Atari ST
The "Jackintosh". Amiga's arch-rival and the king of MIDI production.
Historical_Context
When Jack Tramiel was ousted from Commodore, he bought Atari and declared war. The result was the ST (Sixteen/Thirty-two). It beat the Amiga to market by a few months and offered a high-resolution monochrome monitor that was perfect for publishing and coding.
The ST was simpler than the Amiga. It used a "framebuffer" approach without fancy coprocessors (until the STE added a Blitter). This made it faster for raw 3D polygon calculations but slower for 2D sprites.
Its secret weapon was built-in MIDI ports. This made it the standard for music studios for a decade. Artists from Fatboy Slim to 808 State ran their studios on Atari STs.
Notable_Models
Atari 520ST / 1040ST
1985Power Without The Price. The 1040ST was the first PC with 1MB RAM for under $1000. Dominated the music industry.
Atari Mega ST
1987Professional desktop version with detached keyboard and "Mega Bus" expansion slot.
Atari STE
1989The "E" stands for Enhanced. Added a Blitter, 4096 color palette, and PCM audio. Too little, too late against the Amiga.
Atari TT030
199032-bit Workstation. Unix capable. Aimed at businesses.
Atari Falcon030
1992The final Atari computer. Bundled a Motorola 56001 DSP for real-time audio processing. A powerhouse cut short.
520ST / 1040ST
1985Original models. 1040ST was first PC with 1MB RAM for under $1000.
Mega ST
1987Desktop form factor with detached keyboard. For studios.
STE
1989Enhanced. Added Blitter, 4096 palette, and DMA sound.
TT030
1990High-end workstation. 68030 CPU.
Falcon030
1992The final bird. 68030 + DSP 56001. True Color graphics.
Tech_Specs
- CPU Motorola 68000 @ 8 MHz
- RAM 512 KB (520ST) to 4 MB (Mega)
- Graphics 320x200 (16c), 640x400 (Mono)
- Audio Yamaha YM2149 (PSG)
Key_Silicon
Shifted memory data to video output. No hardware sprites.
A licensed version of the General Instruments AY-3-8910.
Multi-Function Peripheral. Interrupts and Timers.
Added in STE/Mega STE models for fast memory moves.