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[[Category:Non CPC Computers]]
[[File:1280px-Atari 520 ST + with monochrome monitor SM 124.jpg|thumb|right|Atari 520ST+]]
[[File:1280px-Atari 1040STf.jpg|thumb|right|Atari 1040STf]]
[[File:Atari-mega-st2.jpg|thumb|right|Atari Mega ST2]]
[[File:Atari Mega STE.jpg|thumb|right|Atari Mega STE]]
[[File:Atari Falcon030.jpeg|thumb|right|Atari Falcon]]
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by [[Atari|the Atari Corporation]] in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the [[Motorola 68000]]'s 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals.
Part of the next generation of home computers, the ST battled against the [[Amiga]] for supremacy only for both to lose out to the PC. Never a direct rival with the [[CPC]], the ST was seen as more of the next logical step to take in your home computing habit and no doubt many former CPC users made the jump to Atari's machine.
For its time, it was an interesting 68000-based computer. More affordable than the Amiga and Macintosh. 2 An article from ST Format issue 49 from 1993 writes that there are over 3 million Atari ST computers in Europe.1 Also in issue 48 is mentioned that of those over 3 million units sold (USA only?) according to wikipedia, other sources claim up to 8 million units sold worldwide 950 000 of them are in the UK. [https://www.atari-forum.8bitchip.infocom/abmyapviewtopic.html php?p=463002#p463002 Source].
== Atari ST ==
The [[Atari ST]] was released in 1985. Atari had intended to release the 130ST with 128KB of RAM and the 260ST with 256KB. However, the ST initially shipped without TOS in ROM and required booting TOS from floppy, taking 206KB RAM away from applications. The 130ST was never released and the 260ST was actually shipped with 512KB of RAM. The case looks a lot like the 8bit Atari XE. It originally had an external PSU and an external single-sided (360KB) 3.5inch floppy drive. That resulted in games using single-sided 3.5inch floppies for a long time, even supplying two 360KB floppies instead of a single double-sided one. Also, the TOS had to be booted up from floppy disk.
In 1986, the Atari STF put the TOS in ROM and integrated the PSU and a double-sided floppy drive inside the machine itself. It was sold in 512KB and 1024KB RAM configurations.
*The first affordable modern computer: 16-bit CPU, linear memory, GUI, mouse, high resolution 640x400, 3.5inch floppies, hard drive connector. At much lower price than the Amiga 1000 or the Apple Macintosh.
*A 16/32bit machine with an awful 8-bit sound chip. The Atari ST's YM sound chip is even worse than the Atari 8-bit's POKEY sound chip: [https://youtu.be/pEUEfoEyCrI POKEY music 8-bit Atari]
*A hardware [[MIDI|Midi Port]]: this spawned a generation of Musician Geeks. And some Atari ST games did use Midi sound as an option. [https://forums.atariage.com/topic/301647-midi-games/ Source]
In fact, Atari was certainly thinking, you get the YM chip to make some noise, you want better you get MIDI gear. Trouble is YM is bottom of the barrel 'freebie' in the case and because MIDI is for professionals you are talking much more than the cost of an Atari ST for a decent MIDI sound module so you are kind of stuck. The introductory price of the Roland MT-32 in 1987 was US$695 (equivalent to $1,920 in 2024).
Trouble is YM is bottom of the barrel 'freebie' in the case and because MIDI is for professionals you are talking more than the cost of an Atari ST for a decent MIDI sound module so you are kind of stuck. The introductory price of the Roland MT-32 in 1987 was US$695 (equivalent to $1,920 in 2024). However, the Atari ST has software programmable timer interrupts that can be used to make the YM chip play samples. Coupled with the large memory of the Atari ST, it explains why the Atari ST often sounds better than the Amstrad CPC. [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnIoodP0L_VXCgmdWke-re8Y3QOBJSWrG Atari ST Digitized Music] The Atari ST is a paradox as it is inferior to the [[Amiga]] yet still considered better by many (the war still rages on nowadays). :*It was easier to do work on Atari, while on Amiga a guru meditation (machine crash) was never far away. *Also the TOS was in ROM which means it could be used immediately on boot. And it didn't consume valuable RAM nor monopolize the floppy drive nor require an hard drive. And as the OS was immutable, less time was spent customizing it, freeing up more time to do productive work. *The hardware was also simpler to develop for compared to the baroque Amiga architecture.
The Atari ST was used widely in CPC software development (Cross Development) as it had many advantages :
While the Atari ST was less powerful than an Amiga 500, the Atari Falcon was more powerful than an Amiga 1200.
The Atari Falcon is a commercial failure. According to interview (October 1993.) with Atari's director Bob Gleadow, published by ST-Computer magazine, about 13000-14000 sold (40 percent in Germany alone), 4164 in stock. [https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=311321#p311321 Source]
A Falcon040 model was in the works, with a 68040 CPU and a case similar to the PlayStation 2. But Atari cancelled the project.
=== 16-bit ===
*[https://youtu.be/jyBLZmZhXRY Atari ST Commercials] [https://youtu.be/h2O6eWY8Lm4 Les journées du logiciel Atari ST - Mars 1986]
*[https://youtu.be/A2pX6bU7-pU The Atari ST Story] by [[Nostalgia Nerd]]
*[https://youtu.be/iBVbekwrEhg Atari ST : histoire, restauration et découverte] [https://youtu.be/-iUTosjjZSg Restauration complète d'un STE] [https://youtu.be/iKbiJTQTKR4 Comparaison STF/STE/Amiga] by [[Rodrik Studio]]*[https://youtu.be/aUHtpNFZV38 All Atari ST games] [https://youtu.be/yK7p2FkyLd8 Over 100 Atari ST games in under 1 hour] [https://youtu.be/aUHtpNFZV38 All SjLFCgO9axE 35 monochrome games for the Atari ST games]
*[https://www.atarilegend.com Atari Legend] Games database
*[https://democyclopedia.wordpress.com/ Democyclopedia] The encyclopedia of Atari ST demos
*[https://www.dhs.nu/ Dead Hackers Society] Atari demoscene
*[https://sndh.atari.org/ SNDH archive] Atari ST and STE music-files
*[https://www.atari-wiki.com Atari ST Wiki]
*[https://www.synacktiv.com/ressources/Atari-ST-Internals.pdf Atari ST Internals]
===32-bit===
*[https://youtu.be/3sBYBMnZfyI 10 Amazing WySH4mAG_AQ 25 Atari Falcon Exclusives] by [[The Laird's Lair]games]in under 30 minutes
*[https://youtu.be/cBTXGgb__y4 Atari Falcon 030] by [[Nostalgia Nerd]]
*[[Media:Motorola DSP56001 datasheet.PDF|Motorola DSP56001 datasheet]]*[http://www.bitsavers.org/components/motorola/56000/56000/1990_DSP56000_DSP56001_Users_Manual.pdf Motorola DSP56001 Digital Signal Processor - User's Manual]
