+Larry Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I ran across a file that referenced this mod for the 1050. What was it -- some type of a Happy clone or? From New Zealand? -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 (edited) Sounds like it, there was the Lazer happy Clone in the UK.. Found this... http://nitroroms.com/show/file-info/39104/unk/unk And Archiver chip apparently.. It leads to this software but the link is broken.. 1050 to Kiwi Chip Archiver (19xx)(Kiwi Systems).zip Edited July 8, 2014 by Mclaneinc 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXG/MNX Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I would say get some pictures if you ever find one, dump the rom and try to get all info to remake I got a dozen of different happy's but not the kiwi or lazer one... One of the rare things is Supermax I believe, that was when I remember correctly also Australian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Seems Kiwi systems were a hacker group too, most likely then another clone just named for over there.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 I did a little experimenting with the Kiwi Chip to Archiver file using my Happy 1050. The program looks and behaves just like the "Happy Archiver" file that was "floating around" for years and years -- but didn't work correctly. But when the Kiwi disk is booted, it does (apparently) correctly convert my Happy drive to the Archiver format. I could then load the Super Archiver software and it did appear to copy a disk correctly. So I would say that it does make a workable conversion. I have a "real" 1050 Happy Archiver disk, and it is very heavily copy-protected. The big difference between the Kiwi conversion (on a Happy 1050) and the real 1050 Happy Archiver is that the Happy Archiver software is built right into the conversion process (1 disk only). The Kiwi disk requires you to run the program and then load the Archiver software. But looks like the Kiwi guys knew what they were doing. -Larry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re-atari Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) One of the rare things is Supermax I believe, that was when I remember correctly also Australian.Back in the 80's a mate of mine had a Supermax in his 1050. As you say it originated from Australia, IIRC it came bundled with SuperDOS. The upgrade was basically a tidied-up US Doubler. Just a plugin board containing a rom, an extra 6810 and an empty socket, no wires to solder. Installing it only required removing the 1050 rom and swapping the 1050's 6810 to the empty socket. The board plugged into the 1050 rom socket. Although the Supermax did double density, the speed improvement was not very impressive. It was a big improvement over a stock drive, though. You could tell the difference in speed between his 1050 and my Copy Card 7 enhanced drive by just listening to the pitch of the datatransfer beeps and length of the pauses between those beeps. After seeing my 1050 in action he upgraded his drive with a CC7 within a few weeks and got rid of the Supermax. re-atari Edited July 9, 2014 by re-atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Back in the 80's a mate of mine had a Supermax in his 1050. As you say it originated from Australia, IIRC it came bundled with SuperDOS. The upgrade was basically a tidied-up US Doubler. Just a plugin board containing a rom, an extra 6810 and an empty socket, no wires to solder. Installing it only required removing the 1050 rom and swapping the 1050's 6810 to the empty socket. The board plugged into the 1050 rom socket. Although the Supermax did double density, the speed improvement was not very impressive. It was a big improvement over a stock drive, though. You could tell the difference in speed between his 1050 and my Copy Card 7 enhanced drive by just listening to the pitch of the datatransfer beeps and length of the pauses between those beeps. After seeing my 1050 in action he upgraded his drive with a CC7 within a few weeks and got rid of the Supermax. re-atari Supermax is a plugin board with one wire to solder. Remove 2 chips (rom and ram) and plug in this board. SuperMAX originally worked like USDoubler except for the special format command and had a delay removed. Also some protected software didn't load due to the removed delay. First thing i did when i got the super products for the 8bit was to dissemble the rom, add in the delay so the protected disks worked and added the Sparta special format command. I also thought about adding smart buffering as the upgrade has a 2K ram chip, ie buffer directory and sector map depending on DOS version but gave it a miss. I did however play around with adding commands to dump contents of ram etc just for giggles. I still have blank boards. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 Have any pics available? Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Here is a pic of supermax. The 3 black wires go to a switch for normal 1050 firmware and supermax firmware. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guus.assmann Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thanks for the picture. I have one of those. It also has one pin that goes into the socket of the 6810 that was removed. BR/ Guus Assmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morelenmir Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Fascinating stuff guys! Thank you for posting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thanks for the picture. I have one of those. It also has one pin that goes into the socket of the 6810 that was removed. BR/ Guus Assmann Correct. that is for R/W. As a side note. The small chip is a HC version. The original maker tried a LS version but it kept playing up or wouldn't work properly or at all. Someone suggested to use the HC as it was faster.... Another note, when i modded the Supermax rom, i added a longer copyright notice to the beginning of the code only to find it wouldn't work. I eventually discovered that if the message didn't go over a certain length, the firrmware worked fine. Only thing i could figure out was a page boundary for a branch was crossed that upset the apple cart somehow. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re-atari Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Here is a pic of supermax. The 3 black wires go to a switch for normal 1050 firmware and supermax firmware. James That indeed is the Supermax my mate had back then. My memory about the board is completely different to what the picture shows, but now I see it I do recognize it. Don't know where my recollection of swapping the 6810 comes from, I must be getting old. Then again (in my defence) it's been 30+ years... re-atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re-atari Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) Here is a pic of supermax. The 3 black wires go to a switch for normal 1050 firmware and supermax firmware. James BTW: I see a (homebrew?) mod around the trimcap aside the 2793, a 15k resistor and ceramic cap. What's its purpose? re-atari Edited July 12, 2014 by re-atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) BTW: I see a (homebrew?) mod around the trimcap aside the 2793, a 15k resistor and ceramic cap. What's its purpose? re-atari I actually have no idea. First time i noticed it. It looks like a factory mod. That trim cap is for the data separator built into the WD2793. Maybe it is for temp stability?? Here is a link on how to setup the data separator in the WD2793 that i found. http://www.s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/ZFDC%20Board/ZFDC.htm. down near the end. James Edited July 12, 2014 by sup8pdct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guus.assmann Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Hello James, Do you happen to know the exact type of the TTL circuit? The Ram is a 6116, I tried that Ram in my version and it worked fine. Also on my sample, the numbers on the IC's have been made unreadable. Once I know the IC, I'll draw the schematics diagram. (Or do you hav ethat as well?) Then it may be possible to add this to a flopy enhancement that been worked on. BR/ Guus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re-atari Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I actually have no idea. First time i noticed it. It looks like a factory mod. That trim cap is for the data separator built into the WD2793. Maybe it is for temp stability??I've never seen it in a European 1050, and back then I have worked on quite a number of them. As you say, it might very well be a stability mod. Maybe Guus can shed some light on the subject, from his days at Atari Benelux hardware dept? re-atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re-atari Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) Do you happen to know the exact type of the TTL circuit? Also on my sample, the numbers on the IC's have been made unreadable. Once I know the IC, I'll draw the schematics diagram. (Or do you hav ethat as well?) Then it may be possible to add this to a flopy enhancement that been worked on. I somehow recall you have a HiLo All-07 programmer. If so, its software contains a module that can identify unknown TTL and CMOS chips, from my own experience this works quite reliably. It´s a big shame the software is DOS only, in Windows it won't even work in a DOS-box. re-atari Edited July 12, 2014 by re-atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guus.assmann Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Also I've never seen it. It looks like it's a 15K resistor in paralelle to the Trimmer-cap. In effect, I think it can influence the frequency of the data seperator. Another density of writing might be acheived? BR/ Guus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guus.assmann Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Yes, I do have that programmer and it still works. Mine does work in a Dos box on Windows XP Pro. But this means desoldering the circuit and that's always a risk. Also, if someone has all of the stuff, I don't need to do the work. BR/ Guus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 It is a 74HC42. See, my memory sometimes works........ I also modded USD firmware to work with this board. Weather i still have it is something else. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guus.assmann Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hello James, Thanks, good to know. And the modded software would also be very welcome. I'll get the schematics worked out and once done, will post them. One remark to the topicstarter: Kiwi is the term used for people from New Zealand... And mostly not meant in a very friendly way at that. I do like the fruit with that name. The name on my PCB is Supermax II. BR/ Guus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hello Guus A "kiwi" is a bird*. What we call "kiwi" is actually called kiwi-fruit. Sincerely Mathy *: An animal often but not always able to fly, not a woman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hello Guus A "kiwi" is a bird*. What we call "kiwi" is actually called kiwi-fruit. Sincerely Mathy *: An animal often but not always able to fly, not a woman! What's hilarious, is the kiwi fruit over here, my 10 year old nephew laughs his ass off, because they look like a hairy ball-bag to him. He lets us know it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guus.assmann Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Hello all, I managed to get the schematics of the device drawn. And on the bottom of the PCB the name is Supermax rev 1.0 One small problem, I can't read the Eprom properly with my new Eprom burner. (The Eprom is a NEC D2764 and I guess it's too slow) But I did manage to make a copy in both another Eprom and a 29F010 Flash. The Eprom copy makes the 1050 spinn and step so I guess it's ok. But there's quite some space left in the Eprom and that's not what I'dd expect. So I do hope the binary is ok, but I cannot veryfy that right now. BR/ Guus Assmann ULT_II.pdf Ultimate.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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