Atari STe or Falcon for a newbie?

[+OLD CS1]

Way back when, my grandfather had an Atari 520ST for which he had CADD and desktop publishing software. This was my first GUI-based OS experience outside of GEOS on the Commodore 64. Later in life I would gravitate to the Amiga.

 

I have wanted to get back to the ST at some point. I could just continue to build up my Amiga systems but I have this nagging feeling to delve into Atari, again. I understand the Falcons are far more advanced Atari hardware, but I see them sell for well above $800 (see one right now for $1,200.) Meanwhile I can get an ST^E model for far less, which would be closer to the original ST systems.

 

Is there any compelling reason for someone like me to grab a Falcon versus a less expensive yet capable ST^E?

 

For that matter, is there any compelling reason to not get just a regular old ST?

[RodLightning]

My trusty old 520STFM with 1megabyte ram upgrade has served me well for many years. A 1040STe or 520STe would be a solid choice to experience the largest portion of the ST library. If I were starting from scratch, I would probably choose a 1040STe because of the enhanced hardware. You get simm slots for memory, a blitter chip for faster graphical display and a couple of 'enhanced' joystick ports. Not that I am discouraging the Falcon mind you, but as you say, they are rare and expensive to acquire these days.

 

I'm not sure about compatibility running ST software on a Falcon. It's ST compatible of course, but I don't know the specifics on what it will or won't do with the common ST library. Perhaps a Falcon user can offer up some facts in that area?

[+OLD CS1]

Thanks. It also seems to me, at that difficulty level of finding a Falcon, they are probably best for the very hard-core or specialized Atari users.

 

Though I suppose so much of the functionality can be achieved through emulation, I would hate to take a Falcon from the hands of someone who could or would actually produce something with the machine while I have it for consumption and tinkering.

[RodLightning]

I wouldn't let anything like that stop me from buying a Falcon if I found a deal! On my budget lately, it would have to be a great deal....and not likely to happen. If the Tramiel era Atari had survived a little longer, we might have large numbers of Falcons in circulation to this day...too bad that's not how it worked out.

 

On the emulation front, there's Hatari. Decent emulation with the UAE core code that is also used I believe, in Amiga emulation. It runs the various TOS rom versions pretty well, but last time I used it, Atari TT and Falcon support had not been perfected. Another emulator called ARAnyM does Falcon emulation somewhat better.

 

Last time I played with either of the above was months ago, so the information could be out of date by now. I think it's still true that nothing beats owning real hardware for the full Falcon experience.

 

A standard 520 or 1040STe will be plenty of fun though. Look for a Mega STe system if you want to really go crazy with internal SCSI hdd options and external keyboard.

[RobertB]

FWIW, we had a former Atari user give us his broken, towerized Falcon. It was in sad shape with loose wires, a frozen hard drive, and other problems (we guess he was a hardware hacker but didn't do a good job in hacking a working machine).

One of the machine's saving graces is that it has a CT60 accelerator board in it. Right now my hardware friend is valiantly trying to fix the computer. It's been put in a proper tower (no board hanging out of it, like the former tower). He's gotten the hardware portion up to 40% working and the software up to 10%.

 

Never give up... never surrender,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group

http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

[high voltage]

Should be moved to ST forum.

[+OLD CS1]

Should be moved to ST forum.

 

Would have posted it there, but I started at "Classic Computers" as this is where I hang, not thinking about this being AtariAge and that it might have a place. Duh.