Read Track programs for 1050 and 810 Happy drives

[Gregf]

I'm just getting back into Atari after foolishly selling off everything in the 90's

This is a great site with so much info, and it helped me get back into putting together these programs.

 

I wrote 3 different programs that run in memory at $4000

The first program is rdtrk810.com for the Happy 810
There isn't enough Happy 810 ram to capture a whole track,
getting approximately 15-16 of 18 sectors.
The track data is saved to a file from pc memory at $7000 to $7AFF

The 2nd program is rdtrked.com, and is for reading the 1050 Happy drive.
It can read either single or enhanced density (26 sectors)
It can read a whole track of data, and is saved to a file from pc memory at $7000 to $8CFF
It reads 1 whole track plus a few repeating sectors.

 

The 1050 Read Track subroutine was written by Richard Adams around 1985.
I recently wrote the program around it that saves a track to disk.

We used the subroutine to look at disks that people submitted to Happy Computers that they couldn't copy.
I have fond memories of printing out the tracks and circling the track and sector headers.
I still have my original 1050 board with a 2128 ram soldered on top of one of the 6116s that I used.

I grabbed the lowest serial # for myself (B7000)

 

The 3rd program is rdtrkdd.com and is for reading true double density disks
It can read a whole track of data, and is saved to a file from pc memory at $7000 to $8CFF
It reads 1 whole track plus a few repeating sectors

 

I read a comment here from a member who said that even with 8k of ram, a Happy 1050 can't read a whole track.
Actually, it can.  It's just that getting the top 2k to the PC takes an extra command.

The Happy 1050 has a section of code that looks at the known commands like $52 read sector,
and makes access to Happy ram above $9800 invalid and gives you a NAK.
This is obviously because there was no 8k ram when he wrote the rom.

The answer is to add a new command to the table that uses
the same code as $52 at $7276.  This takes care of the problem.
You use it just like a $52 command.

 

I looked at the Read Track program from the German Atari Magazin, and they didn't get the top 2k
in their display buffer, although they did get it into Happy 1050 ram.
I made a few changes to it, and got it to read a whole track by adding the new command,
and allowing a larger address range to $1cff instead of $15ff in the display buffer.

If they're still around, I'll ask if they mind me posting it,
although I'd prefer that they do it, since I didn't have any source code, and may have missed some things.
I'd also like to make an English version of it too!

 

Included is an atr file of an enhanced 2.5 dos disk with all the files and source.

RDTRKED.ATR

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

the german Atari Magazin does not exist anymore (originally released in colour from 1987-1989; newer version in b/w from 1991-2000). So they do not mind if you are posting an update approx. 36 years later. The author Stefan Wachter had an article series in that magazine about 1050 enhancements, but that did stop abruptly, maybe because he was selling his "copy-protection analysis" and "copy-protection creation" program named "Diskmaster 1050" (not knowing that this name was already taken by an american disk/sector editor program).

 

Looked at their reader diskette 8705B (issue 5 of 1987, diskside B) and the only "source" on it was a Turbo-Basic XL file (TRK*.TBS) full of DATA lines that created the *.COM file.  Let me know, if I should translate some german words for you...

AM_Happy.zip

[Gregf]

Thanks for the reply and the files.  I'll look over these and see what I can do.

I have to find what I have already. I haven't looked at them in a while.

And I would definitely appreciate help with some of the German!

I know some languages, but not German.

 

 

[+DjayBee]

6 hours ago, Gregf said:

We used the subroutine to look at disks that people submitted to Happy Computers that they couldn't copy.

Wow, finally somebody out from the realms of HCI.

Richard is still completely secretive about just, erm, everything.

 

If he could, he would probably even deny his own existence. 😜

[Gregf]

Oh well, he has just moved on to other things, and  I'm much more nostalgic for the 'good old days' than he is. 🙂

I asked him if he objected to me releasing the files, and he said it was OK.

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Gregf
an after thought

[ijor]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:02 PM, Gregf said:

We used the subroutine to look at disks that people submitted to Happy Computers that they couldn't copy.
I have fond memories of printing out the tracks and circling the track and sector headers.
I still have my original 1050 board with a 2128 ram soldered on top of one of the 6116s that I used.

I grabbed the lowest serial # for myself (B7000)

 

Hi Greg,

 

It is great to have somebody that worked at Happy Computers. Thanks for releasing the track read software. There is an European commercial program that could read whole tracks, among other things.

 

Btw, I thought that you had some kind of more powerful hardware for internal usage. Guess that at some point you could use the Discovery Cartridge, or at that time it was already too late for newer 8-bit protections?

 

15 hours ago, Gregf said:

Oh well, he has just moved on to other things, and  I'm much more nostalgic for the 'good old days' than he is. 🙂

I asked him if he objected to me releasing the files, and he said it was OK.

 

Sorry but I can't resist insisting. Some of us tried to contact Mr. Adams for many years. May be you could ask him to consider the idea of releasing all the sources related to the "good old days". It doesn't have any commercial value anymore, but it has lot of historical value. Actually even anecdotal information would be great. Many software and hardware designers are releasing their old material. It is a pity that it would be lost and releasing the old material would actually make his work even more valuable.

 

At least please let him know that many people here still care a lot about his stuff. We have nowadays even software Happy emulation, to give you an idea. I do realize it is not up to you. So again, sorry for raising the issue.

 

 

[Gregf]

Hi Ijor,

 

It's great to find people still interested in Atari.  I hadn't looked at anything Atari since the early 90's

Because of the pandemic, I found old source floppies, and bought some equipment on eBay.

 

I can't remember for sure if we ever used the Discovery cartridge to look at 8-bit software.  I'll ask Richard.

 

What's the name of the European software that does whole track reads?

Are they still around?

 

I will definitely ask him about releasing more source files.  I told him about all the interest in Atari.

You never know, he might do it, but don't count on it.

[Gregf]

OK--Richard says he doesn't remember if the Discovery cartridge was used on 8-bit disks, just as I don't.

and he said he can't support requests for HCI source code.  Oh well, I tried.

 

[ijor]

1 hour ago, Gregf said:

What's the name of the European software that does whole track reads?

Are they still around?

 

It's "Disk master 1050". I didn't note that actually the software was already mentioned here in a previous message. It's the same author that published the program you saw in a German magazine, only that later he went commercial Some time ago I wrote a small article about the unique copy protection present on that disk. If you are interested it is here:

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/290495-disk-master-1050-disk-copy-protection

 

1 hour ago, Gregf said:

I will definitely ask him about releasing more source files.  I told him about all the interest in Atari.

You never know, he might do it, but don't count on it.

 

Yeah, we know he like to have a very low profile. Just hoping that after all these years thing might have changed

 

Btw, just out of curiosity, do you know if he still has everything? I mean, stuff like sources for the Happy software, firmware, schematics, internal schematics for the Discovery Cart chip, etc? I honestly hope all that invaluable stuff is not lost. It's not so much about the technical side because we reverse engineered most of it, it is about the historical preservation.

 

[ijor]

1 minute ago, Gregf said:

and he said he can't support requests for HCI source code.  Oh well, I tried.

 

Thanks, appreciate your effort.

[Gregf]

3 hours ago, ijor said:

 

It's "Disk master 1050". I didn't note that actually the software was already mentioned here in a previous message. It's the same author that published the program you saw in a German magazine, only that later he went commercial Some time ago I wrote a small article about the unique copy protection present on that disk. If you are interested it is here:

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/290495-disk-master-1050-disk-copy-protection

Great, thanks for the info.

3 hours ago, ijor said:

 

Yeah, we know he like to have a very low profile. Just hoping that after all these years thing might have changed

 

Btw, just out of curiosity, do you know if he still has everything? I mean, stuff like sources for the Happy software, firmware, schematics, internal schematics for the Discovery Cart chip, etc? I honestly hope all that invaluable stuff is not lost. It's not so much about the technical side because we reverse engineered most of it, it is about the historical preservation.

 

I don't know for sure, but my guess is that it's buried under a ton of stuff somewhere.  He probably doesn't have time to look for it. 

I got the same answer when I asked him if he had any hardware for sale, before I ended up at eBay.

[Gregf]

Ijor,

So I just read the thread you quoted.  Can you run my read track program on your copy of disk master, and then post the track file?

I'd be curious to see what a full track read would look like of the sector 27 track.

 

[E474]

Hi @Gregf,

 

  Thanks for sharing the code, it must have been fun working at/with HCI bitd.

 

 I got the sources for the Atari Magazin articles a while back via this thread: 

 

 

   I wrote a wrapper program to use the info in these articles to download the Happy Firmware, see: https://github.com/e474/DUMP1050

 

   I was getting issues with the Happy sector corruption bug and high speed SIO code, so I've marked DUMP1050 as "do not use / be careful" until I can spend some time on it, which unfortunately I don't have very much of. You might run into the same issue if you are using high speed SIO code.

 

   I translated the Atari Magazin articles by printing out the PDFs, pointing the Google Translate app at them, translating German to English a few parahgraphs at a time, and pasting the translation into a document on my phone. They're a bit rough and ready, but I'm posting the results below, as I haven't gotten round to tidying them up, and they will sit in my to-do list forever otherwise:

 

   Probably makes most sense to read the articles side by side with the originals as those also contain the source listings (IIRC).

 

   Would like to chat a bit more on this subject, but have a horribly busy weekend/upcoming week!

 

   Hope this helps.

 

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by E474
Removed PDFs, as included original authors phone numbers! Will redact and repost.

[E474]

Hi,

 

   Here are the PDFs and LibreOffice documents with the original author's address and telephone number removed. Quick scan reveals I only cleaned up the first couple of articles, so there's a few artifacts like the footer text appearing halfway through paragraphs, etc.

 

 

Atari Magazin article part 1.odt Atari Magazin article part 1.pdf Atari Magazin article part 2.odt Atari Magazin article part 2.pdf Atari Magazin article part 3.odt Atari Magazin article part 3.pdf Atari Magazin article part 4.odt Atari Magazin article part 4.pdf Atari Magazin article part 5.odt Atari Magazin article part 5.pdf

[Gregf]

Hi E474,

 

Thanks for all the great info! 

I need more info/German translations to finish my whole track update of the Readtrack program from Atari Magazine.

 

Yes, I had a lot of fun in the 80's  2 years at Optimized System Software, then off to Happy Computers for 5 years, until he shut down.

 

I really like your dump1050 program  Good job!

It's going to take awhile to look at all this, but I will for sure.

 

I'll see if I have some notes on the corruption bug.

 

I have to study for my drivers license test, but after that, I'll start going through this.

 

[Yellowman]

Oh a programmer from Happy Computers.
please stay here We have hundreds of questions .

 

The question came up about the Discovery Cart, in connection with Atari 8-bit floppy disks.
I have a Discovery Cart that plugs into the Atari ST's ROM port.
Now I connected 3.5 inch drives (Teac(HD) Sony...) to the Discovery Cart and copied some protected ST originals. Also protected Amiga disks. This works great.
Brief description: It is best to only copy the protected tracks, as this process can take a long time.
You can read out a complete floppy disk as a flux dump and save it on hard disk.
First, some kind of script must be created so that the discovery cart knows what to do.
Descriptions such as: Single or double sided disks. Normal tracks or protected tracks and much more.
Unfortunately, operating the software is a real adventure. Not so user-friendly.

Also, there is very little information about the Discovery Cart. Maybe you have more information about the Discovery Cart?

 

Now to the Atari 8-bit floppy disks. A 5.25 inch drive connected to the Discovery Cart. Make sure that the drive is set to 40 tracks with the jumper. Or use a 40 track drive.
Now I have copied a protected Single (90K FM) and a protected Medium (130K MFM) disk. The single density disk could not be read on the Atari 1050, only the first track.

The medium density disk ran flawlessly. Seems to be problems with the FM format.
I've had a Greaseweazle for a few months. Here I have the same effect.

 

The mysterious Happy Chip is on the Discovery Cart.
Will we ever find out how it works? 

 

I can also tell you something about the Disk Master. But later in the other thread, which completely slipped past me in 2019.

 

[_The Doctor__]

Is the 5.25 drive an old school Double Density drive on on the discovery/weazle? If not, it won't be downwards compatible.

Edited April 2, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[ijor]

On 4/1/2023 at 6:24 AM, Gregf said:

So I just read the thread you quoted.  Can you run my read track program on your copy of disk master, and then post the track file?

I'd be curious to see what a full track read would look like of the sector 27 track.

 

 

I'm afraid it's a bit complicated for me to run your program on the disk. In first place I don't have the physical disk. We now do most of the processing virtually, on disk images. I never had a physical copy of that title. Also my Happy drives are on storage, so even if I would write back the image to a physical disk, it would still be complicated for me at this time.

 

I can still produce some sort of dump of the track if you are interested, though. As you could imagine, there are now modern, very powerful, hardware USB devices that work at the same level as the Discovery Cartridge. And with the power of a modern PC, we can easily do all sort of work and analysis. There are even tools that can produce a graphical visualization of the disk surface.

Edited April 3, 2023 by ijor

[ijor]

13 hours ago, Yellowman said:

Also, there is very little information about the Discovery Cart. Maybe you have more information about the Discovery Cart?

I think we have all of the information about the Discovery Cart since long ago. Are you active on atari-forum? We had several threads about it there.

 

13 hours ago, Yellowman said:

The question came up about the Discovery Cart, in connection with Atari 8-bit floppy disks.

...
Unfortunately, operating the software is a real adventure. Not so user-friendly.

 

Back at the day I release a user friendly program to copy 8-bit disks automatically with the Discovery Cart. It was free and it was distributed by Happy. IIRC you could download it from their BBS. The main problem copying 8-bit disks is that you can't access the flippy side.

 

13 hours ago, Yellowman said:

You can read out a complete floppy disk as a flux dump and save it on hard disk.

While this works some times, it is not really recommended. This copy method works like an analogue copier without any kind of verification, error checking, or retrial. It is not a very reliable method. You also have an additional problem if the disk is not aligned with the index hole, as happens with most original 8-bit disks. But yes, it does works sometimes especially if the disk is in perfect condition and aligned to the index hole.

[Gregf]

On 4/2/2023 at 8:01 AM, Yellowman said:

Oh a programmer from Happy Computers.
please stay here We have hundreds of questions .

Yes, I plan on sticking around, there is so much good info here.

 

On 4/2/2023 at 8:01 AM, Yellowman said:

Also, there is very little information about the Discovery Cart. Maybe you have more information about the Discovery Cart?

I didn't write software for the Discovery cartridge.  That was all Richard. 

One of my projects was to re-write the ST floppy rom to allow a 3rd and 4th drive.

I loved writing 68000 code.  So powerful and straight forward.

 

On 4/2/2023 at 8:01 AM, Yellowman said:

I can also tell you something about the Disk Master. But later in the other thread, which completely slipped past me in 2019.

 

Sure, that would be great

[Gregf]

On 4/2/2023 at 9:22 PM, ijor said:

 

I'm afraid it's a bit complicated for me to run your program on the disk. In first place I don't have the physical disk. We now do most of the processing virtually, on disk images. I never had a physical copy of that title. Also my Happy drives are on storage, so even if I would write back the image to a physical disk, it would still be complicated for me at this time.

 

I can still produce some sort of dump of the track if you are interested, though. As you could imagine, there are now modern, very powerful, hardware USB devices that work at the same level as the Discovery Cartridge. And with the power of a modern PC, we can easily do all sort of work and analysis. There are even tools that can produce a graphical visualization of the disk surface.

OK.  I was hoping to see what the 1050 read track would show, but anything else would be interesting too.  I guess my next step is to buy an ST and Discovery Cartridge. I wasn't aware of the USB device you mention, but I'd like the link.  After being away from Atari for so long, I have a lot of catching up to do!

[ijor]

13 hours ago, Gregf said:

OK.  I was hoping to see what the 1050 read track would show, but anything else would be interesting too.

 

If you insist in a read track dump, I can probably work out something, but I would need a few days for that. Not sure that particular track is that interesting though. Just a regular track with an extra sector that has an "odd" sector number. There are more interesting tracks with many more sectors, even in single density.

 

13 hours ago, Gregf said:

I wasn't aware of the USB device you mention, but I'd like the link.

 

There are a few such devices, a couple of them being commercial products. But nowadays the most popular is probably the greaseweazle, which is an open source development:

https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle/wiki

 

 

Btw, it would be nice to hear if you remember any interesting anecdotes from the good old days. Speaking about that, this remind me something that you possible wasn't aware. See this post I made sometime ago:

 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/266752-we-beat-happy-to-death-dedication-found-on-original-disk

 

You may want to forward that to Mr. Adams, he would probably smile

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by ijor

[+DjayBee]

@Yellowman do you own a copy of "Disk Master 1050" which you could dump?

[Gregf]

12 hours ago, ijor said:

 

If you insist in a read track dump, I can probably work out something, but I would need a few days for that. Not sure that particular track is that interesting though. Just a regular track with an extra sector that has an "odd" sector number. There are more interesting tracks with many more sectors, even in single density.

 

That's OK, it's just I just am familiar with protection looked at from a track read.  If you have time in the future, I'd like to see any of the interesting track dumps, but don't sweat it.

 

There are a few such devices, a couple of them being commercial products. But nowadays the most popular is probably the greaseweazle, which is an open source development:

https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle/wiki

 

Interesting.  Is the Blue Pill board good enough to use, or should I be looking at the F7 board?

 

Btw, it would be nice to hear if you remember any interesting anecdotes from the good old days. Speaking about that, this remind me something that you possible wasn't aware. See this post I made sometime ago:

 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/266752-we-beat-happy-to-death-dedication-found-on-original-disk

 

You may want to forward that to Mr. Adams, he would probably smile

 

Ha, I'll forward it to him.

 

 

[ijor]

22 hours ago, Gregf said:

Interesting.  Is the Blue Pill board good enough to use, or should I be looking at the F7 board?

 

Well, the main issue with the Blue Pill model is that it is not buffered. The MCU drives the floppy interface directly. This won't work with some old drives as they require too much driving current. There is also the risk that the Blue Pill could be damaged, although being so cheap, you can probably have a couple of spares.

 

I would say that unless you want to build a very cheap hardware by yourself, then I would recommend some of the more advanced buffered models. That is not to say that the Blue Pill model won't work. It will, at least  as long as you don't use a drive too old.