Difference between revisions of "Atari ST line"

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[[File:Atari 1040STf.jpg|thumb|An Atari ST showcasing the trademark GEM interface with solid green background]] The Atari ST is a microcomputer developed by Atari Corporation in the mid 1980's. It was announced in January of 1985, and released June of that year. It runs on the Motorola 68000 CPU. The "ST" stands for sixteen/thirty-two, in reference to the 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals of the 68000 chip. It ran Digital Research's GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) on Atari's proprietary TOS (The Operating System).
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{{Infobox console
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|title = Atari ST
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|logo = Atari 1040STf.jpg
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|developer = [[:Atari|Atari]]
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|type = [[:Category:Computers|Home computer]]
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|release = 1985
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|discontinued = 1993
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|predecessor = [[:Atari 8-bit]]
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|successor = Atari Falcon
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|emulated = {{✓}}
 +
}}
 +
The '''[[wikipedia:Atari ST|Atari ST]]''' was a microcomputer developed by Atari Corporation in the mid 1980's. It was announced in January of 1985, and released in June of that year. It runs on the Motorola 68000 CPU. "ST" stands for sixteen/thirty-two, in reference to the 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals of the 68000 chip. It ran Digital Research's GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) on Atari's proprietary TOS (The Operating System).
  
The computer primarily competed with the Macintosh and the Amiga in most markets. Because of it's fast CPU and high-resolution display (when displaying in monochrome) it gained a strong foothold in the business and CAD fields. It was (and still is) also a popular computer in the music industry as it was one of the first affordable home computers to include a MIDI port. A wide variety of music composition programs also came to be written for it. As a result of the ease of use and large software library, the ST is still occasionally used in music production today. In addition to its uses in business and CAD as well as music, it is also a competent computer for playing games on. Its graphical capabilities are roughly comparable to the other computers of the time, although slightly lower. The fast CPU somewhat off-sets the limited graphical capabilities.
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The computer primarily competed with the Macintosh and the Amiga in most markets. At the time, Macs were solely monochrome, and Amigas were solely color.  The ST straddled the two worlds, offering separate color and monochrome screens, auto-detected by the computer's display circuitry.  The monochrome screen was excellent and high-resolution for the era, providing credible competition for the Macintosh at a much lower price point.  It gained a strong foothold in the business and CAD fields.
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It was one of the only home computers to ever include MIDI in/out ports as standard equipment, which prompted the development of a wide variety of music composition programs. STs became very popular in the music industry, and some are still being used in production today.<ref>[http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/03/10/atari-ste/ "The Atari STe – Still The World’s Tightest Music Computer?" — Synthtopia]</ref>
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One popular game, MIDI Maze, used the ports as an early networking device, allowing multi-machine multiplayer in a simplistic, but a vaguely Doom-like game.  ST owners had "LAN parties" long before Ethernet became ubiquitous.
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It was a reasonably competent gaming computer; the color graphics weren't exciting, but the simple architecture and relatively quick CPU gave it a fair bit of muscle. It came nowhere near the overall power of the Amiga, but was perfectly straightforward to program, where dealing with the Amiga's multiple independent co-processors was famously difficult. 
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Some of the most notable Atari ST games were Dungeon Master, Oids, Sundog, and Star Glider, as well as the aforementioned MIDI Maze.  
  
 
==Emulators==
 
==Emulators==
 
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable"
 
 
! scope="col"|Name
 
! scope="col"|Name
 
! scope="col"|Operating System(s)
 
! scope="col"|Operating System(s)
 
! scope="col"|Latest Version
 
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|[[Recommended emulators|Recommended]]
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! scope="col"|[[Libretro|Libretro Core]]
 +
! scope="col"|Active
 +
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
 +
|-
 +
! colspan="6"|PC
 +
|-
 +
|[[Hatari]]
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|Multi-platform
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|[http://download.tuxfamily.org/hatari/ 2.1.0]
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|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|-
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|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/steemsse/ Steem SSE]
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|Windows, Linux
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|3.9.4
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|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|-
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|[http://www.emulators.com/download.htm Gemulator]
 +
|Windows
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|[http://www.emulators.com/download.htm#ATARIST 9.0]
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|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{~}}
 +
|-
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|[http://steem.atari.st/ Steem Engine]
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|Multi-platform
 +
|3.2
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|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 +
|-
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|[http://leonard.oxg.free.fr/SainT/saint.html SainT]
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|Windows
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|2.40
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|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 
|-
 
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[http://hatari.tuxfamily.org/ Hatari]
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|[http://www.hampa.ch/pce/pce-atarist.html PCE/atarist]
|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-Platform
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|Windows, Unix-like
|style="text-align:center;"|1.9.0
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|[http://www.hampa.ch/pce/download.html pce-2018-03-23]
|style="text-align:center;"|
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|{{✗}}
 +
|{{~}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 
|-
 
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[http://steem.atari.st/ Steem Engine]
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!colspan="5"|Mobile
|style="text-align:center;"|Multi-Platform
 
|style="text-align:center;"|3.2
 
|style="text-align:center;"|
 
 
|-
 
|-
|style="text-align:center;"|[http://leonard.oxg.free.fr/SainT/saint.html SainT]
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|[https://sites.google.com/site/hataroid/ Hataroid]
|style="text-align:center;"|Windows
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|[[Android emulators|Android]]
|style="text-align:center;"|2.30
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|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.RetroSoft.Hataroid 1.830]
|style="text-align:center;"|✗
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|{{✗}}
 +
|{{}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 
|}
 
|}
 +
 +
==References==
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{{reflist}}
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== Resources ==
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* [http://www.atarimania.com/ AtariMania]
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* [https://github.com/emutos/emutos EmuTos]
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==External Links==
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* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI-LGKxQuEM 20 Games That Defined the Atari ST] (May 9, 2012. By applemctom.)
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* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjKnUOZ7ZN8 The Computer Chronicles - Atari ST (1989)] (Nov 8, 2012. The Computer Chronicles.)
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* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR65ZIR7KS0 AMIGA vs Atari ST: The GAMES - Which machine was the best? Atari ST/Amiga/Dos/Megadrive] (Mar 19, 2018. NX Gamer.)
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{{Atari}}
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[[Category:Computers]]

Revision as of 06:04, 6 November 2018

Atari ST
Atari 1040STf.jpg
Developer Atari
Type Home computer
Release date 1985
Discontinued 1993
Predecessor Atari 8-bit
Successor Atari Falcon
Emulated

The Atari ST was a microcomputer developed by Atari Corporation in the mid 1980's. It was announced in January of 1985, and released in June of that year. It runs on the Motorola 68000 CPU. "ST" stands for sixteen/thirty-two, in reference to the 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals of the 68000 chip. It ran Digital Research's GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) on Atari's proprietary TOS (The Operating System).

The computer primarily competed with the Macintosh and the Amiga in most markets. At the time, Macs were solely monochrome, and Amigas were solely color. The ST straddled the two worlds, offering separate color and monochrome screens, auto-detected by the computer's display circuitry. The monochrome screen was excellent and high-resolution for the era, providing credible competition for the Macintosh at a much lower price point. It gained a strong foothold in the business and CAD fields.

It was one of the only home computers to ever include MIDI in/out ports as standard equipment, which prompted the development of a wide variety of music composition programs. STs became very popular in the music industry, and some are still being used in production today.[1]

One popular game, MIDI Maze, used the ports as an early networking device, allowing multi-machine multiplayer in a simplistic, but a vaguely Doom-like game. ST owners had "LAN parties" long before Ethernet became ubiquitous.

It was a reasonably competent gaming computer; the color graphics weren't exciting, but the simple architecture and relatively quick CPU gave it a fair bit of muscle. It came nowhere near the overall power of the Amiga, but was perfectly straightforward to program, where dealing with the Amiga's multiple independent co-processors was famously difficult.

Some of the most notable Atari ST games were Dungeon Master, Oids, Sundog, and Star Glider, as well as the aforementioned MIDI Maze.

Emulators

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version Libretro Core Active Recommended
PC
Hatari Multi-platform 2.1.0
Steem SSE Windows, Linux 3.9.4
Gemulator Windows 9.0 ~
Steem Engine Multi-platform 3.2
SainT Windows 2.40
PCE/atarist Windows, Unix-like pce-2018-03-23 ~
Mobile
Hataroid Android 1.830

References

Resources

External Links

Atari logo.png
Consoles: Atari 2600Atari 5200Atari 7800Atari XEGSAtari JaguarAtari VCS
Handhelds: Atari Lynx
Computers: Atari 8-bitAtari ST