Happy or Speedy? and other hardware questions

[clh333]

Posting late last year I mentioned that I had acquired a Hong Kong 800XL, along with a 1050 drive and a 1025 printer.  People here were kind enough to answer some questions that I, as a newcomer to the 8-bit Ataris, could not answer for myself.

 

In the interim I have acquired some other hardware and that brings me to ask again:  I now have two 1050s and I would like to upgrade them with a modification that adds double-density.  I know of the AtariMax "Happy" board and the "Mini-Speedy" and "Super-Mini-Speedy" boards.  From what I have read either can be used with the 1050 and produce a disk that can be read by the Atari. 

 

But are their formats proprietary?  Can one read a disk formatted by the other?  Is one faster or more reliable than the other?  Easier to install or uninstall? 

 

I haven't made any modifications to the XL itself - yet.  I want to acquire another before I start down that road.  I have been burning EPROMs with content downloaded from various sites but there are a lot of disk-based programs I haven't accessed yet.  To that end I am thinking of adding a FujiNet for storage and transfer of files.

 

There are two versions of the FujiNet:  One with and one without an antenna.  The antenna provides greater range of operation but is required for the version that uses it.  What are the differences in range?

 

Sometimes it boils down to preference:  If you have a preference for one or the other I'd like to hear that, too.  Thanks for your replies.

 

-CH-

[Mclaneinc]

@Nezgar re the Happy question...The only thing I will say is that the super mini speedy is out of production at the moment, some people are hoping there will be another 'run' of them..

[TGB1718]

What about using US Doubler, easy to burn the EROMS, just add another 6810 RAM chip

and I think a jumper depending on what EPROM you use.

 

It's compatible with most DOS's single/enhanced and Double Density, also with the right driver

it's high speed too. Cheap and easy upgrade.

 

I had a Happy board, but took it out as I found it a bit "touchy" when starting and would just hang,

upgraded to USD and I now have 2 1050 US Doubler drives, both working fine

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hmmm, I might be wrong, but afaik the Mega-Speedy is out of production, while the Mini Super Speedy as well as the mini Speedy 1050 can still be ordered from tf_hh. And a Happy can e.g. be ordered from Atarimax.

 

No matter what upgrade you install into your 1050, disks can still be read from one or the other and are still interchangeable. Happy and Speedy both use a track/cache buffer and ultraspeed (3x SIO). Speedy is a little bit faster than Happy, but most of the time one will not notice it. Hardware-wise they are very similar, the installation process is the same, but they come with different software, so if you prefer a certain program (disk copier, backup copier, etc.) you may decide in favour of one upgrade because of that.

 

The Mini Super Speedy does everything a mini Speedy 1050 does and has almost the same size (nowadays, in the past it was much larger), but it comes with approx. 256k RAM and a special Diskcopy program onboard that will read, format and write 90k/130k/180k disks extremely fast (reading approx. 9-15 seconds, writing approx. 15-20 seconds).

 

I had several Happy enhancements and Happy clones, but most of them either had small bugs (original Happy's) or were not fully compatible (Happy clones) and therefore not all Happy software worked. That's why I favorize Speedy 1050 upgrades since several years (and also Mini Super Speedy upgrades since a few years). But that's only a personal and subjective thing. Since Speedy upgrades are made in Germany most software that works only with a Speedy uses german language (in the past, these upgrades did not work with NTSC systems, that has been fixed in the meanwhile), so this could be a hurdle for you. There are dozens of ultraspeed programs however that work with Happy, Speedy, USD and other ultraspeed upgrades.

 

[Mclaneinc]

6 minutes ago, CharlieChaplin said:

Hmmm, I might be wrong, but afaik the Mega-Speedy is out of production, while the Mini Super Speedy as well as the mini Speedy 1050 can still be ordered from tf_hh. And a Happy can e.g. be ordered from Atarimax.

You are probably spot on, I forgot about the Mega Speedy......Too much speedy if you ask me

[E474]

The disk mods allow 1050 drives to read and write double density (256 byte) sectors, which stock drives can't.

 

@Nezgarhas made/shared a PCB for a US Doubler mod, which is probably the simplest/cheapest disk mod that provides double density. However, the US Doubler doesn't offer any features for backing up protected disks.

 

I think a Happy upgrade is easier to get in the States (AtariMax?), and a Speedy upgrade easier to get in the EU ( @tf_hh), once you consider practicalities like shipping costs, lead times and customs/import charges. There's also the BitWriter upgrade (from @tf_hh), which is pretty sweet!

[+Nezgar]

3 hours ago, clh333 said:

I now have two 1050s and I would like to upgrade them with a modification that adds double-density.  I know of the AtariMax "Happy" board and the "Mini-Speedy" and "Super-Mini-Speedy" boards.  From what I have read either can be used with the 1050 and produce a disk that can be read by the Atari. 

 

But are their formats proprietary?  Can one read a disk formatted by the other?  Is one faster or more reliable than the other?  Easier to install or uninstall? 

All Atari & 3rd party disk drives and upgrades that provide double density support are inter-compatible, except for Atari's 815. The biggest additional feature the popular upgrades provide is track buffering, which speeds up successive sector reads & writes from the same track. The Happy and Speedy upgrades provide this. The "Super" speedy has enough RAM to buffer an entire DD disk, but is *ONLY* utilized by it's disk copy program, not for everyday operation.

 

Happy has more software / awareness / popular in North America, and Speedy in Europe. In fact, prior to the creation of Mega Speedy, Speedy firmware was incompatible with NTSC machines, so until the last few years you wouldn't be able to get one to work even if you wanted it to on an NTSC machine. Patches to the Speedy firmware that were made as part of the MegaSpeedy "kitchen sink" upgrade have allowed the individual Speedy spin-off replica products to be viable for North America users now too.

 

Both Speedy & Happy have track buffering and will be "fast" for everyday use with DOSes or modified OS's that support the Ultraspeed protocol. Both can copy protected disks, but I think the Speedy software is mostly in German. Happy upgrades and software are going to be better "supported" by others in North America since many people have used them since the 80's, if not authentic products, there are many clones made over the years.  The AtariMax produced product isn't cheap, but AtariMax may still offer free shipping which makes up for it a bit.

 

If one was going purely on recognizable features to resell the drive, the Happy would be an easy win. The Speedy is pretty "New" to North America, so will be less recognizable by buyers of an upgraded drive.

 

1 hour ago, E474 said:

I think a Happy upgrade is easier to get in the States (AtariMax?), and a Speedy upgrade easier to get in the EU ( @tf_hh), once you consider practicalities like shipping costs, lead times and customs/import charges. There's also the BitWriter upgrade (from @tf_hh), which is pretty sweet!

 

For those in the USA, it looks like you can also order many of tf_hh's products from Vintage computer Centre: https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/?product_cat=tfhh&post_type=product&s=

 

2 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

What about using US Doubler, easy to burn the EROMS, just add another 6810 RAM chip

and I think a jumper depending on what EPROM you use.

I am a big fan of the US Doubler upgrade. IMHO every 1050 should at leasthave this upgrade as it provides double density and optionally UltraSpeed (with specially formatted disks) with minimal additional hardware, but it doesn't do track buffering or have copy-protection duplication abilities.. A DIY installation simply involves programming a 2732 EPROM and soldering two 6810 SRAM's together. (one additional on top of the one already in a stock drive).

 

I've also made my own patches to the US Doubler ROM to improve it's default sector interleave when formatting ED and DD disks, and speed up the head stepping timing similar to that of a Speedy drive. (For Tandon mech/made in Singapore drives only so far). For WST/made in hong kong drives there is also a ROM that maintains the faster stepping speed from Atari's stock ROM, and adjusted stepper phase encodings to keep the head aligned. (Using firmware from a Tandon 1050 in a WST 1050 or vice-versa will result in a 1/4 track misalignment).

 

1 hour ago, E474 said:

@Nezgarhas made/shared a PCB for a US Doubler mod, which is probably the simplest/cheapest disk mod that provides double density. However, the US Doubler doesn't offer any features for backing up protected disks.

Indeed - I always like modifications to be "reversible" so I was happy to release the designs and produce the PCB as mentioned by @E474 for a US Doubler installation using two 6810's together on a socketed PCB with no soldering of the 6810's together required. The thread about them is here:

 

At this moment I have many of those PCB's on hand but none assembled so if you are interested in this route let me know. Work's been so busy a good PCB soldering session might be some good therapy for my brain hehe.

[clh333]

Thank you all for your contributions.  I am familiar with Vintage Computer Center, having ordered EPROMs and carrier boards and shells from them in the past.  (I have burned a number of titles to cart; I think the combination of cart+disk is advantageous.) VCC has the Mini-Speedy board but not the Super-Mini-Speedy, which I think after weighing your opinions would be my first choice.  There's no telling however when that may be available again.

 

Ironically AtariMax is local to me, but my attempts to communicate with them have been unsuccessful.  They do offer free shipping on orders over $50, according to their web site, and a discount of $50 on orders over $250, but I'm not ready to go there yet.  Too many other interesting avenues to pursue...

 

An Internet search for "US Doubler" led me to ILS at http://www.realdos.net/US Doubler.html  but I was unable to view or download the EPROM files.  No matter, as I think I would prefer to employ Nezgar's solution.  Depending on his preference he can sell me empty boards or the whole megillah; in for two.  If the super-speedy comes along later I can reverse-pivot, I believe.

 

Thanks again,

-CH-

[mimo]

1 hour ago, clh333 said:

the Super-Mini-Speedy

see if tf_hh has them available, although shipping from Europe may make it too expensive 

[manterola]

VCC is selling Jürgen stuff, if you don't want to wait.

TF_HH - Vintage Computer Center

 

[BillC]

4 hours ago, manterola said:

VCC is selling Jürgen stuff, if you don't want to wait.

TF_HH - Vintage Computer Center

Most of his devices are currently listed as out-of-stock.

[manterola]

10 minutes ago, BillC said:

Most of his devices are currently listed as out-of-stock.

Oops... my bad. Maybe @Gavin1968 can give us some update.

[+Larry]

I know very little about Speedy drives, but the Happy is superb, IMO.  The track buffer means that virtually any format disk can be read apx 40% faster than stock. And it can be turned into a Archiver/Super Archiver drive with software.  I've had Happy drives since 1982.  And Atarimax normally has them in stock. BTW, I presume you are aware that Doubler drives require a special format disk? 

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Advantage of the Happy: If you have more than one Happy 1050, you can use broadcast mode.  As in "write to multiple Happy 1050s at the same time".

Advantage of the Super Speedy (mini or not) and Megaspeedy: It'll copy a disk including formatting in 26 seconds.

Advantage of the MegaSpeedy: It'll emulate almost every upgrade (except the BitWriter).

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Mathy

[E474]

MegaSpeedy is made of solid unobtainium though.

[clh333]

I was aware that VCC was out of stock on the Super-Mini-Speedy.  I was not aware that the US Doubler used a different track format.  However I took mimo's suggestion and contacted Jürgen directly.  He had two super-speedy boards in stock and is shipping them directly to me.  Total cost was 84 Euros or about $97 through PayPal.

 

He mentioned that he often is able to fill small orders but since he has no production facility per se it takes him a long time to fill an order of the size that VCC considers worthwhile.  In other words:  Contact him directly if there's something you want.

 

For all of you Happy fans:  If I get any more drives I'll fit them with Happy boards and we'll have a bake-off.  Now, what about this FujiNet gizmo?

 

-CH-

[+Nezgar]

On 1/21/2022 at 9:30 AM, clh333 said:

An Internet search for "US Doubler" led me to ILS at http://www.realdos.net/US Doubler.html  but I was unable to view or download the EPROM files.  No matter, as I think I would prefer to employ Nezgar's solution.  Depending on his preference he can sell me empty boards or the whole megillah; in for two.  If the super-speedy comes along later I can reverse-pivot, I believe.

Send me a PM if interested. Just sold the last two assembled, but I will assemble more. The US Doubler ROM images are spread all over the Internet, but I did link to my patched one above, here again: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/158768-atari-1050-roms/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-4594602

 

On 1/22/2022 at 6:19 AM, clh333 said:

I was not aware that the US Doubler used a different track format.

You only need to use the different track format if you want it to read sectors faster at maximum speed when operating in "UltraSpeed" mode. Otherwise it reads disks just like any other 1050 drive at 1X SIO speed. (But with added capability to read/write 256 byte true double density sectors) In fact, if one formats a disk with the UltraSpeed interleave it actually reads slower in standard/1X SIO speed due to the sub-optimal interleave for that speed, but it still works.

 

Turbo 1050 and XF551 are other examples of drives that use an alternate sector interleave to achieve faster highspeed sequential writes/reads without a track buffer. In fact, my modified firmware above "borrows" the improved standard-speed enhanced-density interleave from the Turbo 1050.

[8BIT 1337]

On 1/21/2022 at 5:05 PM, Larry said:

I know very little about Speedy drives, but the Happy is superb, IMO.  The track buffer means that virtually any format disk can be read apx 40% faster than stock. And it can be turned into a Archiver/Super Archiver drive with software.  I've had Happy drives since 1982.  And Atarimax normally has them in stock. BTW, I presume you are aware that Doubler drives require a special format disk? 

Can I ask how you turn a Happy drive into an Archiver/Super Archiver with software?  Which software?

 

Just got a Happy upgrade this week and would love to play around with that.

[+nasty niff]

get 1050 to chip disk and the archiver software

check holmes webpages

http://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/collections/holmes cd/Holmes 1/ATR Programs/Applications A-Z/index.html

Edited January 26, 2022 by mistapaul
rewrite more info

[+Nezgar]

5 hours ago, 8BIT 1337 said:

Can I ask how you turn a Happy drive into an Archiver/Super Archiver with software?  Which software?

This disk:

https://archive.org/details/a8b_Happy_Utility_Menu_v1.0_1987_Pirate_Software

 

Option A, then Option C.

[+Larry]

Be aware that many/most cracks of this do not work correctly.  They appear to convert correctly, but then crash when copying.   In order to use the Super Archiver, first boot with the 1050 Archiver, then reboot with the SA.  The "Kiwi Archiver" does work.  I don't know about the versions referenced above.