The Atari ST for 2022! 

I love that older machines like the ST and the Amiga still get a ton of love!

Picked up a maxed-out 1040STe in the box with half a dozen programming books and some boxed games for $40 back in the late 2000s when people didn't care. Still works fine, and I still use it for MIDI.

I really want a retro-looking machine that is like the 1040STe/f but with modern convenience like USB stick, large HDD, HD graphic ports and stuff. Bonus points if you can have an EXTERNAL socket with a nice box to plug the largest Video card into... Never going to happen, of course, but it would be nice. Someone had made the AtariST2 concept art a few years ago, it was a black backlit AtariST and looked absolutely amazing. To this day this holds the #1 spot in computers for me. Also lots of awesome game/softwares that I still remember (and some case play with emulation) to this day. What a GREAT value for money this was, it lasted me 7 years (86-ish to 93, when I switched for a 386/25) - I sill have the AtariST in storage, last time I pulled it out of storage in 2014 it was still working like an absolute champ ! @3:20 I remember buying an adapter that lead to an external connexion box... Made the whole undercarriage thing far less annoying. 🙂 Awesome video, thanks !

I got a second hand Atari 520ST back in the 80s when i was a kid. It was the first time i had ever seen a "mouse". It probably sounds silly to kids these days, but i had no idea what the thing was for until i used it. I also had a good giggle at it being called a "mouse", this plastic thing with a cord coming out if it like a tail.

I had gotten an Atari 1040 STFM with b/w monitor from my friend about 20 ago, a time where this piece of hardware wasn't worth anything. With this I also got an Amstrad CPC 464, green monitor and with lots of accessories from the same friend. Must have cost a fortune back then. He got 2 disk drives with it, a light pen to draw onto the screen and a complete desk made especially for the CPC. Both computers were working fine but especially the Atari was extremely yellowed because his father worked with it and he was a heavy smoker. I owned them for several years until I gave them for free to a computer museum here in Luxembourg, because I moved to another place and lacked space. Nowadays, you would get quite some money for it, but back then it was just electronic scrap for those who didn't care about it and most people didn't care about it.

If you want to connect "modern" USB devices like mouse, joystick or gamepad (Xbox 360/One, PS3/4/5) I really would recommend the mouSTer! A bit pricey, yes, but worth every penny. The configuration possibilities via text config file is brilliant. Mouse speed, button config of gamepads (e.g. normal fire on one button, configurable autofire on another) and many more parameters! I just bought a second mouSTer for my Ataris! 😉

The "hidden" joystick/mouse ports are for cost reduction. The keyboard controller handles these inputs, and the controller is on the keyboard-board connected with a ribbon like cable to the main board. So the cheapest choice was to put the ports also on that board and get rid of a lot of wires and traces. It's a prime example why the ST was so cheap compared to other computers.

Great Stuff. My AtariST520 gives a black screen with my RF cable :-( Any advice on what I could do or test? Thanks.

May I ask where you got your Gotek ? If I understood properly, it was already flashed with the correct firmware, right ? I got one, but there are two problems with it. First, it's half broken. Not broken in half ... I mean, I can flash the FW, but it does not operate as a floppy at all now. It worked few times on a PC, before the flash, but the ST needs the special FW. The second problem, not related to the first one until proven otherwise, is that the original Goteks had STM32 MCU, but mine has another Cortex M MCU because of supply chain problems. The FW exists for the alternative MCU, but it's an additional question mark in the chain. And may I add few informations ? I still have my 1991 STe, which has a bigger color palette, a stereo 8 bits DAC and a maximum memory capability of 4 MB as far as I can remember. Before this one, I had an ST. Yes, ST, not STf, not STfm, just ST. I deeply regret selling it to buy the other one. It had mouse and joystick connectors on the right side, much easier to access. The floppy drive was not in the ST body, it was external, and used a thick connector. I still have such a connector, with a simple switch soldered inside; doing so, you could format floppies on one side of 360 KB (instead of 720 KB double sided), and, when flipping the switch, the (internal) drive (of the STe) thought it was accessing the same side of the floppy, but in fact, it was the other one. This way, you could store two small games, each one on its own side of the same floppy ! Floppies were expensive at that time ! Another thing was not in body too : the power bricks, one small for the floppy drive, one bigger for the computer !

I recall TOS as Tramiel Operating System by Shivji Shiraz. I had the 1040ST, though. Maybe the documentation differed for that version.

Hi, do you think I can connect the GOTEK player as an external player? (it would allow me not to disassemble the computer)

Good project! Had to gag though when you blew out that much (of someone else's) dust inside the house. *cough*

I might have some extra Atari st. keys if you want them.

That black bit wasn't broken they are removable.

can this Atari emulate the BBC Micro?? thanks........

You forgot to mention flip the floppy ribbon cable to the gotek

Yes, you will find NES style RF adaptors and any of the auto switching type (NES/SNES/MEGADRIVE etc) DO NOT provide a good image even by RF standards with consoles and computers that came prior, you know the the era when they all came with RF switch boxes that had a slide switch to select between the system / TV. The older systems in fact do NOT put out the proper signal to FULLY engage the auto switching that later systems could and so the image is always very snowy with lots of interference. I am glad you touched on this as I OFTEN see many of these older computers and consoles sold used and bundled with the NES styled auto RF switcher with the seller thinking it's "good enough" and should do the job just fine which clearly is not the case, you will even get people swearing up and down they have personally used one and it works just fine which they are obviously lying about because they either cannot be bothered to source a proper manual RF switcher or the RF adapter that allows you to plug it in directly bypassing the need for the RF switcher OR they stubbornly insist it works because they are ignorant and assume it will even though they have not confirmed it to be so. AND YES THIS IS A PET PEEVE OF MINE IF YOU CANT TELL 😆 because I have encountered this situation so many times over the years with people who insist on arguing the point with me even though it is proven FACT. 🤷‍♂️Anyway.......great video, I also have an Atari 1040ste AND 1040stf that I really need to pull out from storage and give some attention to again.

this Atari St, can it format discs to above 1meg?? also can it format to 1.2 meg too?? thanks lots and bless you !! happy christmas!! bless you!!

Inspiring (and stressful) to watch..

crazy i threw mine away 7 years ago

same sound chip as the spectrum 128k...interesting atari could not make up a soundchip themselves.

Those "supports" for the drive aren't broken, they really are just that s*** at stying where they are supposed to be...

I have some distant memory of hearing the ST mouse connection being a straightforward DB9 serial port with the TX and RX pins reversed, but that may be complete nonsense. The hard drive interface was known as DMA - which was a subset of SCSI - not many of these kicking around nowadays, but hopefully a starting point. There used to be an interface card in the UK known as a "megadrive" which predated the console, but they had to shut down/ rename it after Nintendo threatened to sue them. Hope that helps

Mmm SCART connector.

why you didn't even wash it???