Did you ever own an ATARI STe COMPUTER? home Gaming 1990, MIDI music, graphics, games PC

[@arifeldman6365]

Miss my 1040 STe. Great all around computer.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi @arifeldman6365, yes, it was a fun machine! Thank you for your feedback! ~ Victor, CHAP

[@neil6958]

This whole era of microcomputers was a great era, so many fun and great things at the time. So much fun learning about so much stuff!! And the whole computer industry was interesting at the time.

[@CollapseReport]

The world of midi sequencers sampling and synthesizers opened with this fantastic computer .

[@NipkowDisk]

Still have my Atari Mega ST 2 computer from 1988 which my mother graciously purchased me for college. It's been about 17 years since I fired it up... it was a great machine back in the day.

[@anthonykiszka4976]

I personally bought my Mega4 and Megafile30, my first loan at 16.

[@blackterminal]

Turn it on at least every two years for the sake of the capacitors. I have a German Mega ST. :)

[@techtinkerin]

I used to sit up literally all night during holidays going through every cover disk trying anything it could do. I still have the ST and great memories of 'playing' with it. Awesome vid! 👍😎❤️

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

TechTinkering, still have it, wow! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@mattgrice7228]

I still have mine, and an STFM. And my Falcon. Fantastic machines

[@techtinkerin]

Yeah, last time I tried it about 5 years ago the disk drive wasn't working, perished bands. I wanted to use it as a midi sequencer. The Atari at is not dead yet!!! 🛫🌄🏞️🌌🛰️

[@EgoShredder]

@@techtinkerin Install a nice Floppy Emulator device along with an internal hard disk interface. I did this with mine using an IDE 44-pin type with a 2GB CompactFlash card. It ran so fast and a joy to use. I just wish this had been available when I was using Steinberg Cubase up until the early 2000s.

[@blackterminal]

It was so exciting getting the next Atari ST magazine disk and playing the new demos. It's all online now but it's not the same experience. Are we just showing our age?

[@retropuffer2986]

The STe I found in a thrift store nearly a decade ago was one of my best finds. I love it 🥰

[@hundgirridchannel]

I still use my Atari STe expanded to 4mb ram to make video contents for my channel. I can only love this video. Such an amazing machine. Thanks for sharing!

[@freibier]

The time from the mid 80s to the late 90s was so awesome to experience. There was constant innovation, always something new and exciting you wanted to get your hands on. From 8 bit home computers like the C64, to 16bit ones like the Amiga or Atari ST which gave stunning sound and graphics updates over the 8 bit computers, to 386/486 PC with all the various soundcards and graphics cards plus CD-ROM drives which allowed much larger and higher quality games, then the 3dfx Voodoo cards which were utterly mindblowing when you saw them in action for the first time, then everybody getting dialup internet, and so on. All HUGE changes, and they just kept coming. Compared to that, the last ten years were kind of boring. Around 2012, Windows 8 appeared and people had an Intel Core i5/i7 in their PC, together with a NVidia or ATI graphics card, and they played games like Skyrim or Assassin's Creed or Battlefield. In 2023, we have Windows 11, people have an Intel Core i5/i7 (or AMD CPU) in their PC, together with a NVidia or Ati graphics card, and they play the latest Assassin's Creed or Battlefield and some even still Skyrim (with mods). Apart from a higher screen resolution (which is not such a major improvement, 1080p still works fine for many people), things do not really feel all that different compared to ten years ago. In 1985, going forward to 1995 meant going from a C64 to a Pentium PC with a Voodoo 3dfx, or in game terms, from an 8bit side-scrolling shooting game to Quake.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi @freibier, fantastic observations and a very well written summary of observations! It sounds like you have really been in touch with many of the evolutionary tech changes you mention over the past 30 + years. Thanks very much for sharing your observations. Your perspective is greatly appreciated! ~ Victor, at CHAP

[@annaarthur724]

Got my first ST at Christmas back in '86 or '87. Since then i went from the ST to the STe (incl. Mega STe), the TT and Falcon. I still have them and rcently i got a Firebee, two Suskas, a MiST and a MiSTer

[@va-ch]

Today's computers seem to have evolved a lot, but I also feel that nothing has fundamentally changed.

[@steveharaslin3822]

I had 1040 STE back in 90s. I had great times with Atari. Great games like Xenon2, Another World, Gods, Chaos Engine, Epic, Robocop3, Stardust, Obsession, Speedbal 2, Sensible soccer, Ishar trilogy, F1GP from Microprose Lotus, Monkey Island and many many others will be always remembered. It was gold age of gaming. I still like to play ST games on Hatari emulator.

[@СНСАЛЕКСАНДАРВУЧИЋ]

I still use the LG FLATRON 915FT CRT monitor from 2002 years. After so many years, the monitor still works without problems

[@WDCallahan]

I never got to use the STe. I had (still have) the good old ST 520. I STILL love that machine.

[@MezzMcGillicuddy1]

Ah, the good ol’ days. It was all so new and exciting then.

[@TheFleetz]

Had a 1040ST back in the day. Ahead of its time. Binned it many years ago which I regret now.

[@blackterminal]

That was a mistake .

[@iio58]

Fascinating. I had an ST In ‘87. Loved it. So this was really interesting to watch from a complete beginner perspective. Ah the nostalgia :)

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi @iio58, glad you liked it.

[@hjrings9423]

Still have my mega ste with vme bus vga card, vortex 386, megafile 44 and 1GB SCSI HDD also a 1040 ste loved my ataris and they are working…

[@gbennett58]

I got one in 1986. It was the bee's knees, the cat's meow.

[@dirtnapphoto]

Ok, that boombox in the bedroom has really got my interest

[@paulsworkshop4179]

I thought that was Moira Rose narrating. Love this video!

[@d_vibe-swe]

"With the Atari STE computer you'll discover a world of colour, sound and excitement you never thought was possible" .. except if you've already had the Amiga ofcourse. 😅

[@Sl1pstreams]

But the Amiga was limited. Fine for gaming, but when you had to get real work done, you needed an ST, Mac or PC.

[@d_vibe-swe]

@@Sl1pstreams What? What was it the ST, Mac and PC could do that Amiga couldn't?

[@5argetech56]

Wonderful!! For me it was all about the MIDI!

[@ScottPlude]

I just can't get enough of the content on this channel. Thanks!

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Scott, thank you for the feedback, it is appreciated. We always appreciate our viewers, newcomers and long time viewers. Hope you will continue to explore and support our channel. Many more good tech films to come. ~ Victor, at CHAP

[@BlaBla-pf8mf]

Why is this middle aged lady talking in a teenagers boy bedroom? It's amazing that she explains stuff we now take for granted that everyone knows.

[@cube206]

Thank You for this video :)

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi whitecube twozerosix, you are most welcome!

[@MarkONEmcr]

That where the time… I remember what a hit the Atari ST was in Germany, mainly where I lived. There were multiple user groups, companies etc. Ultimately, atari was supported for a long time after Atari had already given up.

[@AmstradExin]

I have a Mega STE with Vortex 386 card. It's an awesome machine!

[@OllyO-gt8pg]

yes i loved mine in the early 90's :) also had an atari 400 and 800xl before it.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi @OllyO-gt8pg, sounds like some fun equipment!

[@MistaMaddog247]

Well that sure brought back memories! Around that time, when I was in high school, I saw an STe at a computer dealer and it was playing The Killing Game Show. The graphics, music & gameplay blew away anything I was used to...including arcade games. Then I also saw a Mega STe that had a monochrome monitor showing a Mac-like desktop. On that screen was more serious programs like a word processor & terminal emulator, stuff I that would help me for college courses. Realizing it was the same machine that ran both colorful games and useful applications, I begged my mom to get me one for a graduation present. And after a couple years of saving and payments I got an Atari STe which was my first "true" personal computer.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi MistaMaddog247, glad this brought back some good memories, and thanks for sharing a bit of your history with the machine. ~ Charles, CHAP

[@ATW2k]

Great video thanks 👍 I loved my old STE computer back then

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Atarian Web 2000, cool. Glad you found our channel too. ~ VK

[@punakaify]

I used a mega ste with 4 Mb of RAM and hard drive to record via MIDI with the Cubase program.

[@gordonmacqueen8694]

1:05 Love this "reason" for computing most! The Pointer Sisters, singing "Automatic". Quite apropos.

[@Lachlant1984]

Was this video filmed in/meant for use Australia? That power board is clearly an Australian style. Cool.

[@ArtieOddity]

I still want one ❤

[@EgoShredder]

The photo image viewing software Photochrome 4 was incredible on the 1040STe. It used the full 4016 palette in a way that simulated around 16000 colours at 15 bit I think. The results were very close to what a typical desktop PC could do in the late 90s early 2000s.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi EgoShredder, fascinating! Ahead of its time in that area.

[@johnsmith-xw4ez]

The STe itself can display 16 of 4096 colors at a time. 15 Bit = 32,768 colors.

[@EgoShredder]

@@johnsmith-xw4ez That is correct yes. Photocrome basically fools the eyes into thinking it can see thousands more. Technically though its as you say, although it uses a special hold mode; is it Genlock? I forget what the name is, been a long time. To get the right effect a monitor or TV is required for the interlace etc.

[@Species1571]

As I recall, it could only display a certain number of colours on each line, but it would switch the palette fast enough that it could display a different set of colours on each line, so it could display the whole palette across the overall image. For the palette switching to be done fast enough, there wasn't much processor power left for anything else, so it was really limited to slideshows. It couldn't be used for full palette games for example.

[@litjellyfish]

Basically it switches to 16 new colors each line. So with some restrictions you can see around 3k different colors theoretically (from the 4096 palette) then it interlace every second frame to simulate higher palette depth. Resulting in appearance of more shades but with a bit of flickering sensation

[@christophergodawski5663]

Yes, a 1040STe from '92. Maxed out the RAM to 4Mb. Used mostly for writing assignments, MIDI and some programming. I didn't get a compatible printer for a while, so wrote a GFA basic program to spool text to be printed to my C64 over MIDI (also coded the C64 end to receive and buffer the text before sending it to the printer). Another fun project was to create a TSR program that would replace the Atari "click" with sounds sampled from our old mechanical typewriter using the STe sound DMA chip for playback using different sounds depending on which key you pressed.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Sound like fun! What is "GFA basic program"?

[@christophergodawski5663]

@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject GFA Basic was a popular programming language, developed in Germany, I think. You could build GUIs and event driven programs with it

[@christophergodawski5663]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFA_BASIC

[@johneygd]

Whoooaaah atari was really ahead of it’s time,or so it seems,computers just seemed to be science fiction devices back then.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

IIRC Atari's GUI was based on GEM by Digital Research, which was made several years before Microsoft made a Windows that was remotely usable.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Good catch! GEM was way ahead of its time.

[@robmclaughjr]

OMG, in 1989 this schoolmarm was about as exciting as this sounds

[@afnDavid]

Atari were fun _toy_ computers. The 2600 console, then the 400, then the 130xe, then the ST4, were all fun to use but I was happy to leave behind the entertainment-computer mindset when PC clones made the PC/MS-DOS platform affordable. I still have my 130xe, and several peripherals (2x Indus floppy drives, 850 interface adapter, 300 baud acoustic coupler modem), and several 100 floppy disks. The st4, monitor, and printer were sold to help finance my NRI computer correspondence course.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Interesting. Sounds like you have experience with several different models! The NRI computer correspondence courses were quite good back in the day too.

[@dlfrsilver]

Most st computers were used by youngsters to play.

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

@@dlfrsilver LOL, that MUST mean, then, that today's WIN PC's are even more toy-like!

[@dlfrsilver]

@@ShallRemainUnknown today pcs can't be toys, as those are not sold as such.....

[@AtariCrypt]

Superb!!!!! 👍🏻

[@bruce_just_]

8:00 Australian power outlet spotted. Little bit surprised that the film was partly (or fully?) made in Australia. 🤔

[@mrsnaglepops1876]

the computer that could have given amiga 500 a run for it money but never did. i still love the atari ste amazing computer it was

[@dlfrsilver]

It could not. Amiga had pcm sound and able to display 32 or 64 colors. The ste was 16 colors only.

[@colinwatt9387]

I gave mine to RMC about a year ago. I wish I could recover the data from my busted drive, particularly the hardware scrolling game engine I was working on, it's conceit was that the sprites would collide to the actual shape of the blocks instead of grid-locking to 16 pixel increments.

[@TzOk]

The funny thing is - when they are talking about RAM and ROM memory, and showing the inside of the ST, the computer shown there is an earlier STf model, and not the promoted STe. Also the language disk shown is not the STe but MEGA ST language disk. STe had OMIKRON BASIC on the language disk, not the ST BASIC like earlier models. Desktop captures, on the other hand, are from the STe (or BLITTER-equipped Mega ST).

[@CMDRScotty]

childhood memories in 1990 I was using a custom PC built by my parents it had a 486X chip with 25MZ they had brought last year.

[@iangodfrey4518]

Looks like an Atari Transputer Workstation on the floor at 0:39 .. and I assume the keyboard and monitor on the desk to the right of it. What a rare machine these days. I was an Amiga user back in the day, and didn't think much of Atari back then, but ... in the fullness of time, I can now say I miss them all (equally so) - Commodore, Atari even the lesser known Acorn. The world is a lesser place without them, now with the dominance of Windows, and to an extent Apple. It would have been a better place had Commodore, and Atari stayed in business and provided much needed competition. And of course, had Acorn (ARM) stayed in the computer business.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Ian, yes, it seems the "transputer" is a very rare bird these days. One can find info on it by searching, but it does not pop up on general searches for early microcomputers. And yes, it might have been interesting if Commodore and Atari had stayed around a little longer. They made their mark on history, but faded away too quickly. ~ Thank you for your comments! ~ Charles

[@iangodfrey4518]

@@madigorfkgoogle9349 There was a limit to the amount of Transputer chips you could connect together in one system - in theory about 500 would be the absolute maximum due to communication bottlenecks. You could still build a pretty formidable system for the day at that rate though, I think they were about 10 or 20 mips each. The downsides I heard were lack of memory protection, but with a stack based architecture this was not apparently much of a problem. I'm not sure why anyone didn't come up with the idea of digital metering back then for things like water, gas and electricity - with a single board transputer running Helios. Seems to me to be an ideal solution. The real issue with the Transputer was cost. There was nothing like the scale in transputer production like there was in conventional CPUs at the time. Conventional CPUs could be had cheaper than a transputer, and when the CPUs were available with Transputer performance, then it was basically game over for that technology. All this is interesting because there are attempts to revive the Transputer architecture, with a revised and modernised instruction set, as it is considered absolutely Ideal for IOT hardware. The price point for transputers to be adopted in the 80's was about $25. If that price could have been achieved, then they would have taken off and would have been used in everything - hard drive controllers, network controllers, printers, televisions - anything and everything you can think of. We could have possibly had the Internet of Things happen 30 years earlier than it did happen. Imagine that. I disagree that we would be worse off if Atari and Commodore stayed around. Commodore engineers were certainly putting every effort they could in making sure the Amiga used industry standards. There were even plans to use PCI in the next gen systems. I would say that we would be at least not worse off, and quite possibly a lot further along. Certainly at least, more choice for those that want it.

[@iangodfrey4518]

@@madigorfkgoogle9349 I'm not sure what proprietary standards you are referring to? The Amiga had pretty much standard ports and software on it for the time: RS232, SCSI, Centronics. Protocols were standard x modem, y modem, z modem. ARCNET and Ethernet were available, TCP/IP as well. Even big box Amigas had 16 bit ISA slots for anyone that wanted to use them. In fact when they built the Amiga4000, Bill Sydnes (Ex IBM, Mr PC Junior) insisted that the Hard Drive be IDE, which caused controversy with the engineers because it was slower than SCSI at the time. PCI support for the next generation Amigas based on the PA-RISC Hombre chipset that were being worked on was a Commodore thing, not Escom. There's videos out there with Dave Haynie talking about it, he was one of the designers of the architecture.

[@BruceStephan]

I always like telling Commodore AMIGA users just because it says Commodore doesn't mean the AMIGA is really an ATARI machine in heart . The AMIGA was created by the original 8 bit ATARI computers . And it has ATARI proprietary patents .

[@miked4377]

very cool!

[@Maraka77i]

Most animations on that video were created using the Atari ST, CAD-3D and CyberSculpt. I think this vhs-tape was part of a free Atari Advantage Pack software bundle to Australian STe buyers. Video also contains some footage from their older video, Musicians and the Atari ST, which also featured an intruction animation written using Atari ST computer and had interviews from people who used ST professionally in the USA for music and film production.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi marakatti, that is fascinating and helpful info! Thank you very much for sharing it. ~ VK

[@JonBailey]

Holy cow, Cybersculpt! 🤯🤯🤯 I loved the technically accurate animation of the floppy disc format process!

[@the_omg3242]

CAD 3d was the program that got me interested in 3D modeling and animation. Ended up springing for an Amiga 2000 to get access to all the great 3D programs on that and eventually sold my 1040 ST to one of my coworkers who was into music and liked all the MIDI oriented software on the ST.

[@SaccoBelmonte]

"Realistic 8bit stereo" xD

[@DROHARM]

I want one! Still stuck with 512kb STfm ;(

[@metrotek5]

My first was a C64 ... But, in 1990 .... Amiga 500 baby

[@InfiniteLoop]

Also, Why did no one tell me about the Busy Bee?, she's awesome, and the best wait icon ever

[@theden0minat0r]

Love this!

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi theden0minat0r, glad you enjoyed this! ~ VK, CHAP

[@crystalstevens4638]

Good grief! So many steps to do something that now seems so simple. Great video though! Thanks

[@briansrcadventures1316]

I was dead jealous when a cousin of mine got a Atari 1040 STE, and I was still stuck on an Atari 520 STFM

[@blackterminal]

No need to be. So many games refused to run on the STE.

[@Trusteft]

Thank you for sharing.

[@ninjaalex-yf5io]

So realistic @11:11 ! I almost believe it!

[@anotheruser2527]

Besides networking/internet there wasn't much you can do now that you couldn't then. Obviously it's all faster with more colours now, but I still find using Devpac/PureC etc just as intuitive as Visual Studio and a welcome change from the bloat of modern tools

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Thank you for your feedback. Bloat is a good way to describe so many of our current PC software packages. Thanks!

[@wsst1000]

I remember being at the local ST user group and guys who also used PC's talking about this thing of running more than one program at a time because the way PCs had to handle memory made it possible and then later some guys were talking about Mosaic, some kind of user board like thing. I don't think they called it the web. Anyhow it was the web and it and multi-tasking was pretty much the end of the ST and STE for me though I still have mine packed away.

[@shamrock1961]

My first computer was the 520STe

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Shamrock1961, what did you think of the 520STe?? Was it a good machine?

[@JornLavoll]

that guy REALLY wants me to take the advantage.

[@JonBailey]

Thanks!

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Johnathan! Thank you very much for the donation! Every bit helps support our channel so we can find and present more interesting historical content! Keep well. ~ CHAP

[@Vapor3D]

Give me Like if you still have your Atari ST FM from the 80's in 2024!

[@ElectroCurmudgeon]

4 MB wow. man its crazy to hear that

[@Species1571]

Apart from the brief mentions of analog ports, stereo audio ports, easier memory upgrade and the 4096 colours, none of this was specific to the STE.

[@Ohlukei]

The STE had hardware scrolling!

[@paulmorley1225]

The hostess who's name I didn't catch, has a very unique accent and people just don't sound like that anymore. I'm guessing the accent is from somewhere along the eastern US several decades ago but I can't quite narrow it down, and if anyone has any clues please let me know. I get caught up on the weirdest things sometimes. Thanks for another awesome video CHAP!

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Paul, thank you very much for your feedback! - The lady speaker is Marilyn Gorman and she is originally Australian but has lived in the USA for years, according to one of our viewers. I believe she also runs Gorman Consulting Group. ~ Charles, CHAP

[@Species1571]

I could tell she was Australian. She was trying to speak in a more clipped accent, but certain words gave it away.

[@triton4541]

Bonjour et merci Computer History Archives Project, Dommage car je ne comprends pas l'Anglais et j'habite en France. J'ai toujours mon Atari 520 STE étendu à 1 Mo de ram avec 2 barrettes mémoires SIMM de 256 ko : Mais c'était trop tard car c'était en 1996. Cordialement.

[@roucoupse]

Elle dit dans la vidéo qu'elle te trouve très beau et demande si tu voudrais bien sortir avec elle.

[@triton4541]

@@roucoupse : OK mais il faut s'acheter une paire de lunettes.

[@duzkiss]

I really miss my ST. It was the best fun I had.

[@slaapliedje]

I suggest getting a MiST or MiSTer, they're awesome for going down that memory lane...

[@turbolenza35]

Jean Michel Jarre was using Atari ST & Falcon.

[@roadmonitoroz]

I remember the atari 520ST. I've owned 1 of them and about 15 Amiga's, 3 PC's, atari 2600, intelivision, Commodore 16,vic20, 2 commodore 64's , 1 x commodore 128, 2 x playstation 2's

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi roadmonitoroz Brisbane, wow, that's a nice collection... do you have many of these still today?

[@CharlesHepburn2]

"a mind-blowing pallet of 4,096 colors" wow... just amazing.... I've never even heard of that many colors being possible in 1990. ...Neo Geo clears its throat with 65,536 colors.

[@chenguefer156]

Computer, tell me who is the most beautiful man in the world: "you are".

[@matneu27]

Back in time when people use the reset to restart and the os was hardwired on roms. Just allow the bee to disappear 😉 Anyway this movie is the grandmother of all PC tutorials..

[@slaapliedje]

I was thinking earlier today, how nuts would it be if you could go into a Microcenter or Best Buy and look among the choice of Commodores and Ataris next to the Apples and Thinkpads. The computing landscape would be so much better for it, in my opinion. The direction the ST and Amiga line were going could have been amazing.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Great observation, I have to agree with your sentiment. : )

[@winstonsmith478]

I owned and loved a 1040STf which I bought because it cost less with monitor than an Amiga 1000 without. I would have preferred the Amiga, but I've always been frugal. GFA BASIC, not included with the machine, of course, was fantastic. I also programmed in assembly language.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Winston, thank you for the great comment. Seems like there are lots of Atari former-users out there. The stories and experiences are fascinating! Thanks for sharing. ~ Charles, CHAP

[@nickmitchell5075]

Yet the Amiga, with it's architecture from 1985 was still superior over the STE. The Falcon was far superior to the equivalent Amiga, but Atari's failure to capitalise with the STE cost them massive, hence the Falcon's failure.

[@Sl1pstreams]

No it wasn’t. The comparable Amiga 500 wasn’t expandable without expensive add-ons, lacked native hard drive support, lacked professional software, and had an interlaced screen that flickered - making it unusable for work.

[@robfriedrich2822]

I had Atari Mega ST, later expanded with TT RAM

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

PLEASE JOIN US in Preserving Computer History with a small contribution to our channel. www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LCNS584PPN28E Your contribution greatly helps us continue to bring you educational, historical, vintage computing topics. Thank you! ~ Computer History Archives Project

[@AzraelSWFC2011]

Still got one. :)

[@Raptor50aus]

Amazing 4MB ram in 1989 !

[@stephenkennedy6358]

It's funny how this promo pretends the Amiga didn't exist. Uses the term "The only computer".

[@EvilCoopra]

Hey, that's exactly what i wanted to write, before i saw your comment 😂

[@Sl1pstreams]

The Amiga was more a game console than a real computer, due to its unexpandable RAM and lack of native support for a hard drive.

[@stephenkennedy6358]

Your higher than a kite. You want credit for the fact that the ST had MIDI ports built in. It cost me all of twenty dollars back in the day to equip my 2000 with MIDI ports. The Amiga sold far more than the ST is still supported far more than the ST and was used in broadcast studios among other places for video far more than the ST was used for MIDI. There is a reason why Atari wanted the Amigas chipset. The big box Amiga's also had far better expansion abilities in the form of actual expansion slots. The ST needed MIDI because its onboard Audio chip was trash compared to the Amiga. As far as a built-in hard drive port on the ST. The friends that I had back in the day that had ST's none of them had hard drives. Adding a hard drive to an amiga was just as easy. It was connected right to the 500's expansion slot on the side of the machine and internally on the big box Amiga's. The Amiga's memory was very much expandable. Mine was expanded from 1MB to 5MB.I'm pretty sure even the 500 could be expanded to 8MB. It could be expanded even more with an accelerated card in the 2000 and above.@@Sl1pstreams

[@chriscowey7464]

Even though I was an Amiga man, I could appreciate the ST, my main issue with the ST was the os just look dated, even on their latest machines. Never understood that design decision. Especially when compared to the workbench on the Amiga (Especially kickstart 2.0 onwards). Now I am not saying it affected sales etc, however between the two for productivity uses other than gaming, I much preferred using the Amiga Workbench.

[@Sl1pstreams]

The ST desktop was clean and uncluttered.

[@blackterminal]

You had to put disks in to get your workbench. A ST could get to its "dated" desktop without a disk needed.

[@Sl1pstreams]

@@blackterminal Plus the ST desktop - especially from TOS 1.4 onwards - was more usable than the Amiga’s ugly orange and blue UI with its CLI. Most Amiga users just used the workbench to launch games.

[@dr.charlesedwardflorendobr3952]

I find it kind of funny that the speaker says "Sit back, relax..." but she looks really stressed out while saying it.

[@chenguefer156]

The great Lee Ritenoir at 10:23!

[@bbellefson]

Addresses up to a whopping 4 MB of RAM? Who'll ever need THAT much?

[@nickpalance3622]

Is that an XF551 5.25” floppy drive for the XL/XE? That had an SIO connection and couldn’t plug into the ST floppy port. I think MAYBE there was a 5.25 drive in the same case but was that just for the Atari PC clones or was there an ST 5.25 drive? Or was it vapor wear? That is to say, I’ve seen and touched an XF351 prototype case (no electronics in it) for a drive that never came to market but which parts found their way to collectors who show such at computer shows. I even saw the fabled 815 dual-double density disk drive!

[@Shifter-1040ST]

I think it's a PCF554. I read that it could be connected to both the Atari PC and ST.

[@InfiniteLoop]

was that guy at the beginning the dude who had to install microwave ovens, and deliver custom kitchens? when he wasn't moving refrigerators, or color TV's?

[@nickpalance3622]

He should’ve learned to play the guitar. He should’ve learned to play them drums. Considering the standard MIDI ports, he really should’ve learned to play a synthesizer. Sorry, mark knopfler!

[@metrotek5]

That ghetto blaster, though XD

[@triton4541]

Hello and thank you Computer History Archives Project, Too bad because I don't understand English and I live in France. I still have my Atari 520 STE extended to 1 MB of ram with 2 SIMM memory strips of 256 KB: But it was too late because it was 1996. (Automatic translation). Kind regards.

[@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject]

Hi Triton45, thank you for your comments and glad you visit our channel!

[@triton4541]

@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject : Merci beaucoup pour votre 😘coeur. 💖Thank you very much for 😘your heart. 💖

[@jamesburke2759]

NOW YOURE A MAAAANN A MAN MAN MAN! ATARI!

[@muttBunch]

I have an 800xl and a 130ex, still trying to find an ST at least :/

[@CM_Burns]

Make Atari Great Again.

[@inachu]

THat pc had a nice turn style game and I always lost against my room mate lol I sucked lol

[@lucian2701]

Aside from forgetting to rename TRASH to AMIGA (which we all did for lols) I think Automan's mum did a great job introducing the STe to the world. "But remember; once something is put in the trash, it's gone forever"

[@AHumanMale]

Weird how her accent seems to change back and forth between something resembling American and British. At about 8:45 she pronounces the word “port” two different ways in the same sentence. She certainly doesn’t sound Australian. Great video though. I never owned an ST. I went from Atari 8-bits to a PC.

[@TrenchcoatSteve]

That's Marilyn Gorman and she is originally Australian but has lived in the USA for years. I think she is trying too hard to do an American accent here.

[@EgoShredder]

@@TrenchcoatSteve I wonder if she is still alive?

[@TrenchcoatSteve]

@@EgoShredder She is not as old as you think in this video. She now runs the Lean Startup Co.

[@AHumanMale]

@@TrenchcoatSteve That would explain it. Thanks for clarifying it.

[@nickpalance3622]

“Dahhh-ta”. Okay but where are those electric outlets from? Not North American. Not UK (based on seeing many Sinclair ZX and Amstrad and BBC/acorn videos). 🤔 hmmmm

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

Why is that maths teacher in a child's bedroom?

[@MrDuncl]

3:40 Is that an STE ? Mine used 30 pin SIMMs for the memory which was the main advantage over the ST making it easy to expand the memory (although I did spend over £50 to buy two 1 MByte SIMMs). I never knew Microsoft produced Atari ST software. I think my ST came bundled with First Word so I became very familiar with that, even writing instructions for an electronic kit using it.

[@mariosergiogroetares9343]

Grato!

[@sideburn]

Looks like this was done on an Amiga video toaster 😜 PS: I just payed too much for a STacy 2