of page 80 on mapping the Atari (revised edition)

[ijor]

According to Chadwick, the E revision rom (810) was apparently capable of selectively formatting specific sectors ...bottom of page 79 and top of page 80 on mapping the Atari (revised edition)

 

Ah, ok, found the reference, thanks.

 

Well, there is a REV E rom dump in the net. I can't be sure if it is indeed REV E or not. The 810 roms don't have any version embedded or chekcsums, as the 1050 ones have.

 

But this one is not much different than the "standard" rev C ROM. It's more about some bug fixes than anything else as far as I can see. It does have however, a couple of diagnostic commands, similar to the ones in the 1050. As we discussed in other thread some time ago, you can exploit the diagnostic features to make some trickey. And then, it might be possible to make some kind of fancy formatting.

 

But there is a long way to go from some diagnostic based trickery to the Archiver/Chip functionality.

[carmel_andrews]

i was mainly referring to the capability of the 'e' rom and the archiver/chip thing of been able to 'selectively' format specific disk sectors

 

what i now want to see is a homebrew version of i s plate 1050 or happy/archiver emulated thru a800win + (the best A8 emu)

Edited January 18, 2007 by carmel_andrews

[ijor]

i was mainly referring to the capability of the 'e' rom and the archiver/chip thing of been able to 'selectively' format specific disk sectors

 

I see. I misunderstood your point, sorry.

 

what i now want to see is a homebrew version of i s plate 1050 or happy/archiver emulated thru a800win + (the best A8 emu)

 

Happy emulation would be a lot of work. Archiver emulation is much simpler, you will get one shortly

[carmel_andrews]

where there any other upgrades available for the a8 810/1050 drives (apart from the ones already mentioned)

[+kheller2]

Did you get the SIO cables yet?

[deadmeow]

Yes yes yes thank you! Awaiting a power supply, and then we are off to the races!

[deadmeow]

I finally hooked up my 1050 with an sio cable, and power supply, thanks to the Atari community here, thank you very much.

 

I don't have a disk to test it with, but it powers up and says boot error. So I am assuming it will work once I get a disk to insert.

 

The Atari has built in OS right? So once I insert a disk, I should be able to format it? How do I get to the Atari DOS menu?

[Urchlay]

The Atari has built in OS right? So once I insert a disk, I should be able to format it? How do I get to the Atari DOS menu?

 

The built-in OS doesn't include DOS... you'll need a DOS disk of some kind (probably Atari DOS 2.5 is your best bet, at least to start out with).

 

I'd volunteer to send you one, except that all my disks are 10+ years old and were stored in an attic. A lot of them are bad, and I don't know how well any of the good ones would survive shipping.

[classics]

PM me your address, I'll send you a disk with MyDOS and Atari DOS on it.

 

Steve

[+Nezgar]

Yes, Spartan made "The Chip" and the Archiver. They also made the Archiver for Happy 810 (or To chip converter, or whatever was the name of it). And btw, the actual person (or at least one of them) that developed all the Spartan products was Mike Gustafson, that later founded ICD.

What was the difference between "The Chip" and the Archiver for the 810? I thought they were the same thing.

 

Also, is there a copy (cracked?) Of the 810 Happy to Chip converter around? I've only seen the one(s) for the Happy 1050.

[ijor]

What was the difference between "The Chip" and the Archiver for the 810? I thought they were the same thing.

Well, might be. I distinguish between the product that included the custom firmware (The Chip), and the Archiver software that was sold separately (i.e. for the Happy).

 

Also, is there a copy (cracked?) Of the 810 Happy to Chip converter around? I've only seen the one(s) for the Happy 1050.

I guess so, but don't know for sure. May be there isn't.

[+Nezgar]

Well, might be. I distinguish between the product that included the custom firmware (The Chip), and the Archiver software that was sold separately (i.e. for the Happy).

Looks like you are correct. The FAQ knows all.

 

The Chip, by Spartan Software of Minnesota, 1983-1984
The Chip with Archiver I, by ICD, 1984
Scan-It!/Chip, from B&C ComputerVisions, 1987
 - Popularly: "Archiver chip", "810 Archiver", "Archiver/810", "Archiver"
 - Navigate/edit/create nonstandard format disks
 - Shipped with Archiver/Editor program
    - Disassembler, sector editor, custom formatter and mapper
 - Software sold separately:
   - Archiver Enhancement, by Computer Software Services (CSS), 1987
      - Super Archiver/Editor 3.0, The Archiver Tracer

But the "Archiver" software was later ported to work on the Happy 1050 by Mr Gustofsen, then later rebranded to "Scan-it!" by B&C...

 

    - Happy Version Archiver/Editor, by Spartan Software of Minnesota, 1984
       - Also marketed by B&C ComputerVisions as: Scan-It!/1050 Happy, 1987

It would seem there was no Happy 810 version of the Archiver software.

[ijor]

But the "Archiver" software was later ported to work on the Happy 1050 by Mr Gustofsen, then later rebranded to "Scan-it!" by B&C...

 

    - Happy Version Archiver/Editor, by Spartan Software of Minnesota, 1984
       - Also marketed by B&C ComputerVisions as: Scan-It!/1050 Happy, 1987

It would seem there was no Happy 810 version of the Archiver software.

 

The FAQ is not accurate. I have (somewhere) the original disk of the Archiver for the Happy 810.

 

I don't think that Gustafson did the Happy 1050 version (he did the Happy 810 one). AFAIK it was written by Bob Puff and published by CSS.

 

Btw, they aren't exactly a software port. The happy versions include a "Chip" emulator. Custom code is uploaded to the Happy and then it behaves as it was a "Chip". Then you can load the original Archiver (or SuperArchiver) software.