Content
Atari ST
Atari ST was a personal computer that sold widely from 1985 to the early 1990s
It was released by Atari in 1985
The “ST” officially stands for “Sixteen/Thirty-Two”, which referred to the Motorola 68000's external 16 bit bus and internal 32 bit ones
Description
Atari ST was a notable personal computer, based on the Motorola 68000 CPU, with 512 kB or more RAM and 3½" floppy disk storage
It was similar to other contemporary machines that used the Motorola 68000, the Apple Macintosh, and the Commodore Amiga
Although the Macintosh was the first computer to have a graphical user interface (GUI), it was limited for the small monochrome monitor it had built in
Atari ST was the first computer that used a bitmap as full GUI for the color
It had an innovative graphics subsystem based on a single chip (designed by Shiraz Shivji) that shared the total amount of system memory, alternating clock cycles, with the processor, similar to the previous Micro BBC and unified memory systems used in the present
It was the first personal computer to support integrated MIDI
ST primarily competed with the Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga
This rivalry between platforms is often reflected in the entrepreneurs and was most marked in the scene of the Demos
The custom capabilities of the Amiga gave it an edge in the gaming and video market, the ST was typically cheaper and featured a high resolution monochrome display, ideal for business and computer aided design
Thanks to its built-in MIDI ports, it was successful as a musical sequencer and musical instrument controller among amateurs and professionals, used in concerts by bands such as Tangerine Dream and 90’s Dance Act 808 State
In some markets, particularly Germany, the machine gained a foothold in small business for desktop publishing work and for computer aided design
ST was later replaced by the models Atari TT and Falcon
Since Atari withdrew from the computer market, there has been a market with powerful TOS based machines (clones)
Like most “retro” computers, Atari enjoys support in the emulator scene
Sources
Technology Tramiel
At Commodore International, a discussion occurred involving its president and largest shareholder, Irving Gould, and its founder, Jack Tramiel, over the development of the new 68000 system
Which caused Commodore's immediate abandonment of Tramiel in January 1984
Tramiel immediately formed a holding company, Tramel Technologies, Ltd., taking with him former Commodore employees to continue his project of developing a new high performance personal computer
While this team, led by Shiraz Shivji, worked on the design, Tramiel discovered that Warner Communications wanted to sell Atari Corp
Tramiel bought Atari Corp, mainly for the overseas manufacturing and distribution network
The design team considered “an improvement” on the Macintosh by using a fully 32 bit chip, the NS32032, but in discussions, National Semiconductor was not able to supply the number of chips or the price based on the project's needs
In retrospect, they proved to be lucky, as the built prototype of the NS32032 in testing was slower than a 16 bit 68000
The basic hardware design quickly “took” a shape that was almost identical to the ST that was eventually shipped
It was a combination of chips and custom parts easily available
Contract with Amiga
Prior to the introduction of the ST, Atari had released two other machines (the Atari 2600 console and the Atari 8 bit personal computers) with custom graphics and sound chips
These custom chips allowed the 2600 to create a home gaming and 8 bit computer market, making history by being the first personal computer with custom chips
Jay Miner, one of the original designers of the custom chips found in the Atari 2600 and Atari 8 bit machines, attempted to convince Atari management to invest more money in creating a new chipset
When his idea was rejected, Miner left Atari in 1982 to form a small think tank called Amiga and started designing that new chipset
He even made plans to use the chipset for a computer based on the more powerful 68000 CPU
During the development, Amiga ran out of capital and was desperate for a buyer, and Atari, the “owner of Warner,” paid Amiga to continue the development work
In exchange, Atari would obtain exclusivity on the design for one year
Atari had its own plans, a machine based on the 68000, codenamed "Mickey," which would have used custom chips, but details were scarce
In May, Tramiel raised financing, bought Atari from Warner (except AtariTel and the electronic games division) for a very low price, and set about rebuilding his empire
One of his first acts was to fire most of the original staff of engineering of Atari and cancel almost all ongoing developments
Tramiel also discovered the contract with Amiga and decided not to help Amiga with no additional financing
The team of Amiga, who was going through serious financial problems, entered into negotiations with Commodore what led them to buy Amiga and cancel Atari's contract with Amiga
Tramiel was furious, and the resulting court case lasted for years
It was eventually settled out of court, briefly mentioned in the Wall Street Journal that Commodore settled for an undisclosed amount
Operating system
With the hardware design nearing completion, the team began looking for solutions for the operating system
Shortly after the purchase, Microsoft approached Tramiel with the suggestion that they use Windows on the platform, but the delivery date was approximately two years, too long for their needs
Another possibility was Digital Research, which was working on a new GUI-based system then known as Crystal, soon to become GEM
Another option was to write a new operating system in-house, but this was ultimately rejected due to the risk
Digital Research was fully committed to the Intel platform, so a team from Atari was sent to Digital Research headquarters to do the conversion for ST themselves
Instead of getting proper specifications and documentation, Atari members simply received the latest versions of the Intel 8086 source code
It ended up being a conversion to the 68000, which was modified several times, as it received several revisions from Digital Research
A version, loaded on the CP/M-68K, became available just in time for the January 1985 Consumer Electronics Show, where the ST was introduced
The CP/M-68K was essentially a direct conversion of the original operating system and mature CP/M
By 1985, its design was much older compared to MS-DOS and it was increasingly difficult to maintain and update
Digital Research was also working on a new DOS-like operating system, specific to GEM, GEMDOS
It was discussed whether a GEMDOS conversion could be completed in time for product delivery in June
Eventually, the conversion decision was made, resulting in the GEMDOS file system becoming part of the TOS (the operating system)
This was beneficial as it gave the ST a streamlined hierarchical file system, essential for hard disk storage, and gave programmers similar function calls to those on the IBM PC DOS
Debut of the ST
The design was launched in June 1985 as the 520ST
The machine went from being an idea to go to the stores in a little less than a year
Early models shipped with TOS on disk, but were designed with ROM sockets to make it easier to upgrade to future ROM based TOS
Upgrades, such as built-in floppy drives and the addition of an RF modulator (for TV viewing), were available starting with the 520STF and the 520STFM
Atari originally intended to release versions with 128 kB and 256 kB of RAM for the 130ST and 260ST respectively
However, with the operating system loaded from a floppy disk into RAM, there was little to no space left for applications to run
The 260ST was opened up in Europe in a limited way
In 1986, the 1040STF (also called STF) shipped with 1 MB of RAM and featured an internal power supply and a double-sided floppy drive (although some STF models came with a single-sided floppy drive
They were easily distinguished as the single-sided drives had a large eject button below the slot, while the double-sided ones had a standard-sized eject button on the bottom right of the drive)
The 1040ST was the first personal computer to be released with a basic 1 MB RAM configuration
When the market price dropped to $999 in the United States, it became the first computer to break the $1000/MB price barrier, appearing on the cover of Byte Magazine
However, the ST remained unchanged internally for most of its lifespan
The choice of model names was inherited from the names of the XE series of the Atari 8 bit computer family
Hardware Description
Case
The 520ST was an all-in-one unit, similar to earlier personal computers such as the Commodore 64
By the time the 520ST hit the market, consumers were demanding a “full-size” keyboard, including cursor keys and a numeric keypad
For this reason, the 520ST was quite “boxy,” generally oversized, for a machine that one had to move to adjust the keyboard position
Added to this problem was the number of bulky cables necessary to connect to the peripherals
This problem was solved to some extent on models that included a built-in floppy drive, which made it awkward to place the mouse and joystick sockets in a small niche under the keyboard
The case followed the Atari-era Tramiel design, basically wedge shaped, with a series of vents cut into the back for airflow
The original design of the 520ST used with a floppy drive external
The case style 1040ST had a built-in diskette drive
The power supply for the first 520ST was a large external block, while the 1040ST was inside the machine
Also, most machines had keyboards with very soft tactile feedback, not as good as those on an IBM PC, with unique and strange rhomboid function keys on the top edge
Connection ports
The ST had a large number of ports mounted on the back of the machine
- Standard ports:
- RS-232c serial port (DB25)
- Centronics printer port
- Joystick/mouse ports (DE-9)
- MIDI ports (5 pin DIN)
- ST specific ports:
- Monitor port (13 pin DIN)
- ACSI port (similar to SCSI) DMA (for hard drives and laser printers)
- Floppy drive port (for adding a second floppy drive)
- ST Cartridge Port (128KB)
Due to its bidirectional design, the Centronics printer port could be used for a joystick and several games used adapters that plugged into the printer socket, providing two additional ports for 9 pin joysticks
Initially, Atari used single-sided disk drives that could store up to 360 kB
Later drives were double-sided versions storing 720 kB
Because of the early sales of so many single-sided disk drives, almost all software would ship on two single-sided disks instead of just one double-sided disk, for fear of losing early adopters
ST magazines that wanted to serve the entire audience and at the same time provide a large amount of material on a single cover disc, had to adopt innovative and customized formats to solve this problem
Another point of contention was that, while the Atari double-sided drive could read IBM-formatted discs, the IBM PCs could not read Atari discs
This formatting issue was later resolved by third-party formatting software and TOS updates (1.4 and above)
Mega
Initial sales were strong, especially in Europe where Atari sold 75% of its computers
Germany became Atari's strongest market, with small business users using them in their desktop edition and for computer aided design
To address this growing market sector, Atari created the ST1
In 1986 it debuted on Comdex, where it was favorably received with the new name of Mega
This new machine included a high-quality independent keyboard, a stronger case (to support the weight of a monitor), and an internal bus expansion connector
The new SLM804 laser printer did not come with a processor or memory, reducing costs
It would add to the Mega through the port ST DMA and would cause the computer renderizara pages
Initially equipped with 2 or 4 MB (a 1 MB version, the Mega 1 would come later), the Mega machines were complemented by the Atari laser printer to configure a low-cost desktop package
It included a custom blitter coprocessor to speed up the performance of some on-screen graphical operations, when it was finally released, it debuted on the Mega 2 and Mega 4 machines
As a result, even with the blitter included, some developers ignored it because it was not present on all machines
However, properly written GEM programs could use blitter without problems since the GEM API was a higher level interface to the TOS
Atari originally intended to include GEM's GDOS (Graphic Device Operating System), which allowed programs to draw (display, print, etc.) graphics on external devices via GEM's VDI (Virtual Device Interface)
This allowed developers to export high resolution graphics to printers, plotters, and other peripherals
However, GDOS was not ready at the time the ST began shipping
GDOS are provided with applications that used VDI for drawings and sources
Later versions of GDOS support vector (outlined) fonts
On the plus side, the ST was less expensive than most machines, including the Macintosh Plus, and tended to be faster than most
Largely as a result of the cost/performance factor, the ST would become a very popular machine, especially in markets where currencies changed price
In fact, the company's English advertising line was “power without the price”
In fact, the Atari ST terminal emulation software was much cheaper than a digital VT220 terminal, which was normally required on headquarters computers
Enhanced STs
During the first four years, nothing much changed in the capabilities of the ST platform, except the release of new machines with higher RAM, and in updates quietly introduced to the TOS ROMs built from version 1.00 in 1985 until the "final" (for models that were not STE or Mega) and the improved Rainbow TOS version 1.04 from 1989
In late 1989, Atari released the ST E (also called STE), a version of the ST with improvements in multimedia hardware and its operating system
The STE featured an increased color palette of 4096 colors better than the 512 ST (although its maximum palette without programming tricks was still limited to 16 at its lowest 320x200 resolution)
Genlock support and a graphics coprocessor chip called Blitter that could quickly handle large blocks of data (mostly graphic sprites) around RAM
It also included a new 2 channel digital sound chip that could play 8 bit stereo samples in hardware up to 50 kHz
Two Enhanced Joystick Ports (EJP) were added (two regular joysticks could be plugged into each port with an adapter), with the new connectors placed in easy-to-access locations on the side of the case
Ports improved joystick were compatible with joypads on the console, Jaguar, Atari
RAM memory now easier to upgrade through SIMMs
Despite all this, it still ran at 8 MHz, and the improved hardware was clearly designed to catch up with the Amiga
Initially, the STE models had software and hardware conflicts, causing some applications and games written for the ST line to be unstable or completely unusable (sometimes this could be resolved by expanding the RAM)
To make matters worse, the built-in floppy drives couldn't read as many tracks as the built-in floppy drives in older models
While this wasn't a problem for most users, some games used the extra tracks as a crude form of copy protection and as a means of getting more data onto the disc, and formatting 86 tracks on an "80-track" disc was a common expansion option in custom formatting utilities
Even having a joystick attached sometimes caused strange behavior with some apps (like with First Word Plus)
Very little use was made of the additional features of the STE software: STE-enhanced and STE-only
It was generally limited to serious art applications, computer-aided design, or music applications, with very few games taking advantage of the hardware
However, quality was replaced by quantity, since the programmers who took advantage of the new capabilities did so to the fullest
Atari released the Mega STE, a STE with a gray TT case that ran on a 16 MHz switchable dual-bus design (16 bit external, 32 bit internal), optional Motorola FPU, built-in 3½" floppy disk drive, slot VME expansion, one network port AppleTalk and an optional built-in 3½" hard drive
It was also shipped with TOS 2.00 (with better support for hard drives, improved desktop interface, memory testing, support for 1.44MB floppy disks, and bug fixes)
At some point during the early 1990s, development of the ST line of computers branched off
On one branch was the TT aimed at high-end workstations (including the 68030 and 3280 MHz based TT030)
And in the other was the entertainment-oriented Falcon (also based on 68030, operating at 16 MHz, but with improved video modes and lots of custom chips, especially the high quality audio DSP (Digital Signal Processor) )
Both were supposed to be compatible with ST, but were incompatible with each other
In 1993, Atari canceled development of the ST computers to focus on Jaguar
Following Atari Corp.'s exit from the computer market, Medusa Computer Systems manufactured some Atari Falcon/TT compatible machines using 68040 and 68060 processors
They were based on multimedia (particularly audio, but also video), computer aided design and office utility tools
Future of the platform
Despite the lack of a hardware vendor and commercial software vendors, there was a small active community dedicated to keeping the ST platform alive
There have been advances in the operating system, software emulators (for Windows, Mac and Linux) and some hardware developments
There are accelerator cards, such as the CT60 and CT63, based on 68060 for Falcon
The project Atari Coldfire, whose development has created an Atari clone based on the Coldfire processor and which is called FireBee
Milan Computer from Germany, manufactured Atari clones based on 68040 and 68060 that could run the Atari TOS 4.5 operating system or the Milan MultiOS operating system
On November 17, 2023, Atari relaunched its legendary Atari 2600 with the same design and its iconic joystick
It was distributed in Europe through Plaion together with Atari itself
It is neither a replica nor a mini-console with a handful of pre-installed games
Called the Atari 2600+, it's the original genuine retro experience with one self explanatory change:
- HDMI port with a mode to accommodate the image to current screens
- Usb C port for power
- serial port to connect the legendary Joystick by cable
- traditional cartridge system in which we can use almost all the originals (Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges)
- game cartridge with classics Adventure, Combat, Dodge 'Em, Haunted House, Maze Craze, Missile Command, RealSports Volleyball, Surround, Video Pinball and Yars' Revenge
- Rockchip 3128 SOC microprocessor with 256MB DDR3 RAM and 256MB eMMC internal storage
Software
Music/Sound
The MIDI ports integrated low cost ST and the fast response times and low latency for it to become the favorite for musicians
The ST was the first personal computer with built-in MIDI ports, and there was plenty of MIDI related software for professional use in music studios, or for amateur enthusiasts
The well known application of the Windows/Macintosh Cubase originated on Atari ST
Music Tracker software was popular on the ST, like TCB Tracker, helping to produce quality music from the Yamaha synthesizer ('chiptunes')
An innovative music composition program that combined the sample playback abilities of a tracker with conventional musical notation (usually only found in MIDI software) was called Quartet (in addition to its 4-note polyphonic tracker, which displayed a staff monophonic at the same time as color screens)
Because the ST compared large amounts of memory at once, sound sampling packets became a realistic proposition
The product Microdeal Replay Professional included a sound sample that you used cleverly the cartridge port ST to read in parallel from the cartridge port from the ADC
For the digital sound output, it used the onboard frequency output, set to 128 kHz (inaudible) and then modulating the amplitude of that sound
In addition to sound sampling capabilities, the availability of software packages with MIDI support for music composition and efficient sound analysis helped make the Atari ST a precursor to studios using later "all-in-one" computers
There was also software that could be used to make the Atari speak, known as SAM (Software Automatic Mouth)
Applications
Also popular on the ST were professional desktop publishing software, such as PageStream and Calamus
Office tools such as word processors (WordPerfect, WordWriter ST and others), spreadsheets and database programs
Various amateur computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing tools up to professional level
All largely aimed or even limited to owners of high-resolution monochrome monitors
Los programas de tratamiento gráfico como NEOchrome, Degas & Degas Elite, Canvas, Deluxe Paint y Cyber Paint presentaron características avanzadas tales como el diseño 3D y la animación
One painting program, Spectrum 512, used palette-switching tricks that allowed the maximum number of colors to be displayed on the screen at the same time (up to 46 on each scan line: the STE never had a Spectrum4096, but other minor applications filled this specialized sector, some even went so far as to trick the shifter into displaying a maximum of 19,200 colors)
3D computer graphics applications (such as The Cyber Studio), brought 3D modeling, sculpting, scripting, and most importantly, computer animation (using delta compression) to the desktop
Video capture and editing applications that used special video capture “dongles” connected via the cartridge port: low frame rate, mainly silent and monochrome, but progressed towards basic sound and color (in still frames) as end of machine life
Games
The ST enjoyed success in gaming due to its low cost, fast performance, and colorful graphics
Notable game developers for the ST include Peter Molyneux, Doug Bell, Jeff Minter, Jez San, James Hutchby, Dimitri Koveos, and David Braben
The first real-time 3D computer role-playing game, Dungeon Master, was developed and first released on the ST, and was the best-selling software for this platform
Simulation games such as Falcon and Flight Simulator II made use of the improved graphics found on ST machines, as did many arcade conversions
In one game, MIDI Maze used midi ports to network with other machines interactively
Utilities/Miscellaneous
There was utility software to control hardware add-ons such as video digitizers
Office graphics and productivity software were also included with the ST (HyperPaint II by Dimitri Koveos, HyperDraw by David Farmborough, 3D-Calc spreadsheet by Frank Schoonjans, and many others commissioned by Bob Katz, later of Electronic Arts)
There was a thriving release of public domain software and shareware that was distributed, in the days before public Internet access, libraries of public domain software that were published in magazines and on popular bulletin board systems
Surprisingly, a modest set of fans of the system, which included a dwindling number of good quality print magazines, survived until the mid 1990s and the birth of the modern, publicly accessible Internet as we know it
Despite its limited graphics, memory, and system buffering capabilities, there are several Internet browser, email, FTP, telnet, and IRC applications
Graphical Internet browser applications were available on the ST
Franchises
Some of the franchises that became popular on the Atari ST:
| Name | Company | Year |
|---|---|---|
| GEM (Desktop) | Atari/Digital Research | 1985 |
| Neochrome | Dave Staugas | 1985 |
| 1st Word | GST | 1985 |
| STZip | Vincent Pomey | 1994 |
| Dungeon Master | Mirrorsoft/FTL | 1987 |
| MIDI Maze | Hybrid Arts | 1987 |
| Populous | EA/Bullfrog | 1989 |
| Xenon 2 Megablast | Bitmap Brothers | 1989 |
Specifications
All STs were made up of custom and commercial chips:
| Chip | Description |
|---|---|
| ST Shifter (Video shift register chip) | Enabled bitmap graphics using 32 KB of contiguous memory for all resolutions. The screen address had to be a multiple of 256 |
| ST GLU (Generalized Logic Unit) | System control logic used to connect the ST chips. It was not part of the data path, but was necessary to link the chips together |
| ST MMU (Memory Management Unit) | enabled access to physical memory of up to 4 MB. It mapped the memory space of the ST |
| ST DMA (Direct Memory Access) | It was used for transferring data on floppy disks and hard drives. Could directly access the main memory of the ST |
| Chip | Description |
|---|---|
| MC6850P ACIA (Asynchronous Common Interface Adapter) | allowed the ST to communicate directly with MIDI devices and the keyboard (using 2 chips). 31.25 kBaud for MIDI and 7812.5 bps for keyboard |
| MC68901 MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) | used for interrupt generation/control, serial and parallel port. Atari TT030 had 2 MFP chips |
| WD-1772-PH (Western Digital Floppy Disk Controller) | controller chip of the disk drive |
| YM2149F PSG (Programmable Sound Generator) | provided 3-voice sound synthesis, also used as a floppy drive signaler and printer port controller |
| HD6301V1 (Hitachi keyboard processor) | used to scan the keyboard and mouse/joystick ports |
ST/STF/STM/STFM
Lanzado originalmente con el 520ST:
- CPU: Motorola 68000 at 8 MHz. 16 bit data/32-bit address bus
- RAM: 512 kB
- Display modes (60Hz NTSC, 50Hz PAL, 71.2Hz monochrome):
- Low resolution – 320×200 (16 colors), 512 color palette
- Medium resolution – 640×200 (4 colors), 512 color palette
- High resolution – 640×400 (mono), monochrome
- Sound: Yamaha YM2149 3 voice square wave plus white mono sound with 1 voice sound
- Disk drive: 3½” single-sided floppy drive, 360 kB capacity when formatted to standard sector 9, 80 track layout
- Ports: TV out (on ST-M and ST-FM models, standard NTSC or PAL RF modulation), MIDI in/out (with "out-thru"), RS-232 serial, Centronics parallel (printer), monitor ( RGB or Color composite and mono video, 13 DIN pins), extra disk drive port (15 DIN pins), DMA port (ACSI port, Atari computer system interface) for hard drives and Atari laser printer (sharing RAM with computer system), joystick and mouse ports (9 pin MSX standard)
- Operating system: TOS v1.00 (operating system) with graphical environment management (GEM) WiMP (Windows, Mouse, Pointer) GUI
Early machines included the operating system on a floppy disk (booted from a small ROM boot kernel)
They were quickly replaced by ROM versions (with expanded capacity) of TOS 1.0
This change also eliminated any possibility of memory specs below 512 kB, as GEM loaded all of its 192 kB code into faster RAM when booting the desktop
Shortly after this single change, most of the models on sale became STF, with an integrated dual-density (520STF/512 kB RAM) or dual-sided (1040STF/1024 kB RAM) drive
Later models used an updated version of TOS 1.02
Another early addition (after about 6 months) was an RF modulator that allowed the machine to connect to a color television when running in its low or medium resolution modes (525/625 interlaced lines 60/50 Hz, even on RGB monitors)
They greatly increased their sales and the perceived value of the machine (it was unnecessary to buy a prohibitively expensive monitor, even if it was exceptionally sharp and clear)
These models were known as the 520STM (or 520STM)
Later, the F and FM models of the 520 would have a built-in double-sided drive instead of a single-sided one
STE
Originally launched with the 520STE:
- All the features of the 520STFM
- Disk drive: Double-sided 3½" floppy drive, 720 kB when formatted with standard 9 sector, 80 track parameters (over 900 kB with certain extended sector and track formats)
- RF modulator built-in
- Extended palette of 4,096 colors available to choose from
- Chip BLiTTER for fast movement of large blocks of data in memory
- Hardware support for smooth horizontal and vertical scrolling (using the BLiTTER)
- Sound: Additional National LMC 1992 sound chip with 2 channel 8-bit stereo PCM sound at up to 50 kHz, with adjustable bass and treble EQ (for output only)
- Memory: 30-pin SIMM memory slots allowing upgrades of up to 4 MB (allowed: 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 2.5 and 4.0 MB due to configuration restrictions; later thanks to third-party upgrade kits that allowed a maximum of 14 MB, avoiding stock MMU)
Ability to synchronize the times of the video with an external device to be able to use a device Genlock video without having to make any modifications to the hardware of the computer
- Additional ports: Stereo RCA connectors and two analog joystick ports (with support for analog devices, such as paddles and light pens, there are no registers that were used! Two normal digital joysticks can be connected to each analog port with an adapter)
- TOS 1.06 a ROM
Later, the models STE they had TOS 1.62 which fixed some backward compatibility bugs with TOS 1.6
Models
16 bit models
| Model | Year | Features |
|---|---|---|
| 130 ST | 1985 | Prototype with TOS on floppy disk, and external power supply |
| 260 ST | 1985 | With TOS on floppy disk, and external power supply. Short time on the market |
| 520 ST | 1985 | With TOS on floppy disk, and external power supply |
| 520 STm | 1985 | TOS in ROM, later renamed to 520 ST |
| 520 ST+ | 1985 | 1 MB of RAM |
| 520 STf | 1986 | With internal diskette |
| 1040 STf | 1986 | Like the 520 STf, but with 1 MB of RAM |
| 520 STfm | 1986 | Like the 520 STf, but with RF connection for television |
| 1040 STfm | 1986 | Like the 1040 STf, but with RF connection for TV |
| 2080 ST | 1986 | ST for developers never released for sale, with 2 MB of RAM |
| 4160 ST | 1986 | ST for developers never released for sale, with 4 MB of RAM |
| Mega ST 1, 2, 4 | 1987 | with independent keyboard, 1, 2 or 4 MB of RAM, MegaBus, support for system clock... |
| 4160 STe | 1988 | STE for developers never released for sale, with stereo output, 2 Joypad ports and Blitter |
| 1040 STe | 1989 | Final version of the 4160 STe, but with 1 MB instead of 4 MB of RAM |
| 520 STe | 1989 | Like the 1040 STE, but with 512 KB of RAM |
| 1040 STE+ | 1990 | Prototype, based on the 1040 STE with internal hard drive (IDE) and a board with an Intel 80286 (most likely an AMD Am286) to run MS-DOS via hardware emulation |
| Mega STe | 1991 | Mega ST upgrade with TT case, TOS 2.0x, 68000/16 MHz, VME bus |
32 bit models
| Model | Year | Features |
|---|---|---|
| TT030 | 1990 | 68030/32 MHz, new TOS 3.0X, SCSI |
| FX-1 “Sparrow” | 1991 | Falcon prototype with TOS 2.07 |
| Falcon 030 | 1992 | 68030/16 MHz, DSP56k, TOS 4.0x, case type 1040 |
| Falcon 040 | 1993 | Falcon prototype with 68040 |
| Microbox | 1993 | Falcon prototype in desktop box |
Laptops
| Model | Year | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Stacy, Stacy2, Stacy4 | 1989 | 7.5 kg and based on the Mega ST |
| ST Book | 1991 | DIN-A4 size and 2 kg weight; Distribution exclusively for Europe |
| ST Pad “Stylus” | 1991 | Pentop-Computer prototype |
Clones
| Manufacturer | Model | Year | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid Arts | CPX | 1989 | Mega ST in rack format, with SCSI controller and internal hard drive |
| GE-Soft | Eagle | 1994 | Clone of the Atari TT030 with the 68030 32 MHz mounted on a card scalable to a 68040, 68060 or a PowerPC |
| C-Lab | Falcon MK1 | 1995 | Falcon with modified audio circuit |
| C-Lab | Falcon MKII | 1995 | Falcon with modified audio circuit |
| C-Lab | Falcon MKX | 1995 | Falcon with 68030 20MHz and modified audio circuit, rack format |
| Medusa Computer Systems | Medusa T40 | 1994 | Tower format, 68040 64MHz/32bit, 4 PCI BUS, 2 ISA, 1 VME, SCSI, IDE, 4 GB RAM |
| Medusa Computer Systems | Hades 040 | 1996 | Tower format, 68040 64MHz/32bit, 4 PCI BUS, 2 ISA, 1 VME, SCSI, IDE, 1 GB RAM |
| Medusa Computer Systems | Hades 060 | 1996 | Tower format, 68060 64MHz/32bit, 4 PCI, 2 ISA, 1 VME, SCSI, IDE, 1 GB RAM |
| Milan Computer | Milan 040 | 1998 | TOS 4.5, 68040, 64MB SD-RAM, ATI Mach 64 with 4MB expandable up to 16MB, SoundBlaster SB64 PCI |
| Milan Computer | Milan II | 1998 | TOS 4.5, 68060 66/80 MHz, 64 MB SD-RAM, ATI Mach 64 with 4 MB expandable up to 16 MB, SoundBlaster SB64 PCI |
| Atari Coldfire Project | FireBee | 2011 | PCI Form Factor, Coldfire MCF5474 at 266MHz with 400MIPS, 512 MB of RAM and 128 MB of video RAM, 8 MB Flash for OS, 10/100 Ethernet, USB, Compact Flash, SD Card, PS/2, AC'97, PCI, SCSI, IDE |
Peripheral
Official peripherals
| Model | Features |
|---|---|
| SF354 | External 3.5" floppy drive, single-sided, double density (360 KB) |
| SF314 | External 3.5" floppy drive, double sided, double density (720 kB) |
| Atari SM124 | 12" monochrome monitor, 640×480 pixels |
| SM147 | 14" monochrome monitor, without speaker, replaced the SM124 |
| Atari SC1224 | 12" color monitor, 640×200 pixels with speaker |
| SC1435 | 14" color monitor, stereo speakers, replaced SC1224 (rebadged Magnavox 1CM135) |
| TT195 | 19" monochrome monitor for the TT030 |
| SH204 | 20 MB External ACSI Hard Drive |
| Megafile 20, 30, 60 | External ACSI hard drive, with matching Atari Mega ST case |
| Megafile 44 | Removable 44 MB SyQuest SQ555 drive, with matching Atari Mega ST case |
| SLM804 | Laser printer, with ACSI connection that uses the ST processor and memory as its own |
| SLM605 | Laser printer, with ACSI connection, smaller than the SLM805 |
Third party peripherals
| Model | Features |
|---|---|
| Netus | LAN and USB adapter for ST/Mega ST/TT/Falcon |
| EtherNEC | adapter to use a network card with ISA bus in STs |
| SatanDisk | ACSI Secure Digital and MMC card reader up to 4 GB |
Trivial
The standard 8x8 pixel graphical character set for the ST (the main “font” in GEM ROM, and TOS operations in text mode) contains, following all standard numbers, letters, symbols and accented characters, four characters unusual
These can be placed together in a square, forming a basic but recognizable facsimile of the face of J. R. “Bob” Dobbs, the supposed founder of the Church of the Subgenius
Jack Tramiel chose to include the Hebrew alphabet with the character set ROM of ST due to his jewish heritage
Russel Hobbes, the drummer of the band Gorillaz, has an Atari ST in his room on the Gorillaz website
Fatboy Slim's album “Has Come A Long Way, Baby” has an Atari ST in the large foldout photo of Fatboy Slim's studio
The most acclaimed artists of IDM Mike Paradinas and Luke Vibert started writing music on Atari STs
Atari ST was used by Mike Oldfield on his 11th album, Earth Moving, released in 1989