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> Retro : Atari St, devoted to sidis
NickTheGreek
post 5 Dec 2005, 03:54 AM
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Yes, a Retro review is here :

Atari ST

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The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari in 1985. The "ST" allegedly stood for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 32-bit internals with 16-bit external buses. Another theory is that ST really stood for "Sam Tramiel", Jack Tramiel's eldest son.



<h2>Overview</h2>
<p>The Atari ST was a notable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_computer" title="Home computer">home computer</a>, based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000" title="Motorola 68000">Motorola 68000</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unit" title="Central processing unit">CPU</a>, with 512<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte" title="Kilobyte">KB</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_Access_Memory" title="Random Access Memory">RAM</a> or more, and 3.5" <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk" title="Floppy disk">floppy disks</a> as storage. It was similar to other contemporary machines which used the Motorola 68000, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Macintosh" title="Apple Macintosh">Apple Macintosh</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Amiga" title="Commodore Amiga">Commodore Amiga</a>. Although the Macintosh was the first widely available computer with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface" title="Graphical user interface">graphical user interface</a>

(GUI), it was however limited to a monochromatic display. The Atari ST
was notable, being the first computer with a fully bit-mapped color
GUI. It had an innovative single-chip graphics subsystem (designed by
Shiraz Shivji) which shared the full amount of system memory, in
alternating clock cycles, with the processor, similar to the earlier <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro" title="BBC Micro">BBC Micro</a> and the Unified Memory systems that have become common today. It was also the first home computer with integral <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_Instrument_Digital_Interface" title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</a> support.</p>
<p>The ST was primarily a competitor to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Amiga" title="Commodore Amiga">Commodore Amiga</a> systems. This platform rivalry was often reflected by the owners and was most prominent in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demo_Scene" title="Demo Scene">Demo Scene</a>. Where the Amiga had custom hardware which gave it the edge in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_game" title="Computer game">games</a> and videowork market, the ST was generally cheaper and slightly faster at basic operation. Thanks to its built-in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI" title="MIDI">MIDI</a> ports it enjoyed success as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_sequencer" title="Music sequencer">music sequencer</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controller" title="Controller">controller</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_instrument" title="Musical instrument">musical instruments</a> among amateurs and professionals alike, being used in concert by bands such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_Dream" title="Tangerine Dream">Tangerine Dream</a>. In some markets, particularly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">Germany</a>, the machine gained a strong foothold as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_business" title="Small business">small business</a> machine for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAD" title="CAD">CAD</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_publishing" title="Desktop publishing">Desktop publishing</a> work.</p>

<p>The ST was later superseded by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT" title="Atari TT">Atari TT</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Falcon" title="Atari Falcon">Falcon</a> computers, and ST technology was used in the creation of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Jaguar" title="Atari Jaguar">Atari Jaguar</a> video game console.</p>
<p>Since Atari pulled out of the computer market there has been a market for powerful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS" title="Atari TOS">TOS</a>-based machines (clones). Like most "retro" computers the Atari enjoys support in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulator" title="Emulator">emulator</a> scene.</p>

<h2>Origins</h2>
<p>Atari had created two released machines in the form of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600" title="Atari 2600">Atari 2600</a> console (also known as <i>VCS</i>) and the various <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family" title="Atari 8-bit family">Atari 8-bit</a> based home computers. Both of these lines were created around the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502" title="MOS Technology 6502">6502</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unit" title="Central processing unit">CPU</a>

and included a number of additional chips assisting this rather basic,
but cost-effective CPU in providing graphics and sound. In fact the
8-bit machines had originally intended to be the replacement for the
2600, but they were later reengineered as home computers.</p>
<p>As Atari grew and the management was shuffled by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner" title="Time Warner">Warner</a> (their parent company), the creators of the 2600 and 8-bit machines eventually got fed up and left. A group of them led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Miner" title="Jay Miner">Jay Miner</a> formed a small <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_tank" title="Think tank">think tank</a> called <b>Amiga</b> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982" title="1982">1982</a> and set about creating the third generation machine, this time based on the much more powerful 68000 CPU.</p>

<p>During this time, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_computer" title="Home computer">home computer</a> market started to slow down, and the video game market underwent the great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983" title="Video game crash of 1983">video game crash of 1983</a>.
Warner management decided to "get out" and started looking to sell
Atari outright. Meanwhile many of the same effects were in the process
of decimating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_International" title="Commodore International">Commodore International</a>. An argument involving Commodore's chairman and largest shareholder Irving Gould, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tramiel" title="Jack Tramiel">Jack Tramiel</a> ensued over development of a new 68000 system, resulting in Tramiel's immediate departure from Commodore in January of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984" title="1984">1984</a>.</p>
<p>Tramiel immediately formed a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holding_company" title="Holding company">holding company</a>, <b>Tramiel Technology</b>,
and brought in a number of ex-Commodore staff to continue his project
to develop a new, high-performance home computer. While this team, led
by Shiraz Shivji, worked on the design, Tramiel discovered that Warner
Communications wanted to sell Atari Corp. Tramiel purchased Atari Corp,
mainly for the overseas manufacturing and dealer network. The design
team considered "one-upping" the Macintosh by using a full <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32-bit" title="32-bit">32-bit</a> chip, namely the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS32032" title="NS32032">NS32032</a>, but in talks, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Semiconductor" title="National Semiconductor">National Semiconductor</a>

couldn't supply the numbers, or price, the project needed. In
retrospect this proved to be lucky, a prototype built on the NS32032
proved to be slower than the 16-bit 68000.</p>
<p>The basic hardware design quickly "gelled" into a form that was
almost identical to the ST that eventually shipped. The design used
off-the-shelf parts where possible. Disk drive support was provided by
the <a href="/w/index.php?title=WD1772&amp;action=edit" class="new" title="WD1772">WD1772</a>, a standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Digital" title="Western Digital">Western Digital</a> chip, and sound from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instruments_AY-3-8912" title="General Instruments AY-3-8912">Yamaha YM2149</a>,
a clone of the common but fairly basic General Instruments AY-3-8910.
Serial, MIDI, and other I/O functions were provided by standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola" title="Motorola">Motorola</a> chips. The custom chips included a memory controller, the simple "Shifter" graphics chip, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_memory_access" title="Direct memory access">DMA</a> controller, and the "GLUE" interrupt handler.</p>

<p>At about the same time, Amiga were desperate for a buyer or
investor, and the "Warner owned" Atari had paid Amiga for development
work (<i>see: <a href="http://www.atarimuseum.com/articles/mickey.html" class="external text" title="http://www.atarimuseum.com/articles/mickey.html">"TOP SECRET: Confidential Atari-Amiga Agreement"</a></i>).
In return Atari was to get one-year exclusive use of the design. Atari
was also working on a "high-end" 68000 based machine at the time, so it
is not clear what their intentions for the Amiga design were.</p>
<p>By May Tramiel had secured his funding, bought the remains of Atari
from Warner for a very low price, and set about re-creating his empire.
One of his first acts was to fire practically all of Atari's highly
respected engineering staff, and cancel almost all ongoing development.
The Amiga crew was upset, and soon entered discussions with Commodore
that led to them purchasing Amiga, and quickly cancelling Atari's
license. Tramiel was furious, and the resulting court case lasted for
years. Finally, it settled out of court, the details of which remain
secret.</p>
<p>Work thus continued with the design started at Tramiel Technology.
With the basic design complete, the team started looking at solutions
for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system" title="Operating system">operating system</a>. Soon after the buyout <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> approached Tramiel with the suggestion that they port <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows" title="Microsoft Windows">Windows</a> to the platform, but the delivery date was out about two years, far too long for their needs. Another possibility was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Research" title="Digital Research">Digital Research</a>, who were working on a new GUI-based system then known as Crystal, soon to become <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager" title="Graphical Environment Manager">GEM</a>. A final possibility was to write a new system in-house, but this was eventually rejected due to risk.</p>

<p>DR seemed generally uninterested in porting the system themselves,
so a team from Atari was sent to their Monterey headquarters to do it
themselves. They were given the latest versions of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8086" title="Intel 8086">Intel 8086</a> code from their DR counterparts, and would port it to the 68000 as quickly as possible. A version, running on top of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M" title="CP/M">CP/M-68K</a>, was available just in time for the January 1985 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CES" title="CES">CES</a>, where the ST was introduced.</p>
<div class="floatright"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Atari_TOS_1_0.png" class="image" title="TOS 1.0 with the GEM user interface"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Atari_TOS_1_0.png" alt="TOS 1.0 with the GEM user interface" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Atari_TOS_1_0.png" height="200" width="320"></a></span></div>
<p>CP/M-68K was essentially a direct port of CP/M's original, and very
old, operating system. By 'modern' standards of 1985, it was rather
outdated both in terms of command structure, and that it didn't support
hierarchical file systems. DR was also in the process of building a new
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS" title="DOS">DOS</a>-like operating system specifically for GEM, <b>GEMDOS</b>,
and there was some discussion of whether or not a port of GEMDOS could
be complete in time for product delivery in June. The decision was
eventually taken to port it, resulting in a GEM/GEMDOS system Atari
referred to as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS" title="Atari TOS">TOS</a>. This was beneficial to the system, as it allowed the ST to read and write standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC" title="IBM PC">IBM PC</a> disks.</p>

<p>The design shipped in June 1985 as the <b>520ST</b>. The machine had
gone from concept to store shelves in a little under a year. Atari had
originally intended to release versions with 128 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte" title="Kilobyte">KB</a> and 256 KB of RAM as the <b>130ST</b> and <b>260ST</b>
respectively, but the rapidly falling prices of RAM at the time led
them to cancel these versions and it was released with 512K only. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986" title="1986">1986</a> the <b>1040ST<sup>F</sup></b> (also written <b>STF</b>)
shipped with 1MB of RAM and featured an integral PSU and double sided
floppy-disk drive. However, the ST remained generally the same
internally over the majority of its several-year lifespan. The choice
of model numbers was inherited from the model-numbers of the <i>XE series</i> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family" title="Atari 8-bit family">Atari 8-bit family</a> of computers

<h2>Description</h2>
<p>The 520ST was an all-in-one unit, similar to earlier home computers like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64" title="Commodore 64">Commodore 64</a>.
However, by this time the market demanded a "full sized" keyboard,
including cursor keys and a numeric keypad. For this reason the 520ST
was fairly "boxy", generally oversized for a machine that one had to
move around to adjust the keyboard position. Adding to this problem was
the number of large cables needed to connect to the peripherals. This
problem was addressed to some degree in the follow-on models which
included a built-in floppy disk.</p>
<p>Following most machines of the era, and thus differing greatly from
earlier Atari designs, the ST used a large number of one-off ports
mounted on the rear of the machine. In addition to power and monitor
connections, the ST included an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232" title="RS-232">RS-232</a> serial port, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centronics" title="Centronics">Centronics</a> printer connection, two Atari-standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joystick" title="Joystick">joystick</a>/mouse ports, an ACSI (not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCSI" title="SCSI">SCSI</a>) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_drive" title="Hard drive">hard drive</a> connector, the floppy disk connector, a cartridge port and the two MIDI ports.</p>

<p>The case followed the Tramiel-Atari design of the era, being
basically wedge shaped, with a series of grilles cut into the rear for
airflow. The original 520ST design used a external floppy drive, the <b>1040ST</b>-style
case featured a built-in floppy drive. The Power supply for the early
520ST was a large external brick while the 1040ST's was inside the
machine. In addition the majority of the machines had keyboards with a
very soft tactile feedback, not as good as those on the IBM PC. The
design was much improved with the <b>Mega ST</b> series which included
a detached high-quality keyboard and stronger case, but this apparently
cost too much to produce and the design was not used widely.</p>
<p>Atari initially used single-sided <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk" title="Floppy disk">disk drives</a>
that could store up to 360KB. Later drives were double-sided versions
that stored 720KB. Due to the early sales of so many of the
single-sided drives, almost all software would ship on two single-sided
disks instead of a single double-sided one, in fear of cutting off all
the other owners. Another problem was that the Atari double-sided drive
could read IBM formatted disks, but IBM PCs could not read Atari disks.
This was a formatting issue that was later resolved by third-party
software formatters and TOS upgrades.</p>
<p>Additionally they had originally intended to include GEM's GDOS
hardware abstraction layer, which allowed programs to draw (display,
print, etc.) graphics to any supported device with no changes. This
allowed developers to write a program for display to the screen, and
get high quality printing "for free". However GDOS was not ready at the
time the ST started shipping, and while Atari promised to include it as
soon as possible, they never did. This left printing support up to the
developers, who had to create their own engines for every possible
printer.</p>
<p>Similarly the custom "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLiTTER" title="BLiTTER">BLiTTER</a>"
was to be included to speed the performance of graphics operations on
the screen, but this was isolated to their "upscale" machines when it
was eventually released years later. As a result, the power of GEM was
largely lost on the ST platform, even when GDOS and BLiTTER eventually
shipped, it was ignored by developers because it was on so few machines.</p>

<p>On the plus side the ST was less expensive than most machines, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Macintosh" title="Apple Macintosh">Macintosh Plus</a>, and tended to be faster than most (<i>external link:</i> <a href="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/3015/16bit.html" class="external text" title="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/3015/16bit.html">price comparison</a>).
Largely as a result of the price/performance factor, the ST would go on
to be a fairly big seller, notably in markets where the foreign
exchange rates amplified prices. For this reason the ST was most
popular in Europe, especially in Germany. Also, the very crisp, 640 by
400 pixels picture of its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrome" title="Monochrome">black &amp; white</a> monitor made it popular for small-office applications. In fact, an Atari ST and reasonable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_emulation" title="Terminal emulation">terminal emulation</a> software was much cheaper than a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Equipment_Corporation" title="Digital Equipment Corporation">Digital</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT220" title="VT220">VT220</a> terminal, which was normally needed by offices with central computers.</p>

<h2>The super STs</h2>
<p>For about the first four years, nothing much had changed in the capabilities of the ST <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_%28computing%29" title="Platform (computing)">platform</a>, except for new machines being released with greater RAM. In late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989" title="1989">1989</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari" title="Atari">Atari</a> released the <b>ST<sup>E</sup></b> (also written <b>STE</b>)
— a version of the ST with some improved hardware. Among the new
features were 4096 colours to choose from instead of 512, a new digital
sound-chip that could play stereo samples in hardware (the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instruments_AY-3-8912" title="General Instruments AY-3-8912">Yamaha YM2149</a>

could only be coaxed into playing samples by means of software) and a
BLiTTER. Two analogue joystick-ports were added (two normal joysticks
could be plugged into each port with an adaptor). Despite all of this,
it still ran at 8MHz.</p>
<p>The <b>STE</b> models initially had serious operating systems conflicts resulting in many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_software" title="Application software">applications</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_game" title="Computer game">games</a>
written for the ST line being unusable (sometimes, this could be solved
by expanding the RAM). To make matters worse, the built in floppy disk
drives could not read as many tracks on a floppy disk as the built in
floppy disk drives on older models. While this was not a problem for
most users, some games used the extra tracks as a crude form of copy
protection (and as a means of cramming more data on the disk).
Furthermore, having a joystick plugged in would sometimes cause strange
behaviour with a few applications (such as <i>First Word Plus</i>).</p>
<p>Very little use was made of the extra features of the STE:
STE-enhanced and STE-only software was rare. Look in external links for
Atari STE fanpage, there you will find what software uses special Atari
STE features.</p>

<p>Atari went on to release the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_MEGA_STE" title="Atari MEGA STE">Mega STE</a> (an STE in a grey TT case that ran at 16MHz).</p>
<p>At some time during the early '90s, the development of the ST line forked. On one branch was the high-end workstation-oriented <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT" title="Atari TT">TT</a>, and on the other was the entertainment-oriented <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Falcon" title="Atari Falcon">Falcon</a> — both of which were supposed to be ST compatible, but not compatible with each other. By then, the <i>ATARI ST</i> platform was dying and neither of these two machines took off.</p>
<p><a href="/w/index.php?title=Medusa_Computer_Systems&amp;action=edit" class="new" title="Medusa Computer Systems">Medusa Computer Systems</a> manufactured some 3rd-party Atari Falcon/TT-compatible machines that used <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68040" title="68040">68040</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68060" title="68060">68060</a> processors.

Future of the platform

Despite the lack of a hardware supplier and commercial software
vendors, there is a small active community dedicated to keeping the ST
platform alive. There have been advancements in the operating system,
software emulators (for Windows, Mac &amp; Linux), and some hardware
developments. There are accelerator cards, such as the CT-60, which is
an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68060" title="68060">68060</a> based accelerator card for the Falcon, and there is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Coldfire_Project" title="Atari Coldfire Project">Atari Coldfire Project</a>, which aims at developing an Atari-clone based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldfire" title="Coldfire">Coldfire</a> processor.

<h2>Software</h2>
<p>The ST was the first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_computer" title="Home computer">home computer</a>
with built-in MIDI ports, and there was plenty of MIDI-related software
for use professionally in music studios, or by amateur enthusiasts. The
popular Windows/Macintosh application <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubase" title="Cubase">Cubase</a></i> originated on the Atari ST.</p>
<p>Music <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker" title="Tracker">tracker</a> software was popular on the ST, such as the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carebears_Demo_Crew" title="The Carebears Demo Crew">TCB</a> Tracker</i>.</p>

<p>An innovative music composition program that combined the sample
playing abilities of a tracker with conventional music notation (which
was usually only found in MIDI software) was called <i>Quartet</i>.</p>
<p>Also popular on the ST was professional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_publishing" title="Desktop publishing">Desktop publishing</a> software, such as <i>Calamus</i>; and office tools such as word processors and spreadsheets.</p>
<p>There were many software development tools available for the Atari
ST: 68000 assemblers, Pascal and C compilers, and novelty tools such as
<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot%27Em-Up_Construction_Kit" title="Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit">SEUCK</a></i>. The ST came bundled with a disk that contained amongst other things <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST_BASIC" title="ST BASIC">ST BASIC</a></i>, the first BASIC for the ST. However, due to its poor quality, it was eventually replaced by other BASICs, such as <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFA_BASIC" title="GFA BASIC">GFA BASIC</a></i> and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOS_BASIC_programming_language" title="STOS BASIC programming language">STOS</a></i>.</p>

<p>The ST was one of the leading platforms for computer games from 1987
to 1991, inclusive. Notable individuals who developed games on the ST
include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Molyneux" title="Peter Molyneux">Peter Molyneux</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Minter" title="Jeff Minter">Jeff Minter</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Braben" title="David Braben">David Braben</a>. The first real-time 3D role-playing computer game, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_%28computer_game%29" title="Dungeon Master (computer game)">Dungeon Master</a></i>,
was first developed and released on the ST. In the early 1990s the
software houses gradually stopped producing ST versions of their games.
See <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atari_ST_games" title="List of Atari ST games">List of Atari ST games</a></i> and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Atari_ST_games" title="Category:Atari ST games">Category:Atari ST games</a></i>.</p>
<p>Utility software was available to drive hardware add-ons such as video digitisers.</p>

<p>There was a thriving output of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain" title="Public domain">public domain</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware" title="Shareware">shareware</a> software which was distributed by <a href="/w/index.php?title=Public_domain_software_library&amp;action=edit" class="new" title="Public domain software library">public domain software libraries</a>.</p>

<h2>Screenshots</h2>
<table class="toccolours" style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1" cellpadding="1">
<tbody><tr>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Desktop.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of GEM (Desktop)"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/ST_Desktop.png/160px-ST_Desktop.png" alt="Screenshot of GEM (Desktop)" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Desktop.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Neochrome.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of Neochrome"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/ST_Neochrome.png/160px-ST_Neochrome.png" alt="Screenshot of Neochrome" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Neochrome.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_1st_Word.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of 1st Word"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/ST_1st_Word.png/160px-ST_1st_Word.png" alt="Screenshot of 1st Word" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_1st_Word.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_STZip.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of STZip"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0b/ST_STZip.png/160px-ST_STZip.png" alt="Screenshot of STZip" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_STZip.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#dcdcdc">
<td><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager" title="Graphical Environment Manager">GEM</a></i> (Desktop)</td>

<td><i>Neochrome</i></td>
<td><i>1st Word</i></td>
<td><i>STZip</i></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ececec">
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari" title="Atari">Atari</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Research" title="Digital Research">Digital Research</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985" title="1985">1985</a>)</td>
<td><i>Dave Staugas</i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985" title="1985">1985</a>)</td>

<td><i>GST</i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985" title="1985">1985</a>)</td>
<td><i>Vincent Pomey</i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994" title="1994">1994</a>)</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<table class="toccolours" style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="1" cellpadding="1">
<tbody><tr>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Dungeon_Master_fight.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of Dungeon Master"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fa/ST_Dungeon_Master_fight.png/160px-ST_Dungeon_Master_fight.png" alt="Screenshot of Dungeon Master" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Dungeon_Master_fight.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>

<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Midi_Maze.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of MIDI Maze"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/ST_Midi_Maze.png/160px-ST_Midi_Maze.png" alt="Screenshot of MIDI Maze" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Midi_Maze.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Populous.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of Populous"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/ST_Populous.png/160px-ST_Populous.png" alt="Screenshot of Populous" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Populous.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Xenon_2.png" class="image" title="Screenshot of Xenon 2 Megablast"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6f/ST_Xenon_2.png/160px-ST_Xenon_2.png" alt="Screenshot of Xenon 2 Megablast" longdesc="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ST_Xenon_2.png" height="100" width="160"></a></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#dcdcdc">
<td><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_%28computer_game%29" title="Dungeon Master (computer game)">Dungeon Master</a></i></td>
<td><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI_Maze" title="MIDI Maze">MIDI Maze</a></i></td>
<td><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous" title="Populous">Populous</a></i></td>
<td><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_2_Megablast" title="Xenon 2 Megablast">Xenon 2 Megablast</a></i></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ececec">
<td><i>Mirrorsoft</i>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTL_Games" title="FTL Games">FTL</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987" title="1987">1987</a>)</td>

<td><i>Hybrid Arts</i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987" title="1987">1987</a>)</td>
<td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Arts" title="Electronic Arts">EA</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions" title="Bullfrog Productions">Bullfrog</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989" title="1989">1989</a>)</td>
<td><i>Bitmap Brothers</i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989" title="1989">1989</a>)</td>

</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><br>
More screenshots can be found on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST/Games" title="Atari ST/Games">Atari ST Games</a> page.</p>

<h2>Technical specifications</h2>


<p><a name="ST.2FSTF.2FSTM.2FSTFM" id="ST.2FSTF.2FSTM.2FSTFM"></a></p>
<h3>ST/ST<sup>F</sup>/ST<sup>M</sup>/ST<sup>FM</sup></h3>
<p>As originally released in the <b>520 ST</b>:</p>
<ul>
<li>CPU: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000" title="Motorola 68000">Motorola 68000</a> @ 8<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz" title="Megahertz">MHz</a></li>

<li>RAM: 512<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte" title="Kilobyte">KB</a></li>
<li>Display modes: 320×200 (16 colour), 640×200 (4 colour), 640×400 (mono), palette of 512 colours</li>
<li>Sound: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instruments_AY-3-8912" title="General Instruments AY-3-8912">Yamaha YM2149</a> 3-voice soundchip</li>
<li>Drive: Single-sided 3½" <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk" title="Floppy disk">floppy disk</a> drive</li>
<li>Ports: TV out (on FM models), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI" title="MIDI">MIDI</a> in/out, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232" title="RS-232">RS-232</a>, printer, monitor (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB" title="RGB">RGB</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrome" title="Monochrome">mono</a>), extra disk drive port, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_memory_access" title="Direct memory access">DMA</a> port (ACSI port) for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk" title="Hard disk">hard disks</a>, joystick and mouse ports</li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_System" title="Operating System">Operating System</a>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS" title="Atari TOS">TOS</a> 1.0 (<i><b>T</b>ramiel <b>O</b>perating <b>S</b>ystem</i>) with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager" title="Graphical Environment Manager">Graphical Environment Manager</a> (GEM) GUI</li>
</ul>

<p>Very early machines included the OS on a floppy disk, but this was quickly replaced with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-only_memory" title="Read-only memory">ROM</a>
versions of TOS 1.0 instead. The later models also used an upgraded
version of TOS - 1.02 (also known as TOS 1.2). Another early addition
(after about 6 months) was an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_Modulator" title="RF Modulator">RF Modulator</a> that allowed the machine to be hooked to a colour TV when run in its low resolution mode. These models were known as the <b>520ST<sup>M</sup></b> (or <b>520STM</b>). Later <b>F</b> and <b>FM</b> models of the <i>520</i> had a built in double-sided disk drive instead of a single sided one.</p>


<p><a name="STE" id="STE"></a></p>
<h3>ST<sup>E</sup></h3>
<p>As originally released in the <b>520 ST<sup>E</sup></b>:</p>
<ul>
<li>All of the features of the <i>520ST</i></li>

<li>Drive: Double-sided 3½" <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk" title="Floppy disk">floppy disk</a> drive</li>
<li>Built in RF Modulator</li>
<li>Extended palette of 4096 available colours to chose from</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLiTTER" title="BLiTTER">BLiTTER</a> chip</li>
<li>Hardware-support for horizontal and vertical fine scrolling</li>
<li>Sound: Additional <a href="/w/index.php?title=National_LMC_1992&amp;action=edit" class="new" title="National LMC 1992">National LMC 1992</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_chip" title="Sound chip">sound chip</a> with 2-channel stereo 8-bit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCM" title="PCM">PCM</a> sound.</li>

<li>Memory: 30-pin SIMM memory slots to upgrade to 4Mb</li>
<li>Ability to synchronise the video-timings with an external device so that a video <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genlock" title="Genlock">Genlock</a> device can be used without having to make any modifications to computer's hardware</li>
<li>Additional ports: Stereo RCA jacks and two analogue joystick ports
(with support for analogue devices such as paddles and light pens. Two
normal digital joysticks could be plugged into each analogue port with
an adaptor).</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS" title="Atari TOS">TOS</a> 1.06 (also known as TOS 1.6) on ROM.</li>
</ul>
<p>Later ST<sup>E</sup> models had TOS 1.62 that fixed some bugs in TOS 1.6.</p>


<p><a name="Models" id="Models"></a></p>
<h2>Models</h2>
<p>A number of machines were released in the ST family. Here they are, in rough chronological order after the original 520 ST:</p>
<ul>
<li>520 ST+ - Name for early 520 STs with 1 MB of RAM, but without floppy disk</li>
<li>260 ST - European name for the 520 ST with 512 KB. Used after the
release of the 520 ST+ to differentiate the cheaper 512 KB models from
the 1 MB models</li>
<li>520 ST<sup>M</sup> - a 520 ST with a built-in modulator for TV output</li>

<li>520 ST<sup>FM</sup> - a 520 STM with a newly redesigned motherboard in a larger case with a built-in floppy disk drive</li>
<li>1040 ST<sup>F</sup> - a 520 STFM with 1 MB of RAM and a built-in double-sided floppy disk, but without modulator</li>
<li>1040 ST<sup>FM</sup> - a 520 STFM with 1 MB of RAM and a built-in double-sided floppy disk</li>
<li>Mega ST (MEGA2, MEGA4) - 1040 with 2 or 4MB of RAM, respectively, in a much improved "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_box" title="Pizza box">pizza box</a>"
case with a detached keyboard. These models included the BLiTTER chip,
but the OS ROM was not upgraded and the extra GEM functionality needed
to be booted from disk.</li>

<li>520 ST<sup>E</sup> and 1040 ST<sup>E</sup> - a 520 STFM/1040 STFM with enhanced sound, the BLiTTER chip, and a 4096 color palette, in the older 1040 style all-in-one case</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_MEGA_STE" title="Atari MEGA STE">Mega STE</a> - same hardware as 1040 STE except for a faster 16 MHz processor, in the TT case</li>
<li>STacy - A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_computer" title="Portable computer">portable</a> (but definitely not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop" title="Laptop">laptop</a>) version of the ST. Originally designed to operate on 12 standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_cell" title="C cell">C cell</a>

flashlight batteries for portability, when Atari finally realized how
quickly the machine would use up a set of batteries (the batteries were
not rechargeable), they simply glued the lid of the battery compartment
shut.</li>
<li>ST Book (later version portable ST)</li>
</ul>

<p><a name="Other_models" id="Other_models"></a></p>
<h2>Other models</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT" title="Atari TT">Atari TT030</a> — new machine based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68030" title="Motorola 68030">Motorola 68030</a> processor running at 32 Mhz, in yet another new case design with a detached keyboard.</li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Falcon" title="Atari Falcon">Atari Falcon 030</a>
— another 68030 based machine like the TT, but in the 1040 style case
(yet again) with further upgrades to the graphics and sound, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_56000" title="Motorola 56000">Motorola 56000</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signal_processor" title="Digital signal processor">DSP</a>, multitasking OS (on disk) and a LocalTalk port for networking.</li>
<li>Medusa 040, Medusa 060, Hades 040, Hades 060 — 3rd-party Falcon/TT compatible machines manufactured by <a href="/w/index.php?title=Medusa_Computer_Systems&amp;action=edit" class="new" title="Medusa Computer Systems">Medusa Computer Systems</a>.</li>
<li>Atari ABAQ, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Transputer_Workstation" title="Atari Transputer Workstation">Atari Transputer Workstation</a>
— A standalone machine containing ST hardware and up to 17 transputers
capable of massively parallel operations for tasks such as ray tracing.</li>

</ul>
<p><br>
There were also some unreleased prototypes: <a href="http://www.atari-explorer.com/protos-falcon040.html" class="external text" title="http://www.atari-explorer.com/protos-falcon040.html">Falcon 040</a> (<i>external link</i>) (based on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68040" title="Motorola 68040">Motorola 68040</a>, new case and slots), and STylus (palmtop).</p>

<p><a name="See_also" id="See_also"></a></p>
<h2>See also</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atari_ST_games" title="List of Atari ST games">List of Atari ST games</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST_demos" title="Atari ST demos">Atari ST demos</a> — The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene" title="Demoscene">demoscene</a> on the Atari ST.</li>
</ul>

<p><a name="External_links" id="External_links"></a></p>
<h2>External links</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://atari-ste.anvil-soft.com" class="external text" title="http://atari-ste.anvil-soft.com">Atari STE fanpage</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="editsection" style="float: right; margin-left: 5px;">[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Atari_ST&amp;action=edit&amp;section=15" title="Atari ST">edit</a>]</div>
<p><a name="History" id="History"></a></p>
<h3>History</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv3n1/threeyearsofst.html" class="external text" title="http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv3n1/threeyearsofst.html">"3 Years With the ST" article</a></li>
</ul>


<p><a name="General" id="General"></a></p>
<h3>General</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.atarilegend.com" class="external free" title="http://www.atarilegend.com">http://www.atarilegend.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atari-forum.com" class="external free" title="http://www.atari-forum.com">http://www.atari-forum.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atarihq.com" class="external free" title="http://www.atarihq.com">http://www.atarihq.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atari.org" class="external free" title="http://www.atari.org">http://www.atari.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atari-history.com" class="external free" title="http://www.atari-history.com">http://www.atari-history.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atarihistory.de" class="external free" title="http://www.atarihistory.de">http://www.atarihistory.de</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atari.st" class="external free" title="http://www.atari.st">http://www.atari.st</a></li>

</ul>

<p><a name="The_machines" id="The_machines"></a></p>
<h3>The machines</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://yescrew.real-atarian.net/eng/atari.htm" class="external text" title="http://yescrew.real-atarian.net/eng/atari.htm">Atari Gallery</a> – Descriptions of the various ST models; courtesy of <i><a href="http://yescrew.real-atarian.net" class="external text" title="http://yescrew.real-atarian.net">YesCREW</a></i></li>
</ul>


<p><a name="Free_Emulators" id="Free_Emulators"></a></p>
<h3>Free Emulators</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://steem.atari.org" class="external free" title="http://steem.atari.org">http://steem.atari.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://saint.atari.org" class="external free" title="http://saint.atari.org">http://saint.atari.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stonx.sourceforge.net" class="external free" title="http://stonx.sourceforge.net">http://stonx.sourceforge.net</a></li>
<li><a href="http://hatari.sourceforge.net" class="external free" title="http://hatari.sourceforge.net">http://hatari.sourceforge.net</a></li>
</ul>
<p>(there are also commercial emulators)</p>


<p><a name="Software_2" id="Software_2"></a></p>
<h3>Software</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.umich.edu/%7Earchive/atari/" class="external free" title="http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/">http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/</a> — The Atari section of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan" title="University of Michigan">University of Michigan</a> software archives.</li>
<li><a href="http://users.pandora.be/tos4ever/utsi.htm" class="external text" title="http://users.pandora.be/tos4ever/utsi.htm">Ultimate TOS Software Index</a></li>
</ul>


<p><a name="3rd-party_manufacturers"></a></p>
<h3>3rd-party manufacturers</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.kingx.com/kingx/medusa/thes.html" class="external text" title="http://www.kingx.com/kingx/medusa/thes.html">Medusa Computer Systems</a> — Manufacturers of the Medusa 040, Medusa 060, Hades 040, Hades 060.</li>
</ul>

<p><a name="Lists_of_links" id="Lists_of_links"></a></p>
<h3>Lists of links</h3>
<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.doitarchive.de/link.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.doitarchive.de/link.htm">Atari Web Links</a>


--------------------

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sidis
post 27 Jan 2006, 05:57 PM
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WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I saw it!!!!! I'm blind kolobok.blush.gif kolobok.blush.gif
Amazing review!! Thk Nick!!
Memories....memories....
It was my first machine. My first love! I have it and it is functional!!! I even have ALL the diskettes, at about 400!
My Atari was the STE 512 and I had upgraded the memory. I had added the enormous amount of 512 kb ram, so the main memory became 1024kb or 1MB smile.gif default.tongue.gif
My dream was to buy hard disk with space amount 40MB... but it never came true.
What a time then.... I miss it sad.gif


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