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| Type | Personal computer |
|---|---|
| Release date | June 1985; 39 years ago (1985-06) |
| Introductory price |
|
| Discontinued | 1993; 32 years ago (1993) |
| Units sold | 2.1 million[1] |
| Operating system | Digital Research'sGEM onAtari TOS |
| CPU | 68000 @ 8+ MHz |
| Memory | 512KB to 4MB |
| Graphics | 320 × 200 (16 colors) 640 × 200 (4 colors) 640 × 400 (monochrome) |
| Sound | YM2149F |
| Predecessor | Atari 8-bit computers |
Atari ST is a line ofpersonal computers fromAtari Corporation and the successor to the company's8-bit home computers. The initial model, theAtari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available in July.[2][3] It was the first personal computer with a bitmapped colorgraphical user interface,[4] using a version ofDigital Research'sGEM environment from February 1985.[5][better source needed] TheAtari 1040ST, released in 1986 with1 MB of memory, was the first home computer with a cost per kilobyte of RAM under US$1/KB.[6]
AfterJack Tramiel purchased the assets of theAtari, Inc. consumer division in 1984 to create Atari Corporation, the 520ST was designed in five months by a small team led byShiraz Shivji.[7] Alongside theMacintosh,Amiga,Apple IIGS andAcorn Archimedes, the ST is part of a mid-1980s generation of computers with 16 or 16/32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, andmouse-controlled graphical user interfaces. "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two",[8] referring to theMotorola 68000's16-bit external bus and32-bit internals.
The ST was sold with either Atari's color monitor or less expensivemonochrome monitor. Color graphics modes are available only on the former while the highest-resolution mode requires the monochrome monitor. Some models can display the color modes on a TV. InGermany and some other markets, the ST gained a foothold forCAD anddesktop publishing. With built-inMIDI ports, it was popular formusic sequencing and as acontroller ofmusical instruments among amateur and professional musicians. The Atari ST's primary competitor was the Amiga fromCommodore.[9]
The 520ST and 1040ST were followed by the Mega series, the STE, and the portableSTacy. In the early 1990s, Atari released three final evolutions of the ST with significant technical differences from the original models:TT030 (1990),Mega STE (1991), andFalcon (1992). Atari discontinued the entire ST computer line in 1993, shifting the company's focus to theJaguar video game console.
The Atari ST was born from the rivalry between home computer makersAtari, Inc. andCommodore International.Jay Miner, one of the designers of the custom chips in theAtari 2600 andAtari 8-bit computers, tried to convince Atari management to create a new chipset for a video game console and computer. When his idea was rejected, he left Atari to form a smallthink tank calledHi-Toro in 1982 and began designing the new "Lorraine" chipset.[10]
Hi-Toro, by then renamed Amiga, ran out ofcapital to complete Lorraine's development, and Atari, now owned byWarner Communications, paid Amiga to continue its work. In return, Atari received exclusive use of the Lorraine design for one year as a video game console. After that time, Atari had the right to add a keyboard and market the complete computer, designated the 1850XLD.
After leavingCommodore International in January 1984,Jack Tramiel formed Tramel (without an "i") Technology, Ltd. with his sons and other ex-Commodore employees and, in April, began planning a new computer. Interested in Atari's overseas manufacturing and worldwide distribution network, Tramiel negotiated with Warner in May and June 1984. He secured funding and bought Atari's consumer division, which included the console and home computer departments, in July. As executives and engineers left Commodore to join Tramel Technology, Commodore responded by filing lawsuits against four former engineers for infringement oftrade secrets. The Tramiels did not purchase the employee contracts with the assets of Atari, Inc. and re-hired approximately 100 of the 900 former employees. Tramel Technology soon changed its name toAtari Corporation.
Amid rumors that Tramiel was negotiating to buy Atari, Amiga Corp. entered discussions with Commodore. This led to Commodore wanting to purchase Amiga Corporation outright, which Commodore believed would cancel any outstanding contracts, including Atari's. Instead of Amiga Corp. delivering Lorraine to Atari, Commodore delivered a check of $500,000 on Amiga's behalf, in effect returning the funds Atari invested in Amiga for the chipset. Tramiel countered by suing Amiga Corp. on August 13, 1984, seeking damages and an injunction to bar Amiga (and effectively Commodore) from producing anything with its technology.
The lawsuit left the Amiga team in limbo during mid-1984. Commodore eventually moved forward, with plans to improve the chipset and develop anoperating system. Commodore announced theAmiga 1000 with the Lorraine chipset in July 1985, but it wasn't available in quantity until 1986. The delay gave Atari time to deliver the Atari 520ST in June 1985. In March 1987, the two companies settled the dispute out of court in a closed decision.[7][11]
The lead architect of the new computer project at Tramel Technology and Atari Corporation was ex-Commodore employeeShiraz Shivji, who previously worked on theCommodore 64's development.[12][13] Different CPUs were investigated, including the 32-bitNational SemiconductorNS32000, but engineers were disappointed with its performance,[7][14] and they moved to theMotorola 68000. The Atari ST design was completed in five months in 1984, concluding with it being shown at the January 1985 Consumer Electronics Show.[7]
A custom sound processor calledAMY had been in development at Atari, Inc. and was considered for the new ST computer design. The chip needed more time to complete, so AMY was dropped in favor of a commodity Yamaha YM2149F variant of theGeneral Instrument AY-3-8910.[15]
Soon after the Atari buyout,Microsoft suggested to Tramiel that it could portWindows to the platform, but the delivery date was out by two years.[7] Another possibility wasDigital Research, which was working on a new GUI-based system then known as Crystal, soon to becomeGEM. Another option was to write a new operating system, but this was rejected as Atari management was unsure whether the company had the required expertise.[7]
Digital Research was fully committed to the Intel platform, so a team from Atari was sent to the Digital Research headquarters to work with the "Monterey Team", which comprised a mixture of Atari and Digital Research engineers. Atari's Leonard Tramiel oversaw "Project Jason" (also known as The Operating System) for the ST series, named for designer and developer Jason Loveman.[16]
GEM is based on CP/M-68K, a direct port ofCP/M to the 68000. By 1985, CP/M was becoming increasingly outdated; it did not support subdirectories, for example. Digital Research was also in the process of building GEMDOS, adisk operating system for GEM, and debated whether a port of it could be completed in time for product delivery in June. The decision was eventually taken to port it, resulting in aGEMDOS file system which became part ofAtari TOS (for "The Operating System", colloquially known as the "Tramiel Operating System"). This gave the ST a fast,hierarchicalfile system, essential forhard drives, and provided programmers with function calls similar toMS-DOS. TheAtari ST character set is based oncodepage 437.
After six months of intensive effort following Tramiel's takeover, Atari announced the 520ST at the WinterConsumer Electronics Show inLas Vegas in January 1985.[7][17]InfoWorld assessed the prototypes shown at computer shows as follows:
Pilot production models of the Atari machine are much slicker than the hand-built models shown at earlier computer fairs; it doesn't look like a typical Commodore 64-style, corner-cutting, low-cost Jack Tramiel product of the past.[18]
Atari unexpectedly displayed the ST at AtlantaCOMDEX in May.[19] Similarities to the originalMacintosh and Tramiel's role in its development resulted in it being nicknamedJackintosh.[14] Atari's rapid development of the ST amazed many,[7][14] but others were skeptical, citing its "cheap" appearance, Atari's uncertain financial health, and poor relations between Tramiel-led Commodore and software developers.[14][19][20]
Atari ST print advertisements stated, "America, We Built It For You", and quoted Atari president Sam Tramiel: "We promised. We delivered. With pride, determination, and good old ATARI know how".[21] But Jack Tramiel admitted that sales of its earlier 8-bit systems were "very, very slow",[2] Atari was out of cash, and employees feared that he would shut the company down.
In early 1985, the 520ST shipped to the press, developers, anduser groups, and in early July 1985 for general retail sales. It saved the company.[7][2][22] By November, Atari stated that more than 50,000 520STs had been sold, "with U.S. sales alone well into five figures".[23] The machine had gone from concept to store shelves in a little under one year.
Atari had intended to release the 130ST with 128 KB of RAM and the 260ST with 256 KB. However, the ST initially shipped without TOS in ROM and required booting TOS from floppy, taking 206 KB RAM away from applications. The 260ST was launched in Europe on a limited basis.[24] Early models have sixROM sockets for easy upgrades to TOS.[25] New ROMs were released a few months later and were included in new machines and as an upgrade for older machines.
Atari originally intended to include GEM's Graphical Device Operating System (GDOS), which allows programs to send GEM VDI (Virtual Device Interface) commands to drivers loaded by GDOS. This allows developers to send VDI instructions to otherdevices simply by pointing to it. However, GDOS was not ready at the time the ST started shipping and was included in software packages and with later ST machines. Later versions of GDOS supportvector fonts.
A limited set of GEM fonts were included in the ROMs, including the ST's standard 8x8 pixel graphical character set. It contains four characters which can be placed together in a square, forming the face ofJ. R. "Bob" Dobbs (the figurehead of theChurch of the SubGenius).[26]
The ST was less expensive than most contemporaries, including theMacintosh Plus, and is faster than many.[27] Largely as a result of its price and performance factor, the ST became fairly popular, especially in Europe whereforeign-exchange rates amplified prices. The company's English advertising slogan of the era was "Power Without the Price". An Atari ST andterminal emulation software was much cheaper than aDigitalVT220 terminal, commonly needed by offices with central computers.
By late 1985, the 520STM added anRF modulator for TV display.
Computer Gaming World stated that Tramiel's poor pre-Atari reputation would likely make computer stores reluctant to deal with the company, hurting its distribution of the ST.[28] One retailer said, "If you can believeLucy when she holds the football forCharlie Brown, you can believe Jack Tramiel";[29] another said that because of its experience with Tramiel, "our interest in Atari is zero, zilch".[2] Neither Atari nor Commodore could persuade large chains likeComputerLand or BusinessLand to sell its products.[30] Observers criticized Atari's erratic discussion of its stated plans for the new computer, as it shifted between usingmass merchandisers, specialty computer stores, and both. When asked at COMDEX, Atari executives could not name any computer stores that would carry the ST. After a meeting with Atari, one analyst said, "We've seen marketing strategies changed before our eyes".[19]
Tramiel's poor reputation influenced potential software developers. One said, "Dealing with Commodore is like dealing with Attila the Hun. I don't know if Tramiel will be following his old habits ... I don't see a lot of people rushing to get software on the machine."[20] Large business-software companies likeLotus,Ashton-Tate, and Microsoft did not promise software for either the ST or Amiga,[30] and the majority of software companies were hesitant to support another platform beyond theIBM PC, Apple, andCommodore 64.Philippe Kahn ofBorland said, "These days, if I were a consumer, I'd stick with companies [such as Apple and IBM]I know will be around".[31]
At Las Vegas COMDEX in November 1985, the industry was surprised by more than 30 companies exhibiting ST software while the Amiga had almost none.[30] After Atlanta COMDEX,The New York Times reported that "more than 100 software titles will be available for the [ST], most written by small software houses that desperately need work",[19] and contrasted the "small, little-known companies" at Las Vegas with the larger ones likeElectronic Arts andActivision, which planned Amiga applications.[30]
Trip Hawkins of Electronic Arts said, "I don't think Atari understands the software business. I'm still skeptical about its resources and its credibility." AlthoughMichael Berlyn ofInfocom promised that his company would quickly publish all of its games for the new computer, he doubted many others would soon do so.Spinnaker andLifetree were more positive, both promising to release ST software. Spinnaker said that "Atari has a vastly improved attitude toward software developers. They are eager to give us technical support and machines".[20] Lifetree said, "We are giving Atari high priority".[20] Some, such asSoftware Publishing Corporation, were unsure of whether to develop for the ST or the Amiga.[20]John C. Dvorak wrote that the public saw both Commodore and Atari as selling "cheap disposable" game machines,[32] in part because of their computers' sophisticated graphics.[33]
The original 520ST case design was created by Ira Velinsky, Atari's chief Industrial Designer.[34] It is wedge-shaped, with bold angular lines and a series of grilles cut into the rear for airflow. The keyboard has soft tactile feedback and rhomboid-shaped function keys across the top. It is an all-in-one unit, similar to earlier home computers like theCommodore 64, but with a larger keyboard with cursor keys and a numeric keypad. The original has an external floppy drive (SF354) andAC adapter. Starting with the 1040ST, the floppy drive and power supply are integrated into the base unit.
The ports on the 520ST remained largely unchanged over its history.
Because of itsbi-directional design, the Centronics printer port can be used for joystick input, and several games used available adaptors that used the printer socket, providing two additional 9-pin joystick ports.
The ST supports amonochrome or colour monitor. The colour hardware supports two resolutions: 320 × 200 pixels, with 16 of 512 colours; and 640 × 200, with 4 of 512 colours. The monochrome monitor was less expensive and has a single resolution of 640 × 400 at 71.25 Hz. The attached monitor determines available resolutions, so each application either supports both types of monitors or only one.[25] Most ST games require colour with productivity software favouring the monochrome. The Philips CM8833-II was a popular color monitor for the Atari ST.[36][37]
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Atari initially used single-sided 3.5 inch floppydisk drives that could store up to 360 KB. Later drives were double-sided and stored 720 KB. Some commercial software, particularly games, shipped by default on single-sided disks, even supplying two 360 KB floppies instead of a single double-sided one, to avoid alienatingearly adopters.[38]
Some software uses formats which allow the full disk to be read by double-sided drives but still lets single-sided drives access side A of the disk. Many magazine coverdisks (such as the first 30 issues ofST Format) were designed this way, as were a few games. The music inCarrier Command and the intro sequence inPopulous are not accessible to single-sided drives, for example.
STs with double-sided drives can read disks formatted byMS-DOS, but IBM PC compatibles can not read Atari disks because of differences in the layout of data on track 0.
Atari upgraded the basic design in 1986 with the 1040STF, stylized as 1040STF: essentially a 520ST with twice the RAM and with the power supply and a double-sidedfloppy drive with twice the capacity, and built-in instead of external. This adds to the size of the machine, but reduces cable clutter. The joystick and mouse ports, formerly on the right side of the machine, are in a recess underneath the keyboard. An "FM" variant includes anRF modulator allowing a television to be used instead of a monitor.
The trailing "F" and "FM" were often dropped in common usage.[6] InBYTE magazine's March 1986 cover photo of the system, the name plate reads 1040STFM but in the headline and article it's simply "1040ST".[6]
The 1040ST is one of the earliest personal computers shipped with a base RAM configuration of 1 MB.[39] With a list price ofUS$999 (equivalent to about $2,900 in 2024) in the US,BYTE hailed it as the first computer to break the $1000 per megabyte price barrier.[6][7]Compute! noted that the 1040ST is the first computer with one megabyte of RAM to sell for less than $2,500.[40]
A limited number of 1040STFs shipped with a single-sided floppy drive of 360KB storage capacity verses 720KB in the double sided version.[41]
Initial sales were strong, especially in Europe, where Atari sold 75% of its computers.West Germany became Atari's strongest market,[7] with small business owners using them for desktop publishing and CAD.
To address this growing market segment,[42] Atari introduced the ST1 at Comdex in 1986. Renamed to Mega, it includes a high-quality detached keyboard, a stronger case to support the weight of a monitor, and an internal bus expansion connector. An optional 20 MB hard drive can be placed below or above the main case. Initially equipped with 2 or 4 MB of RAM (a 1 MB version, the Mega 1, followed), the Mega machines can be combined with Atari's laser printer for a low-cost desktop publishing package.
A customblitter coprocessor improved some graphics performance, but was not included in all models. Developers wanting to use it had to detect its presence in their programs. Properly written applications using the GEMAPI automatically make use of the blitter.
In late 1989,Atari Corporation released the 520STE and 1040STE (also written STE), enhanced version of the ST with improvements to the multimedia hardware and operating system. It features an increased color palette of 4,096 colors from the ST's 512 (though the maximum displayable palette without programming tricks is still limited to 16 in the lowest 320 × 200 resolution, and even fewer in higher resolutions),genlock support, and ablitter coprocessor (stylized as "BLiTTER") which can quickly move large blocks of data (particularly, graphics data) around in RAM. The STE is the first Atari with PCM audio; using a new chip, it added the ability to play back 8-bit (signed) samples at 6258 Hz, 12,517 Hz, 25,033 Hz, and even 50,066 Hz, viadirect memory access (DMA). The channels are arranged as either a mono track or a track of LRLRLRLR... bytes. RAM is now much more simply upgradable viaSIMMs.
Two enhanced joystick ports were added (two normal joysticks can be plugged into each port with an adapter), with the new connectors placed in more easily accessed locations on the side of the case. The enhanced joystick ports were re-used in theAtari Jaguar console and are compatible.[citation needed]
The STE models initially had software and hardware conflicts resulting in someapplications and video games written for the ST line being unstable or even completely unusable, primarily caused by programming direct hardware calls which bypassed the operating system. Furthermore, even having a joystick plugged in would sometimes cause strange behavior with a few applications (such as theWYSIWYG word-processor application1st Word Plus).Sleepwalker was the only STE-only game from a major publisher, but there were STe enhancements in games such asAnother World,Zool andThe Chaos Engine, as well as exclusives from smaller companies.
The last STE machine, theMega STE, is an STE in a greyAtari TT case that had a switchable 16 MHz, dual-bus design (16-bit external, 32-bit internal), optionalMotorola 68881FPU, built-in 1.44 MB "HD" 31⁄2-inch floppy disk drive,VME expansion slot, a network port (very similar to that used by Apple'sLocalTalk) and an optional built-in 31⁄2" hard drive. It also shipped with TOS 2.00 (better support for hard drives, enhanced desktop interface, memory test, 1.44 MB floppy support, bug fixes). It was marketed as more affordable than a TT but more powerful than an ordinary ST.
In 1990, Atari released the high-end workstation-oriented Atari TT030, based on a 32 MHzMotorola 68030 processor. The "TT" name ("Thirty-two/Thirty-two") continued the nomenclature because the 68030 chip has 32-bit buses both internally and externally. Originally planned with a 68020 CPU, the TT has improved graphics and more powerful support chips. The case has a new design with an integrated hard-drive enclosure.
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The final model of ST computer is the Falcon030. Like the TT, it is 68030-based, at 16 MHz, but with improved video modes and an on-boardMotorola 56001 audiodigital signal processor. Like theAtari STE, it supports sampling frequencies above 44.1 kHz; the sampling master clock is 98340 Hz (which can be divided by a number between 2 and 16 to get the actual sampling frequencies). It can play the STE sample frequencies (up to 50066 Hz) in 8 or 16 bit, mono or stereo, all by using the same DMA interface as the STE, with a few additions. It can both play back and record samples, with 8 mono channels and 4 stereo channels, allowing musicians to use it for recording to hard drive. Although the 68030 microprocessor can use 32-bit memory, the Falcon uses a 16-bit bus, which reduces performance and cost. In another cost-reduction measure, Atari shipped the Falcon in an inexpensive case much like that of the STF and STE. Aftermarket upgrade kits allow it to be put in a desktop or rack-mount case, with the keyboard separate.
Released in 1992, the Falcon was discontinued by Atari the following year. In Europe, C-Lab licensed the Falcon design from Atari and released the C-Lab Falcon Mk I, identical to Atari's Falcon except for slight modifications to the audio circuitry. The Mk II added an internal 500 MB SCSI hard disk; and the Mk X further added a desktop case. C-Lab Falcons were also imported to the US by some Atari dealers.
As with theAtari 8-bit computers,[43][44][45][46] software publishers attributed their reluctance to produce Atari ST products in part to—asCompute! reported in 1988—the belief in the existence of a "higher-than-normal amount of software piracy".[47][48] That year,WordPerfect threatened to discontinue the Atari ST version of its word processor because the company discovered that piratebulletin board systems (BBSs) were distributing it, causingST-Log to warn that "we had better put a stop to piracynow ... it can have harmful effects on the longevity and health of your computer".[46] A positive review ofTyphoon Thompson inAntic concluded:[49]
Lastly, to any pirates out there, this game is good. It is certainly worth buying. It's also the first major ST game effort byBroderbund and if you steal it, it may well be their last. Don't spoil things for the rest of the ST community by being a jerk and putting this game on your pirate board.
In 1989, magazines published a letter byGilman Louie, head ofSpectrum HoloByte. He stated that he had been warned by competitors that releasing a game likeFalcon on the ST would fail because BBSs would widely disseminate it. Within 30 days of releasing the non-copy protected ST version, the game was available on BBSs with maps andcode wheels. Because the ST market was smaller than that for the IBM PC, it was more vulnerable to piracy which, Louie said, seemed to be better organized and more widely accepted for the ST. He reported that the Amiga version sold in six weeks twice as much as the ST version in nine weeks, and that the Mac and PC versions had four times the sales.Computer Gaming World stated "This is certainly the clearest exposition ... we have seen to date" of why software companies produced less software for the ST than for other computers.[50][51]
Several third-party OSes were developed for, or ported to, the Atari ST.Unix clones includeIdris,Minix, and theMiNT OS which was developed specifically for the Atari ST.
Plenty of professional quality MIDI-related software was released. The popular Windows and Macintosh applicationsCubase andLogic Pro originated on the Atari ST (the latter as Creator, Notator, Notator-SL, and Notator Logic). Another popular and powerful ST music sequencer application, KCS, contains a "Multi-Program Environment" that allows ST users to run other applications, such as the synthesizer patch editing software XoR (now known as Unisyn on the Macintosh), from within the sequencer application.[52]
Musictracker software became popular on the ST, such as the TCB Tracker, aiding the production of quality music from the Yamaha synthesizer, now calledchiptunes.
Due to the ST having comparatively large amounts of memory for the time, sound sampling packages became feasible.Replay Professional features a sound sampler using the ST cartridge port to read in parallel from the cartridge port from theADC. For output of digital sound, it uses the on-board frequency output, sets it to 128 kHz (inaudible) and then modulates the amplitude of that.
MasterTracks Pro originated on Macintosh, then ST, then IBM PC version. It continued onWindows andmacOS, along with the original company's notation applicationsEncore.
Professionaldesktop publishing software includesTimeworks Publisher,PageStream andCalamus. Word processors includeWordPerfect,Microsoft Write, AtariWorks, Signum, Script and First Word (bundled with the machine). Spreadsheets include3D-Calc, and databases includeZoomracks. Graphics applications includeNEOchrome,DEGAS & DEGAS Elite,Deluxe Paint, STAD, and Cyber Paint (which authorJim Kent would later evolve intoAutodesk Animator)[53] with advanced features such as 3D design and animation. The Spectrum 512 paint program uses rapid palette switching to expand the on-screen color palette to 512[53] (up to 46 colors per scan line).
3D computer graphics applications (likeCyber Studio CAD-3D, which authorTom Hudson later developed intoAutodesk3D Studio[54][55]), brought 3D modelling, sculpting, scripting, andcomputer animation to the desktop. Video capture and editing applications use dongles connected to the cartridge port for low frame rate, mainly silent and monochrome, but progressed to sound and basic color in still frames. At the end, Spectrum 512 and CAD-3D teamed up to produce realistic 512-color textured 3D renderings, but processing was slow, and Atari's failure to deliver a machine with a math coprocessor had Hudson and Yost looking towards the PC as the future before a finished product could be delivered to the consumer.[53]
Garry Kasparov became the firstchess player to register a copy ofChessBase, a popular commercial database program for storing and searching records of chess games. The first version was built for Atari ST with his collaboration in January 1987.[56] In his autobiographyChild of Change, he regards this facility as "the most important development in chess research since printing".
Graphical touchscreen point of sale software for restaurants was originally developed for Atari ST by Gene Mosher under the ViewTouch[57] copyright and trademark. Instead of using GEM, he developed a GUI and widget framework for the application using theNEOchrome paint program.
The 520ST was bundled with both Digital ResearchLogo andAtari ST BASIC.[58] Third-party BASIC systems with better performance were eventually released: HiSoft BASIC,GFA BASIC, FaST BASIC,DBASIC, LDW BASIC, Omikron BASIC, BASIC 1000D andSTOS. In the later years of the Atari ST, Omikron Basic was bundled with it in Germany.
Atari's initial development kit from Atari is a computer and manuals. The$5,000 (equivalent to $14,343 in 2024) cost discouraged development. The later Atari Developer's Kit consists of software and manuals for$300. It includes a resource kit, C compiler (first Alcyon C, then Mark Williams C), debugger, 68000 assembler, and non-disclosure agreement. The third-partyMegamax C development package was$200.
Other development tools include 68000 assemblers (MadMac from Atari,HiSoft Systems's Devpac, TurboAss, GFA-Assembler), Pascal (OSS Personal Pascal, Maxon Pascal, PurePascal),Modula-2, C compilers (Lattice C, Pure C,Megamax C,GNU C, Aztec C, AHCC),LISP, andProlog.
The ST had success in gaming due to the low cost, fast performance, and colorful graphics compared to contemporary PCs or 8-bit systems. ST game developers includePeter Molyneux,Doug Bell,Jeff Minter,Éric Chahi,Jez San, andDavid Braben.
The realtime pseudo-3Drole-playing video gameDungeon Master, was developed and released first on the ST, and is considered to be the best-selling software ever produced for the platform.[59] Simulation games likeFalcon andFlight Simulator II use the ST's graphics hardware, as do many arcade ports. The 1987first-person shooter,MIDI Maze, uses theMIDI ports to connect up to 16 machines for networked deathmatch play.[60] The critically acclaimedAnother World was originally released for ST and Amiga in 1991 with its engine developed on the ST and the rotoscoped animation created on the Amiga. While American developers stopped making ST games around 1991 (The Secret of Monkey Island was the last major American-coded title) it remained popular with many European developers (primarily in France and Britain) until 1993. Games likeSubstation in 1995 attempted to compete with titles for newer systems.[61]
The ST's lack of hardware scrolling meant that many games used smaller screen windows, or flick-screen gameplay instead of scrolling. Combined with sound hardware that was not considered the equal of the Amiga orCommodore 64, the machine's performance for 2D arcade games was seen as its weakest point. Games simultaneously released on the Amiga that do not use the Amiga's superior graphics and sound capabilities were often accused by video game magazines of simply being ST ports.[citation needed]. While the ST was often the lead machine, or jointly with the Amiga version, for the 68000 coded versions, later titles such asLemmings,Cannon Fodder,Turrican II,Sensible Soccer,The Chaos Engine andCivilization were usually coded for the Amiga in 32 colors first and later converted down to the ST in 16 colors.
Spectre GCR emulates theMacintosh. MS-DOS emulators were released in the late 1980s. PC-Ditto has a software-only version, and a hardware version that plugs into the cartridge slot or kludges internally. After running the software, an MS-DOS boot disk is required to load the system. Both run MS-DOS programs inCGA mode, though much more slowly than on anIBM PC. Other options are the PC-Speed (NEC V30), AT-Spee (Intel 80286), and ATonce-386SX (Intel 80386SX) hardware emulator boards.
The ST's low cost, built-in MIDI ports, and fast, low-latency response times made it a favorite with musicians.
All STs are made up of both custom and commercial chips.
As originally released in the 520ST:
Very early machines have the OS on a floppy disk before a final version was burned into ROM. This version of TOS was bootstrapped from a small coreboot ROM.
In 1986, most production models became STFs, with an integrated single- (520STF) or double-sided (1040STF) double density floppy disk drive built-in, but no other changes. Also in 1986, the520STM (or520STM) added anRF modulator for allowing the low and medium resolution color modes when connected to a TV. LaterF andFM models of the 520 had a built-indouble-sided disk drive instead of a single-sided one.
As originally released in the 520STE/1040STE:
The members of the ST family are listed below, in roughly chronological order:
The 130ST was intended to be a 128 KB variant. It was announced at the 1985 CES alongside the 520ST but never produced. The 4160STE was a 1040STE, but with 4 MB of RAM. A small quantity of development units were produced, but the system was never officially released. Atari did produce a quantity of 4160STE metallic case badges which found their way to dealers, so it's not uncommon to find one attached to systems which were originally 520/1040STE. No such labels were produced for the base of the systems.
Atari Transputer Workstation is a standalone machine developed in conjunction with Perihelion Hardware, containing modified ST hardware and up to 17transputers capable ofmassively parallel operations for tasks such as ray tracing.
Following Atari's departure from the computer market, both Medusa Computer Systems and Milan Computer manufactured Atari Falcon/TT-compatible machines with68040 and68060 processors. TheFireBee is an Atari ST/TT clone based on theColdfire processor. The GE-Soft Eagle is a 32 MHz TT clone.[79]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)...The new Atari SLM605 laser printer prints six pages per minute, provides 300 x 300 dpi resolution and is priced below $1,300...The new Atari SLM605 laser printer produced some fast and flawless copies. Though the "605" prints six instead of eight copies per minute (as the old SLM804 was rated) the first copy is significantly faster...
The Atari SLM605 ... includes such refinements as a sleeker physical profile
