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Peripherals and other 520ST info requested.

Oddball question: How many floppies can an ST control? And can it run 5¼" floppies from other Atari generations?
 
I can live with that. So with 4, I could have, say, two 720K and two 1.44MB. Not that I would right away, but it's just an idea. I'll probably just end up switching them out rather than run both pairs.

Trying to get all my ducks in a row for when the auction's over. 6 hours left. Praying against any snipers like a madman right now. lol
 
The Atari ST series needs aftermarket modification in order to support 1.44 MB floppies. The only machines Atari shipped from the factory with 1.44 MB support built-in were later models of the Mega STe and TT and the Falcon.

I think Atari may have released a 5.25" floppy drive for the ST series for use with IBM PC emulation, just like Amiga did. If not, then I'm sure aftermarket vendors did.
 
Ah. Well, it narrows it down. I can deal well with two floppies. So if I win this 520ST, these are what I'll be looking for next.
The video is taken care of, thanks to earlier links. But these will be following.
Adapter to use two "standard" floppies with it (or two genuine Atari floppies cheap)
I'll expand the RAM internally to 2.5MB (easier and less headaches. Plenty to work with.)
Standard parallel printer adapter or cable.
An ASCI interface/enclosure for a drive - I can supply drives out of my parts piles. If it happens to be an SCSI adapter, so much the better.
 
I would've gone after a 1040st, but I'm on a limited budget this pay period. Yes, on eBay.
Kinda broke actually. After paying for it - so long as no one exceeds my max bid - I'll only have about 8 bucks left to my name till next payday. lol

But it's worth it to me. 56 minutes left. ;)
 
That's why I was in a near panic. They don't usually go that low.

After this one's up to snuff, my next project is either a PS/2 late model, a 1040ST, or a Mac. Tried to stay away from Macs for years, but...it's time to check them out.
 
Now I got people telling me not to put any stock in a 520, because it's supposedly glitchy and doesn't work right.

Way I see it, so much the better. That way when I get another later model, I'll have learned more ways to tweak and fiddle with it. I have no intention of getting rid of this thing any time soon. The more I learn about it, the more excited I get.
 
Al Hartman said:
I think that at the time, the Atari ST was superior to a PC and the Mac. But, Atari couldn't market its way out of a paper bag.
Click to expand...

The ST series was very successful from around 1985 to 1987... there was no color Macintosh yet and the ST was cheaper than the Amiga, so it took an early lead. But then Atari got distracted by the video game wars, and they spread themselves too thin. In the late '80s, Atari had an incredible amount of platforms they were supporting: 2600, 7800, Lynx, XE Game System, XE computers, ST series, STe series, Portfolio, PC series, and even the oddball ATW-800 Transputer Workstation.
 
Al Hartman said:
I think that at the time, the Atari ST was superior to a PC and the Mac. But, Atari couldn't market it's way out of a paper bag.
Click to expand...

Personally, I never made the Atari scene. However, my son did, and used to 'moonlighted' as a graphics designer for one of his local tv stations back in the day. He claimed that at the time Atari was the de facto tool for that purpose.
 
I like my 520-ST, and if I can get the AERCO RAM upgrade working again, and find the docs so I can upgrade the board from a 512k expansion to 2mb or 4mb, I want to do it.

I even have the PC-Ditto software to emulate an XT on it. I need to win an ADSpeed CPU speed-up if one ever becomes available. Somewhere, I have a 68010 processor and a socket for this board.
 
After I "get done" with this, the next one I plan to get - and I know they're rare and pricey - is the Falcon030. (Or one of those higher-end units.) Once I get one, then I can use this one like I did my C128, 64, C16 and VIC-20. Have one to leave original, and one to modify.

I have to admit, the only reason I don't plan to get an Atari 8-bit (130XE and lower) is the keyboard layout. I still look for one and if it's cheap enough, I still might, but it would have to be an upper model. 1200XL or better.

Looks like I'm on a roll again. Once I start on a "family" I just keep rolling with it. Having already got my Commodores, now on to Atari, and maybe something else after that. Amiga perhaps, or early Mac. Mac still makes my skin crawl, but still...lol
 
Well... Keep an eye out for a Spectre GCR cartridge for the Atari ST. It will let you run Mac OS 6.08 on the ST. It will also read/write Mac 800k Disks on Atari Drives.

Rumors are if you search for "Aladin Atari ST", you can find an old software only Mac Emulator for the ST.

I also have PC Speed, and I just found the disks for another PC Emulator for the ST (Can't think of the name).

A Magic Sac will also give you Mac Emulation, but Spectre GCR is better and faster.
 
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