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Can I ask a dumb question?

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DreadStorm

Experienced Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
161
Location
Greer, SC
As I stated in my introduction post, I'm a big fan of Apple II, Commodore, and PCs. But...I've always beed curious...

What are the details of an Atari 1040ST? What can it do, and what can be added to it?

I remember reading about them way back, when the "Computer Shopper" magazine was twice the size of an encyclopedia. But hardware and software capabilities, I have no idea. "An' it looks so purty too!" heh

-DreadStorm (Wayne)
 
Well, I know one thing I did with my 1040ST--Sold it for $225 complete with color monitor and books. I know they have built in MIDI capabilities, and I hear they were rather popular in music studios back in the day. If you need a monochrome monitor for yours, I have one I need to get rid of.

--Ryan
 
Okay, I read the Wiki, but I don't have it yet. Now I'm torn. I always liked the Gem Desktop for DOS. I don't own it yet, but a neighbor just offered it to me for $300. If I get it, my prospecting for a new 486 board to complete my network goes unfinished. If I don't, I miss a chance to get this piece of ingenius gadgetry (and learn something new).

Grrr....decisions, decisions....
 
Some words of advice:
  • Use Google before posting. A search of Atari 1040ST brings up a lot of information. Most machines are well covered somewhere.
  • Pick a better subject line so that people know what they are going to read.
 
Sorry about that. Will do.
But as far as Google, I tried, and got a whole lot of information that said very little. The WIKI above proved far more useful. But unlike most, Wikis are generally the last thing I think of, but it helped. Lesson learned. heh
 
When I searched using "atari 1040st" the Wikipedia entry was the first link.

Searching for obscure information is most of the fun - enjoy ...
 
An Atari ST is something I'm considering adding to my collection, if just to balance it against the Amiga. They were both occupying the same market niche at the time.

I wouldn't pay to much for one though. Here (New Zealand) they seem relatively common and go for about $50 - $80 bucks. (about $40 - $65 US).
 
Okie. I think I'll hold out then. Completion of one project is a bit more important than starting 3 or 4 more beforehand.
 
This thread wants to be moved to the Atari section.

A better question for discussion would be "What can an Atari 1040ST do that other computers of that era didn't?", or perhaps "Give me a good reason to buy an Atari ST today". Both are subjects that might be touched on other web pages, but most certainly not covered by the Wikipedia article since Wiki is about facts, not feelings.
 
Did your neighbor offer you Gem for $300 or the Atari and something for $300? Either sound a bit more expensive than I would think they're currently worth although I guess with a bunch of peripherals and manuals it could maybe go that high.

- John
 
Good point. Can you tell I'm new here? <grinz>

I'll ask both questions, and perhaps expand on them.
1) What can an Atari do that others can't? Can I add hard drives, or perhaps interface with other devices like I can thru the User Port on a Commodore? ("POKE/PEEK xxx,yyy" or some such)
2) Feelings aside, technically, what would be the best argument for getting a 1040ST next payday?

barythrin: He only showed me a box with the main unit and it's required cords, etc. A joystick was in it. Anything else, I couldn't see.
 
Now that I can help you with--but just a little. I can't help convince you to buy one other than this--Imagine the gaming possibilities with that thing; It has a good color pallete, and has great sound capabilities. Now for the other part: I don't know what it can do that is special, but I do know you can add an external HD. Mine used to have one, but I think you have to get one specifically for the machine. It was a 50MB or so and sat in a 1.5" high housing big enough to fit a monitor on top of.

--Ryan
 
DreadStorm said:
Good point. Can you tell I'm new here? <grinz>

I'll ask both questions, and perhaps expand on them.
1) What can an Atari do that others can't? Can I add hard drives, or perhaps interface with other devices like I can thru the User Port on a Commodore? ("POKE/PEEK xxx,yyy" or some such)
2) Feelings aside, technically, what would be the best argument for getting a 1040ST next payday?

barythrin: He only showed me a box with the main unit and it's required cords, etc. A joystick was in it. Anything else, I couldn't see.
Click to expand...

Well, it depends on what you are collecting computers for. I would imagine it would do nothing that modern day (even old modern day) computers couldn't do better. However if you were interested in it for historical purposes, nostagic reasons or just wanted a "different" system to play with then it has some value.
 
I'm one of those weird guys that has a hunger for knowledge. I love to learn. I'm at the point now that I know all I want to about PCs. (the modern bloat-hogs) I remember much about the Apple II (and would like to get another one someday). And I have a c-64, which is approaching a certain level of boredom. Getting something new would be awesome, as far as learning. But I like to tinker too, and real-world interfacing is my crown, as far as learning a new 'puter goes. I usually spend between 6 months to a year on a single machine, learning all I can about it.

Unfortunately, I confess some don't even interest me. Macs, Linux-based machines hold nothing for me. Things like this would be a challenge, as well as a learning experience - primarily because of the limitations (graphics, memory, new CPU architecture, etc).
 
I see where you are coming from. You want to take old stuff to the very limit. Not my interest as I perfer them "original", but I can see the challenge of maxing them out would be an attraction to some.

Not sure how easy an Atari ST is to tinker around with as I don't own one and even if I did, my technical knowledge of computers and their inner workings is somewhat superficial.

A computer is a computer though, and with enough technical knowledge I guess you could get anything jumping through hoops higher than it's meant to.

Good luck with the project(s).
 
Well as a long-time ST afficionada. I would say the STs were special. There is an amazing amount of software available for it, much of it free. While it did use GEM as it's graphical interface it's much beyond the old DRI DOS version. Like the Amiga it had a great coterie of addicts and still does. One of it's attraction to musicians was it's built-in MIDI interface and many professional musicians used it (Logins and Messina, among others). As a result there is a vast amount of sequencers, trackers, etc, available for it. While it didn't have a large color pallette, you could do some amazing things graphically with it.

It was not geared to the business community, altho it had many of the DBs and accounting programs, as well as professional Publishing programs that surpassed most of the MS programs then available. It geared itself to the home user and the many games available for it surpassed the MSDOS ones. It had the GUI and OS in ROM so the Ram memory was for the applications. MSDOS disks could be read by the ST and ST programs downloaded from BBS's or the internet were easily transferred.

It's drawbacks were that it had a an expanded memory limitation of only 4 megs except in the STE model and a low 8mhz speed which because of the built-in ROM was better utilized and in real time was still faster than an AT. It's HD port based on the Motorola processor had a proprietary version of SCSI for which you had to have an adapter to use non_Atari SCSI HDs. The 16 color limitation could also be a problem but there were some amazing programs which circumvented that to some extent. While there is now browser and Internet programs available for it, they can't compete with more modern technology.

I would not pay more than $80 for a Stock ST altho with desired peripherals it could go well beyond that. An STE would go for over a hundred, a Mega-4(meg) for under $150, a Mega STE for under $200, and a Falcon for under $300. That's my own valuation. YMMV.

Lawrence
 
I decided at the last minute to go ahead and grab it - if for nothing else than to learn something new. Granted, I now know I spent far too much on it, but it's not the first time I jumped before I measured the depth. <shrug> This thing is still sitting in a box, it has a 5.25" floppy and a printer. Several books, a box of disks, and little else (joysticks too).

I guess the best question to ask at this point is this:
Commodores have a "User Port" and a Cartridge/Expansion slot.
IBMs/Clones have expansion card slots.
Apples had expansion card slots.

Aside from pre-defined ports on it, does it have some sort of "general use" port or expansion slot on it? Just asking for a little bit of a heads-up for when the time comes. Oh, and what would it have for programming?

Obviously, I haven't unpacked it from the box, I don't yet have room to set it up. :) I'm cleaning out a spare bedroom to start setting things up in, and when I'm done, all my 'puters will be in there (including my PC network). That way I can return my garage to a shop like it once was.

Oh, and Carlsson, I just looked up the Atari Falcon030 - this ain't that, but GOD I wish it was. LOL
 
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One thing you do need is a mouse. The floppy drive uses Double Density disks. There are many programming systems including Atari Basic. While it does have a cartridge slot there are no expansion slots for it. Most peripherals were external. It uses a Motorola 68000 so it is much more capable than the 8-bit Commodore. It is more comparible to The Amiga or Mac.

Lawrence
 
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