810 Happy WS 5.2 - rare find?

[Zarxx]

I bought a small collection yesterday which had an 810 with a Happy installed. After cleaning, I tested using my 7.1 disk but it wasn't detected, so I tried the included 5.2 which was on a few old flaky disks, luckily one was good. All ok with the diags and has an option to check/slow the drive RPM (which I've not seen before on 1050 Happy).

 

I've had a look online and couldn't find this version, only 5.3 & 6.6 (Atarimania). I'm guessing 5.3 is probably an upgrade anyway and the 6.6 screenshot shows 1050 only.

 

Happy 810 install pics below, it doesn't look very official to me and has some creative soldering.

 

 

 

Happy Warp Speed menu 5.2 - Happy Warp Speed Menu 5.2.ATR

[+Larry]

You *might* have one of the very early Happy 810 Upgrades. He upgraded them "by hand" prior to coming out with the Enhancement board. In the fall of 1982, I sent him an order to have my 810 upgraded. He returned my check and told me to wait a couple of months because the user-installed board would be ready for sale.

 

Or, you might have a (clever) user's hack. If I were going to guess, I'd say the latter, although I never actually saw one of the hand-upgraded Happy drives.

 

-Larry

[Zarxx]

You *might* have one of the very early Happy 810 Upgrades. He upgraded them "by hand" prior to coming out with the Enhancement board. In the fall of 1982, I sent him an order to have my 810 upgraded. He returned my check and told me to wait a couple of months because the user-installed board would be ready for sale.

 

Or, you might have a (clever) user's hack. If I were going to guess, I'd say the latter, although I never actually saw one of the hand-upgraded Happy drives.

 

-Larry

 

Thanks Larry, interesting. I didn't know that. I think your probably right, as I'm in the UK and whoever did this mod liked their solder a little too much from the look of things. Plus, I believe this is a later model 810 due to the board on top (I'm not sure when this was introduced).

[BillC]

 

Thanks Larry, interesting. I didn't know that. I think your probably right, as I'm in the UK and whoever did this mod liked their solder a little too much from the look of things. Plus, I believe this is a later model 810 due to the board on top (I'm not sure when this was introduced).

The original power board is supposed to have a very high failure rate, the analog board(on top of the drive mechanism) was also required when replacing it with the newer style power board.