Atari 16-bit Computers
Misc. Hardware

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Atari wasn't that great at making add-on devices for the 8-bit line.  They never made an 8-bit monitor.  Floppy drives, printers, etc. were usually not as good as the 3rd party versions.

When the Tramiel family took over, they saw this to be a problem, and made a stab at making quality add-on products for the new ST line.   Here are a few.......

Atari SC-1224 Monitor - Atari actually had three different revisions of this monitor.  The monitor shown on the left was manufactured by JVC.  The monitor on the right was manufactured by Goldstar.  Another revision of this unit was manufactured by Samsung.  The Goldstar model is probably the most common.

ST Medium resolution (640x200 -- 4 colors) and ST Low resolution (320x200 -- 16 colors) require one of these monitors.

The SC-1224 was Atari's low/medium resolution color monitor.  The screen measured 12 inches diagonally.  The JVC monitor was the best and most reliable version of the SC1224.

If you want to display all ST screen resolutions with an ST/STf/STfm/STe you need both types of monitors with a monitor switchbox, or you can use a multisync monitor with a special adapter.  Note that you can't use just any multisync monitor.  You need one that directly supports the frequency ranges of the ST systems.

Atari SM-124 - This monitor was used for High resolution on the ST systems.  These monitors were manufactured by Goldstar for Atari.  Monochrome (640x400) requires special Atari high resolution 72Hz monitors.  These monitors have a very stable, although small, paper white display.  SM monitors can only display monochrome mode.  Atari TT and Falcon computers can do without the SM-124 monitor and display ST high-res on a VGA monitor.

If you want to display all ST screen resolutions with an ST/STf/STfm/STe you need both types of monitors with a monitor switchbox, or you can use a multisync monitor with a special adapter.  Note that you can't use just any multisync monitor.  You need one that directly supports the frequency ranges of the ST systems.

Atari PS-3000 - This monitor was manufactured in limited quantities.  It combined a color monitor with a single-sided 360k floppy drive in one unit.  This monitor was built by JVC.

The photo above is of my personal unit.  It is the monitor I use with my Mega 4 ST system.

Atari SLM-804 Laser Printer - This was Atari's first laser printer.  It was released with the Mega ST computers.   It prints 8 pages per minute at 300dpi.

Unlike most laser printers that work from the parallel port, this device connected to an ST through the ASCI/DMA port.  This left the parallel port free for other devices.

The printer was a "dumb" device, in that it had no on-board processor.  On a conventional laser printer, the computer sends the data to the on-board processor of the printer, where the raw data is converted into print instructions.  Then, the printer prints those instructions on paper.   The SLM-804 used a different approach.  The printer used the processing power of the ST computer for printing, which eliminates a step in the printing process.  That makes the printer somewhat faster than the laser printers of the period.  The downside is that you could not use your computer while printing.

The paper tray holds 250 sheets. The printer supports letter and legal size paper, as well as envelopes, transparencies, labels, and the European A4 & B5 sizes.  Toner cartridges were rated at 3,000 pages at 10% coverage.  Duty Cycle was around 3,500 pages per month.

Atari SLM-604 Laser Printer - This was Atari's second laser printer.  It prints 6 pages per minute at 300dpi.  Like the SLM-804 above, this device connects to the ST via the ASCI/DMA port.

Atari SF-314/SF-354 Floppy Drives - Most of the Atari ST systems came with a built in floppy drive.  It was possible, however, to add a second drive to the unit.  Unfortunately, there was no room inside the ST's for another floppy, so it had to be hooked up externally.

The SF-314 floppy drive on the left was Atari's 3 1/2 inch double-sided 720k drive.  Somehow, my photo of this drive is discolored.   It is supposed to be grey, like the SF-354 drive on the right.

The SF-354 floppy drive on the right was Atari's 3 1/2 inch single-sided 360k drive.

The disk drives mechanisms used by Atari ST computers are the same industry standard 360K or 720K double-density floppy drives that were used in the IBM PC's of the period.  

Atari SH-204 Hard Drives - The Atari SH-204 was Atari's first hard drive for the ST line.  It was a 20mb drive that came in a "shoebox" case. 

It attached to the ST via the ASCI port.   ACSI was Atari's proprietary hard drive connector. It is derivative of SCSI which had not been completely standardized at the time of the initial release of ST systems.   These are the only hard drives that are directly "plug and play" compatible with the Atari ACSI/DMA port on stock ST systems.

Atari SH-204 hard drives have an ACSI to SCSI host adapter connected to an Adaptec 4000 SCSI to MFM adapter that is attached directly to the drive. It is possible to adapt these units to use the standard SCSI drive mechanisms of today.

Atari Megafile Hard Drives - These hard drives first appeared with the Mega ST series.  They came with either 20, 30, and 60 megabyte drives, with room in the case to add another drive.  The case was the same shape and style of the Mega ST systems.  It would rest on top or under the Mega ST unit.

These drives are ASCI based.  ACSI was Atari's proprietary hard drive connector. It is derivative of SCSI which had not been completely standardized at the time of the initial release of ST systems.  These are the only hard drives that are directly "plug and play" compatible with the Atari ACSI/DMA port on stock ST systems.

Atari Megafile 44 - These hard drives first appeared with the Mega ST series.  They were removable cartridge drives that used industry standard 44mb cartridges. 

Atari SX-212 Modem - This was a 1200 baud modem that could be used either by an Atari 8-bit computer, or any other computer with a standard serial port, such as an Atari ST, or a PC compatible.  The back of the unit had an Atari 8-bit SIO port, and a serial port.