What do I do with my Atari ST's?

In response to a comment in my last video asking me "what do you do with your Atari ST's? And don't tell me you just play Ultima V"
What do I do with them?
1 - Play old games
2 - Word Processing (YT scripting / outlines)
3 - Teach my kids the awesomeness of 1980's / 1990's gaming
4 - Tinker with software...what can these computers actually do
5 - Tinker with hardware and fix broken ones
6 - Try to help in the Atari community
#atarist
#atari
#retrogaming
#retrocomputing
#vintagecomputing

[@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061]

I love using my Falcon more as time goes by; My primary reason I enjoy it is its truely a personal computer, it's entirely in my control and there is not massive corporation telling me what I can and can't do. In the early years of computers, Atari and Commodore understood their world position. They where tools only as good as the uses to which the users put them. I was never obstructed by software, and even the copy protections had a light hand. The reason retro computing is popular (IMO) amoung people who never even owned the systems is the refreshing experience of being in charge and responsible for what your machine could do. No two peoples Atari setup was ever quite identical, everyone favoured different software and use cases. Now its just a boring melange of standards.

[@jessestrobel2]

Cubase 2.0 is still the best MIDI sequencer. Using it for the drum programming in a death metal band

[@powerofvintage9442]

I wish I'd known how capable it was with music back in the day.

[@rog2224]

@@powerofvintage9442 Queen used a Falcon for midi stuff on The Miracle album

[@EgoShredder]

@@powerofvintage9442 The IPS feature is brilliant and comes up with some amazing chord progressions, by feeding it a simple bass line and choosing the key etc.

[@francoisbasquin6974]

Totally agree. I use Cubase since 1990 (and Pro 24 before). It's one of the best sequencer out there. Sure not all the bells and whistles that modern sequencers have, but I don't need and surely don't miss them. One of the best advantage of Atari is stability: I rarely had issues, and the only piece I had to repair within the last 30 years is the mouse cord! My hard drive is a SCSI external drive from a Silicon Graphics workstation: the company wanted to through it away, I said "give it to me, it may work on my Atari". They laughed at me, but actually it works like a charm for the last 20 years! What I like with old computers is you can have it for almost nothing; I've had my Atari, tons of software, SCSI CD-ROM and hard drive for free. I think the only stuff I had to purchase (used, obviously) was the SM124 monitor. Nowadays, retro computing has a hype, prices tend to rise.

[@jessestrobel2]

@@francoisbasquin6974 True about the rising prices. What's neat though is while hype is inflating, it takes a good deal of passion to get things working well, so its not an oversaturated scene. I'm 21 and got into 'retro computing' about 3 years ago; it's a hobby that instills some nuanced perspectives on a great many things, like a gauge of positive / negative minimalism, or the sanctity of process - phrases that sound like bullshit but definitely aren't for art and maybe more

[@ridiculous_gaming]

My wife does not understand why I love my retro computers and consoles. When I boot one up, it brings me a smile and returns those past feelings of excitement and fun. Those days of retro computers was a new expanding technological frontier that I was fortunate to experience. My ST and Amiga days were filled with buying hundreds of Kao 3.5" floppy disks.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I tell her I picked up the Mac SE and Apple IIe for her. She smiles when we boot up "The Oregon Trail"...especially when we die from dysentery or a snake bite

[@ridiculous_gaming]

@@powerofvintage9442 Telling my wife that I purchased vintage computers for her would not end well. You're a fortunate man.

[@Storm_.]

My Dad bought the ST for us when I was only about 6-7 years old, he used it a lot for his business. Inside his office he had a couple of Ataris for work. Funnily enough, I have all the nostalgia for the Ataris - where as he has absolutely none at all! He doesn't understand my nostalgia at all. Same with my uncle, he used Atari ST's at the same time as my Dad, he played lots of games, but he has absolutely no fondness for them even though he still plays modern games today on modern computers. Weird isn't it how nostalgia works? My Dad remembers buying a 512kb RAM upgrade cost him £100 back in the day.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I agree totally. Nostalgia is a funny thing.

[@andykeys74]

I use my STE for MIDI stuff, gaming and distraction-free word processing.

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

I guess, we all own retro machines for similar reasons. I do have an 1040 STE and an 1040STF , the first for nostalgia reasons (my best friend had one and we spend a lot of time playing, creating, discovering) and the STF to let some steam off by playing kick off and some other games I grew up with. Since my collection is quite diverse I do host some tours to kids and younger people who missed that period of computing. I enjoy meshing with Jay Miner's machines (Atari 8bit and Amiga 500) . My interests shifts as years pass by, I used to love repairing and upgrading 8bit Ataris, then I got involved with Αmstrad CPCs, ZX spectrums, MSX but now I am really into designing "retro" cases, building them with traditional techniques (no 2d/3d printing) and housing extra motherboards that I repair. I also enjoy browsing their huge software libraries especially for demos and apps. I do enjoy drawing so I extensively check their drawing programs.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I love this!! I would love to see the "retro" cases.

[@Pai3000]

Nice video. It's always cool to listen to people commenting on why we love these computers and also it's some kind of a guilty pleasure. too.. 🤭 I love tinkering with it. Just finished installing and wiring a twiSTer, replacing the power supply, etc... The amount of pleasure you get when you put the cover back on and start the computer and everything works nicely in inmense. Also, last year I discovered assembly languaje and I love it to death. It finally allowed me begin to understand how the computer really works.

[@Supercruiser5000]

Nice work. Think you hit the nail on the head there with most of those points. There’s also that ahhh moment when you walk into your room of retro and go. Wow I’ve got some cool shit 👍

[@POVwithRC]

Well you've certainly justified your collection. It seems like the ST is doing what it has always done. Productivity, family togetherness, and entertainment. Good to see 😊

[@timcross3461]

I understand the barrier to entry part of having the vintage computers set up to be used. Atari STs are very foreign to me but I love to tinker and learn about them. I have several 520s, 1040s, and now 2 Mega STs (one isnt working). I built an internal ACSI2STM for the Mega and would love to use it more to play Ultima III and IV but need to fine a way to keep them setup. Luckily I also build RGB2HDMIs plus I have a modern monitor that supports 15khz.

[@powerofvintage9442]

That step to keep them set up helps with the casual boot up. If you can find or arrange the space it's been a game changer (pun intended) for me.

[@Retroguyuk75]

Your son was brilliant at playing the game tunes :) awesome. I thought recently about buying a dot matrix printer for my STE. May do later in the year.

[@powerofvintage9442]

Honestly, I didn't expect the SOUND of the dot matrix printer to be so nostalgic, but man it was. My wife comes in when I'm printing just to hear it print.

[@Retroguyuk75]

@@powerofvintage9442 I remember my mother having a daisywheel electronic type writer when I was a kid and she would hook that up to a computer. Sheesh that made even more of a racket but I used to love hearing it go off in the office above the living room hee hee :)

[@jfloydsea]

I started playing Ultima IV on my Atari 800 first, but never finished until I played on my 1040.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I spent so many hours playing it on my 520ST. Finished it again about a year ago, transferred my character to Ultima V and am nearly finished with that one now too. Plan is to transfer that same character to Ultima VI.

[@AndrewErwin73]

I remember figuring out that I could get a hard drive for my Commodore 64... it was 10 MB and literally held everything I had (for awhile)

[@powerofvintage9442]

I honestly thought as a kid that hard drives were an IBM / IBM clone invention.

[@ecdhe]

Thank you *so* much for this video. It did scratch an itch. If you want to play games with your boys, I would highly recommend The Gauntlet 2. This game is a blast to play with many players - especially when you deal with "it". Back in the day I did use a word processor a lot. Not First Word but a German one (cannot remember the name) which had beautiful custom fonts. It took 6 passes on the dot matrix printer to print. It was making a heck of a noise, it was consuming a lot of ink but the results were fantastic for the time! I don't own an Atari anymore - I am only using one through emulation. Mainly to understand how video games were made back then, like the tricks used by various developers to achieve smooth scrolling and other effects.

[@DirkDierickx]

your son should put up videos of him playing game music on his piano!

[@noobahoi]

I had many Atari computers in the past. A 1040STF and in the end around 1995 an Atari Falcon 030. I had a lot of fun and party with my friends. And I had a special school friend with whom I would play. I wouldn't buy another old computer because I won't get the exact feelings back. I tried it. That doesn't work this way. :( So I play with emulators and a MiST FPGA, the old games and computers. It does take less space than 'real hardware'. And, at least FPGAs, are very close to the real hardware without the hassle.

[@sideburn]

My SH204 still works with original drive. I swapped out the PSU though. After it sits the drive won’t spin up unless it spin the shaft of the head positioning stepper motor. For some reason after turning that a little bit then it spins right up and works perfectly.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I did swap my SH204 drive for a SCSI2SD drive a while back. I still have the mechanical drive and SCSI to MFM adapter board and it works just fine, I just wanted more space :)

[@Trialwolf]

It is fun seeing the differences between the ports from Atari ST to Amiga to PC. The feel of the real hardware does enhance the experience for me personally, I did find an SF 354 drive with the power supply at the last swap meet I went to - haven't tried it out yet but once I get it a deep clean will be fun to see if it still works.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I love the Amiga and Atari ST...but the Atari holds the nostalgia for me.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

probably will need recap too and definitely new belt.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

@@powerofvintage9442 me too, but to be honest the ST was a much better computer (thats why I chose it back then).

[@dirkcrossi6574]

i have a view Atari St and mostly i use them in Monochrome ... I am playing no Games with them ,..i am trying Programming in Pure_c and GFA_Basic ...The Atari St line is best Computer for that !! in my younger dayes (before Collecting Retro ,i am most Time Played Frontier Spacesim on the Atari ST ...till i got the Imperial Courier )

[@powerofvintage9442]

I love this! What types of programs are you coding?

[@dirkcrossi6574]

@@powerofvintage9442 Moving objects ....,..I found out that i can easy save a Lines and points on the screen and put them easy later and FASTER then before on screen.. So i programmed a Moving Stickman ....(was Lots of work).Of course on Original Hardware ...(Atari Ste with 4mb and self made case ,...becouse i was dump enough to break the original)

[@powerofvintage9442]

@@dirkcrossi6574 cool!

[@DJClicheDarkness]

Welp....time to fall down the ultima rabbit hole!

[@powerofvintage9442]

lol! I am taking my time myself. Fun to play them back to back though.

[@FXGreggan.]

You don't happen to have a spare keyboard, or more exact the HD6301 IC on the backside of the keyboards? I upgraded the ram to 4meg, replaced the floppy, got a 15khz lcd, now I just need a kbd ic to be able to use it properly.... the backside of the kbd accidentaly touched the grounded metal screen - there were some sparks and now several of the keys don't work.. traces and everything looks fine so it must be the ic...

[@powerofvintage9442]

Shoot me an email at [e-mail]

[@ms-ex8em]

can the st format floppies to higher than 920 kilobytes ?? using a special program you can download ?? thanks do you like the amiga too ?? thanks

[@powerofvintage9442]

Yes, I love the Amiga (I own and use an Amiga 1000, 500, 2000, 600 and 1200) , but Atari holds the nostalgia for me. Regarding formatting: Mega STe and Falcon by default can format at 1.44mb. Earlier ST's can format 720kb and can be somewhat easily modified to format to 1.44mb.

[@powerofvintage9442]

Sorry, for the formatting to higher density, it requires different hardware.

[@ms-ex8em]

can you program the st range of home micros ??

[@powerofvintage9442]

Outside of the simple basic programming 10 Print "I Love Atari's" and 20 Goto 10, I do not program the ST's myself. Many others do though and there is a Homebrew community still coding for them today. A couple recent games I love: Nano Cave and Grind.

[@Doug_in_NC]

When I had my ST back in the day I used to do my college assignments in FORTRAN, which was pretty outdated even then, but Prospero Fortran had extensions to control the GUI so it worked pretty well.

[@Jdvc-yd5tx]

What happened in 1993? The beginning of the end in computing and music. It will be decades before find out the truth. 🖋

[@powerofvintage9442]

The 1993 "end" had its beginnings years before. I'm actually digging into their annual financial reports and there are some interesting clues there. I big ~$100M revenue adjustment in 1987 between their statements in 1987 annual report and their 1989 annual report. Their cashflow was crazy (and not the good kind of crazy) as well during this time.

[@bavideomaker29]

Why does the ST GUI and productivity apps look so chunky compared to the Macs of similar vintage? I want an ST but I’m not really a gamer so I’d like to play around with actual apps but I struggle with how bad the resolution is and the blocky pixels.

[@powerofvintage9442]

Good question. You're seeing the Low and Medium resolution modes for the most part (with color). See if you can find an image of the Atari SM124 monochrome display...slightly higher resolution than the all in one Mac's. Comparing apples to apples with monochrome, they look very similar

[@david-spliso1928]

Yes the ST mono res is better than the Mac.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

...and you can actually use almost every LCD (best 4:3) that can do 31KHz VGA frequency (almost every VGA monitor) for ST High resolution. You just need ST2VGA or similar adapter (which is a cheap solution). Be sure to get ST with at least 1MB RAM, the best choice is STE (easy to upgrade via SIMM) or MegaST 2 or 4, or Mega STE...

[@david-spliso1928]

The STE is a decent machine, with a blitter, hardware scrolling and a capable PCM sound chip. New software/games are being made for it by enthusiasts to this day to find out what it can really do.

[@lsdowdle]

@@powerofvintage9442 Just wanted to mention that the MiSTer FPGA ST core does all three resolutions... which is easy using the HDMI out.

[@ShamanKish]

Papyrus is better than anything else.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I do like it myself and definitely agree. Although 1st Word has the nostalgia...or perhaps PTSD from Junior High School and High School homework assignments.

[@ShamanKish]

@@powerofvintage9442 Creating various styles in Papyrus was easy-peasy. Try to do that in Word!

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

Papyrus is great but the Signum! is slightly better then that as far as I remember.

[@powerofvintage9442]

I'll have to check it out! I hadn't seen that one yet.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

@@powerofvintage9442 also I just remembered there was another great and modern text editor, Tempus. Well this is why ST was so much better computer then Amiga, productivity apps (or serious software as we called it back then LOL), yes Amiga had one or two good productivity tools in any area, but the ST had five or ten times more to chose from and Im not talking some amateur program sht, real good professional apps. Thousands of great productivity programs.

[@ms-ex8em]

i am interested in the atari st floppy disk drives and hard discs too because they’re all differently formatted i mean they have different capacities i love it all

[@ms-ex8em]

can the st format floppies to higher than 920 kilobytes ?? using a special program you can download ?? thanks

[@Great-Documentaries]

"What do I do with my Atari ST's?" Trade them for an Amiga. What was true in 1987 still is. 🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮🧮

[@powerofvintage9442]

To each their own. Retro however you like :)