Some Happy Questions

[+Larry]

I've been doing some research on Happy drives, and I have several questions.  Perhaps someone here knows the answer(s)?

 

1.  Did Happy Computers Inc. (HCI) ever use an eprom for a Happy Enhancement board?  I'm pretty sure that he used eproms for the original Happy 810 Modifications.

 

2. Does anyone have, or has anyone here ever seen a genuine Happy 810 Modification?  I would think that HCI would have used some type of label or other identifying mark(s) somewhere on the mod.  If anyone has a picture of a genuine 810 Happy Mod., that would be amazing!

 

3. When did HCI go from an 6K ram enhancement to an 8K?  Was it for Rev 3 of the 1050 Enhancement?  Would the Rev 3 rom work in a Rev 2 board?

 

4. Was Rev 3 the final 1050 version?  AFAIK, it was.

 

5. According to an Analog HCI (Jan '86) ad, Warp Dos was available for Top Dos as well as DosXL and Dos 2.0s.  I presume this means a modified version with a custom Warp Speed module.  Has anyone ever seen it?  Perhaps it is included in some version of Top Dos.  And of course, Tim Patrick did Warp Dos 2.5XL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BillC]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

2. Does anyone have, or has anyone here ever seen a genuine Happy 810 Modification?  I would think that HCI would have used some type of label or other identifying mark(s) somewhere on the mod.  If anyone has a picture of a genuine 810 Happy Mod., that would be amazing!

Unknown if it's a genuine Happy 810 mod, but following post has a picture of a modified 810 side board that is recognized by the Happy v5.3 software.

 

 

[ijor]

3 hours ago, Larry said:

3. When did HCI go from an 6K ram enhancement to an 8K?  Was it for Rev 3 of the 1050 Enhancement?  Would the Rev 3 rom work in a Rev 2 board?

 

4. Was Rev 3 the final 1050 version?  AFAIK, it was.

There is no Rev 3. There are only two firmware versions for the Happy 1050; rev 1 and rev 2. And I don't think there is any relation between the firmware version and the hardware version. Either version should work with 6K or 8K ram. They both ignore the presence of any ram beyond 6K.

 

I believe that the 8K RAM hardware predates firmware rev 2, but I''m not really sure.

[a6502]

Check this out, they did use EPROMs:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204290411199

[Rybags]

Makes sense for something low volume.  Also note you have OTP Eproms that don't have the window so look like mask Roms.

[+Larry]

We've got a former Happy employee here now.  He may be able to shed some light on this subject. 

[BillC]

9 hours ago, a6502 said:

Check this out, they did use EPROMs:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204290411199

This is likely a ROM for a HAPPY 810 UPGRADE plus the later software, the upgrade ROM was supposed to make the HAPPY 810 v7 capable.

An issue is which ROM is it since that is serial# dependant?

 

ACA008   HAPPY 810 UPGRADE                     49.95
         Turns a stock 810 into a 810 Happy drive
ACA009   HAPPY 810 ROM UPGRD >5000       24.95
ACA010   HAPPY 810 ROM UPGRD <5000       24.95
         Upgrade Rom for original 810 Happy Drives

Edited April 11, 2023 by BillC

[spicyjack]

Hi,

 

I picked up an 810 with a Happy Enhancement a few weeks ago.  I also got a stack of manuals and instructions with it as well, which contained a sheet of paper that describes "REV 7 ROM FOR 810 HAPPY".

 

The short version is that Happy 810 serials between B0001 and B4999 used a 2732 EPROM, B5000 to B5999 used a 2532 EPROM, and serial B8000 and above are already upgraded to the Rev 7 ROM; the instructions don't mention what kind of an EPROM it uses.

 

Attached is a scanned copy of the page.  I'll post this scan as it's own post as well, so it reaches a wider audience, and eventually, after a lot more scanning of this stack of manuals/instructions, I'll post it on `archive.org`.