Two days ago, I did not know anything about the ST

[Rockin' Kat]

...And now I have an Atari 520ST^M..... and I still know very very little... I also have a Floppy drive model SF 354... which from what I can see having taken everything appart to clean it up is a single sided drive.

 

And I got a box of floppy disks.

 

I got it all on freecycle after purhasing a sealed ST game at a thrift store prompted me to try posting a wanted message for an Atari ST.

 

...once the case finishes drying I'm going to put it all back together and turn it on. ... oh I got a black and white monitor with it.... I'm going to have to do something about that.... because I demand color!

 

Anyway. I want to play games, have some kind of mass storage.... and I guess maybe look into RAM upgrades for this thing.

 

I was really hoping I could find some big website with FAQ's and links for the ST line like what the Apple II has, but all I found on google were a bunch of small pages with lots of broken links and small tid-bit pages on huge computer museum websites like old-computers.com that don't really go into a lot of detail.

 

Oh... also.... the person who gave it to me pulled it out and powered it up just before I got there and said something about not being able to load anything from the floppy drive.

 

So yeah.... I am now an owner of an Atari 520STM and I'm almost totally cluless! Yay!

[Shredder11]

A nice warm welcome to the huge world of Atari ST afficionados! I've just bought another two 4MB STe machines to add to the one I already have. I've been using the ST since around 1989 and for stability and ease of use they are hard to beat.

 

To upgrade the RAM on an STFM is harder to do than on a STe, where you simply plug in some generic PC SIMMs. The FM models require soldering I think but I have never owned an FM so I can't say how difficult it actually is.

 

After 8yrs of wanting one, I finally have an IDE 2.5" hard drive inside my STe, along with TOS 2.06 operating system ROM chips to enable booting from the hard drive.

 

I don't know if you are a musician or not but the Atari ST is still the one to beat for MIDI sequencing. I have a powerful desktop PC with quality components but the Atari is still better. Ten years ago I added an additional Horizon 16ch MIDI expander which plugs into the modem port, giving me a total of 32 MIDI channels and with rock solid timing.

 

I've got a few other small upgrades and I plan to buy a PeST PS/2 mouse interface soon.

 

 

Enjoy your new STFM RK!

[+Zeptari]

After 8yrs of wanting one, I finally have an IDE 2.5" hard drive inside my STe, along with TOS 2.06 operating system ROM chips to enable booting from the hard drive.

 

 

How do you install a IDE drive inside of an STE? Will it work in a 1040ST?

 

Special adapter? How about a photo?

 

 

-rick

[icbrkr]

Places to find some good info:

 

www.atari-forum.com - good all around hardware/software and desktop conversations going on.

http://www.atari.st/ - Little Green Desktop. Lots of game information and such.

 

You can find an ASCI->SCSI cable fairly easily on Ebay (look for ICD's The Link) or you can get an older ICD FaST 'box' which has an adapter in it. Ppera is working on a CF adapter I believe as well. Until you get all that neatness, you can use something like Ghostlink to hook into a PC through a nullmodem cable to pull images across.

 

I'm still looking for a mono monitor myself for high-resolution or for someone selling the VGA cable that will support mono.

[Christos]

For the VGA cable try contacting Techie Alison (I believe she is a member here).

 

@Rockin Kat, I guess that if you keep an open mind you'll love the ST. It's a bit hard at start but after that... A good place to start is the atari st quick faq though a bit outdated (especially the links) is a good source.

 

http://www.atari.org/hosted/quickfaq/

[Shredder11]

After 8yrs of wanting one, I finally have an IDE 2.5" hard drive inside my STe, along with TOS 2.06 operating system ROM chips to enable booting from the hard drive.

 

 

How do you install a IDE drive inside of an STE? Will it work in a 1040ST?

 

Special adapter? How about a photo?

 

 

-rick

 

 

I didn't install mine as I bought it from someone on Ebay recently. The seller said the interface installed is an IDEal IDE interface and the drive is an IBM DBOA-2720 2.5 inch 720MB. Not sure if it would work in a normal ST as mine maybe a socketed type, but as other people here have said, you can use other interfaces like the ICD Link 1 or 2, SatanDisk and a few others.

 

As for TOS 2.06, I believe you can use a small software app called SELTOS to bypass your hardware ROM chips and auto boot into one of your choosing. You can download it here:

 

SELTOS website

 

Failing that you can always buy some ROM chips from Ebay:

 

TOS 2.06 UK ROM chips from Ebay

[Rockin' Kat]

I powred it up... It says every single floppy I have has 0bytes used. Somethings' not right.. I tried using a cleaning diskett(and yeah, I taped over the top side opening so as not to rip off the pad on the non-used side) to no avail.... not even the NOS game I picked up reports zero bytes.

[icbrkr]

I powred it up... It says every single floppy I have has 0bytes used. Somethings' not right.. I tried using a cleaning diskett(and yeah, I taped over the top side opening so as not to rip off the pad on the non-used side) to no avail.... not even the NOS game I picked up reports zero bytes.

 

Just curious, what happens when you try formatting one? The next question is the floppy drive built in, or is it external? If the 520 is old enough, it might be a single-sided model. Yep, that's 360K per 3.5" disk. I'm not sure what the reasoning there was.

[+remowilliams]

I powred it up... It says every single floppy I have has 0bytes used. Somethings' not right..

I recall a totally screwed up floppy mech I had that did the same thing.

[nathanallan]

The ST's are great, I have four of them and love messing around with them... except when it comes to external storage. What I have resorted to is using my trusty old win95 laptop and Ghostlink to get files to it over a crossover cable.

 

Another great thing to do is link them up via MIDI and play MIDI Maze! So you'll need another one, you can't have just one! Gret machines, the ST's.

 

Nathan

[atarian63]

I powred it up... It says every single floppy I have has 0bytes used. Somethings' not right.. I tried using a cleaning diskett(and yeah, I taped over the top side opening so as not to rip off the pad on the non-used side) to no avail.... not even the NOS game I picked up reports zero bytes.

Before replacing the drive, try reseating MMU and Glue chips. Those are the 1x1 square chips. We used to pull them out with a chip puller(be careful the sockets crack easily) flip each chip over, use a fingernail or other soft device and edge all the pins a bit to the outer edge. Then reinstall chips and recheck your floppies. If the machine is a 520 it most likely is a 360k (single sided) floppy drive.

Hopefully this gets it, wont help if the disks are 720k. This fix took care of many many ST's back in the day.

[Rockin' Kat]

Okay.... so I got the computer out again to show it to someone. At first it was doing the blank disk thing, but then I moved the floppy drive up ontop of the monitor because I didn't have anywhere else to put it..so it was pointed upward some... I put a disk in it and turned the comptuer on and it showed t he directory of the disk.. and then I was able to take several disks and put them in and see directories.

 

Then it had problems opening a program. It complained about corruption or something so I chose retry and it successfully loaded the program. It was some kind of music composing software. I tried to make it load one of what I guess were track files.. and it proceeded to quit out to the desktop. I opened the program again and tried to laod a file again and it crashed with a blank screen with two little bomb icons in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.

 

..Most of these disks are marked specifically as single sided. Can I get an external double sided floppy drive for the ST? I sure didn't find much on ebay.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Rockin' Kat

[Trooper]

Yeah, the SF-354 you have is the single sided dd offering from Atari, what you're looking for is the SF-314 which is a double sided DD. In my experience they're not that easy to come by, at least not here in europe.

[Rockin' Kat]

I'm guessing I can't upgrade my 314 by replacing the drive mechanism in it can I?

[kamakazi]

Don't know if this helps you out any, but the you might also try reseating the socketed ICs in the 520. When I got mine recently, the shipping company shook it so much that I literally had to take it apart and push in on all the socketed ICs (would explain the bomb screen). Mine's been working ever since.

 

I have the same setup you have, but I'm able to use a color TV

 

I have enjoyed my ST a lot! And there are other ways of downloading and transporting some programs to your ST. Granted, the single-sided drive is keeping me from using a lot of the great programs for it, so I'm in the same boat you are in on that note my friend.

 

And they are right about it's MIDI capabilities...the ST is still the champion in this book. Plus...I can play SimCity on it way cool!!!

 

Be careful with the mouse though...some of the older models were not something that time was easy on.

 

But don't let these little bits fool you or discourage you...once you get it going right and see all the programs for it, you will love it!! The ST can show you what is on a 720k formatted disk on a 360k drive...but that's it...you can't run anything that is 720k formatted in a 360k drive.

 

Go to these place to learn more about your new ST:

 

www.atarimuseum.com

www.atarisales.com

www.best-electronics-ca.com

 

Welcome to the world of ST!

[tjlazer]

I'm guessing I can't upgrade my 314 by replacing the drive mechanism in it can I?

 

Yes you can upgrade the drive to 720k easily. Just replace the mech. I used a Chinon FZ 357 and hacked the drive case for it to fit. Works great. I live in Tacoma btw and can help you out. I might have a 720k drive I could sell you, along with TOS 1.4 for your 520STm...

 

Check this thread for a pic of my modded SF354!

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=1376125

Edited September 12, 2008 by tjlazer

[Rockin' Kat]

I'm guessing I can't upgrade my 314 by replacing the drive mechanism in it can I?

 

Yes you can upgrade the drive to 720k easily. Just replace the mech. I used a Chinon FZ 357 and hacked the drive case for it to fit. Works great.

So it's just like when I bought a High Density mech for $5 to upgrade my Apple 3.5" drives to superdrive(apple's name for HD floppy drives) when external Apple super drives were going for upwards of $60 on ebay? YES! That is totally what I wanted to hear!

 

I live in Tacoma btw and can help you out. I might have a 720k drive I could sell you, along with TOS 1.4 for your 520STm...

I might take you up on that... I actually am going to Tacoma to make a trade for a color ST monitor... if I can ever get a time set with the other person.... hopefully this weekend... Saturday if I can help it actually. .... I don't suppose theres a possibility I could trade anything with you for stuff? I've got lots of stuff... I don't have a catalog of it ready, but I may put one together this weekend.

[cybertrophic]

A nice warm welcome to the huge world of Atari ST afficionados! I've just bought another two 4MB STe machines to add to the one I already have. I've been using the ST since around 1989 and for stability and ease of use they are hard to beat.

 

To upgrade the RAM on an STFM is harder to do than on a STe, where you simply plug in some generic PC SIMMs. The FM models require soldering I think but I have never owned an FM so I can't say how difficult it actually is.

 

After 8yrs of wanting one, I finally have an IDE 2.5" hard drive inside my STe, along with TOS 2.06 operating system ROM chips to enable booting from the hard drive.

 

I don't know if you are a musician or not but the Atari ST is still the one to beat for MIDI sequencing. I have a powerful desktop PC with quality components but the Atari is still better. Ten years ago I added an additional Horizon 16ch MIDI expander which plugs into the modem port, giving me a total of 32 MIDI channels and with rock solid timing.

 

I've got a few other small upgrades and I plan to buy a PeST PS/2 mouse interface soon.

 

 

Enjoy your new STFM RK!

 

As a new owner of a 1040 STE (after many years of wishing I'd had one as a teenager!), I'm interested in the fitting of an internal hard-drive if at all possible - how did you manage this - where are there instructions, etc?

 

Thanks!

[Shredder11]

Hi Cybertrophic,

 

someone in this thread mentioned the excellent Atari-Forum site which I feel is a good companion to this one. You will find plenty of ideas and help with upgrading the ST with new hardware, many also offer pre-built interfaces for a small price. My STe was bought from Ebay and already had the IDE interface fitted.

 

Go and register with this forum here