Back in the Atari ST World

[delvis]

Some of you might remember me over the years in the Atari World (Delvis).  Started with 8-bit in 1982 and added the ST in 1986. For many years used and played with both. In 2002 and 2003 wrote Articles for the My-Atari online magazine. Archives of it are still out there. In 2013-2016 focused on all the great toys from Europe for my US Mega 4 ST system.  I bought the extra case from Best Electronics and filled it with stuff. Added PS2 ports, Ethernet, IDE interface with 6GB SSD and DVD burner. Was waiting to add the unicorn USB. I moved and all my stuff went into storage for 5 years.  

So a few months ago I rescued it and back in the game. Trying to catch up on all the new items that are now common for the ST that were not really around in 2016. Did trade locally for some more ST hardware and buying add ons. (Pics are from 2016)

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I don't think that getting everything what is new (or new for Atari ST family) is really best thing or even really useful.

Using with modern/new keyboard, mouse - yes. Ethernet - so-so.  Here to add that mouse and keyboard adapters are really good if they don't need extra SW to work - so they go via IKBD, ACIA chips. Then all SW will work with them (some have internal IKBD access). NetUsBee is not such, for instance.

Storage is probably for what most of new stuff is made. HW floppy emulators are now very popular - like HxC, Gotek and some newer variants. They use mostly SD cards, some Pen drives.

And last years prices of Flash storage really went down. What did not change is speed of old Ataris. So, I must say here that using SSD in is not so good idea. Too good/fast for about max 2 MB/sec, what old Atari ST(E) can achieve. Additionally, it is not easily attachable to some modern computer. Better and cheaper is to use some Flash card - that's easy to use via USB reader with PC or Mac. There are diverse adapters for SD cards, which go on ACSI port. Then IDE adapters, they go inside, of course, and you can use them with CF cards too, or via IDE-SD with ...

I designed ACSI-CF adapter, what is very fast - 2MB/sec, but only with Sandisk cards.  And there are some new ACSI-SD adapters, can expect even more.  Prices of Flash storage are really low now. And they go faster and faster, what is real problem now - it can happen that new, like 32 GB or more card just works not with adapter (like happened with one I bought some months ago and UltraSatan). 

And the problem of max accessible size on storage. That's mostly TOS problem. Even Mint (with FAT32 support) could not access larger hard disks whole capacity (like 200 GB), and it was more than 10 years ago.

There are diverse solutions about it. Some are compatible with older Atari SW, some not really.

[delvis]

Great update and these are the things I need to learn. My IDE interface was made by Allan H and it is internal to my Mega case. I was able to run a 6GB SSD on it and my DVD burner. I did just order the newer all in one Monitor hook up with audio. I have the cable version in 2016 used in the photos. Also just got the led mouse board for my Atari mouse. I am on the waiting list for the ACSI2STM. 

 

The stuff I swapped for recently is a Megafile 30, another color monitor, external IB drive. Gave an old Windows PC tablet for this stuff listed on Facebook marketplace. Glad to be back in the world of Atari ST. I will need to research all the new stuff as you said to see what I need and what I don't. Still have the built in floppy of the Mega and a 354 external floppy and they work.

Edited October 4, 2021 by delvis