| This page was updated on: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 |
Atari STe Series
The STe series systems were identical in appearance
to the original Atari 1040 ST systems. It was essentially a standard ST system, with
4,096 colors, enhanced 15-pin joystick ports, etc.
The two RCA-type jacks (left and right) let you attach external speakers for stereo These connectors lead to the STe's new sound chip that supports two-channel stereo output.
In addition to higher quality sound, the STe had enhanced color capabilities. Earlier ST and MEGA ST systems had a palette of 512 colors, or eight different levels of red, green and blue. The STe supported 4,096 colors, or 16 levels of red, green, and blue. The increase in the available colors should have made a difference in such applications as paint programs and games The odd part was that you still only get 16 colors (in low resolution mode) on the screen at a time.
The STe also had two new enhanced joystick ports. By using some 9-pin adapters, both of the new 15-pin joystick-type ports can accept two standard joysticks. Light guns and paddles could be used when attached to the STe through these ports. I really don't remember anything ever taking advantage of these enhanced ports. Does anyone know if Jaguar joypads could be used on this system?
Another standard STe device was the Blitter chip, which speeds up graphics. The Blitter chip had previously been available as standard equipment on the MEGA ST systems only. I believe that it was also available as an upgrade on other ST models.
Atari claimed that STe was backward compatible with earlier ST systems. That was true to some degree. For example, the 68000 processor was changed from a rectangle shape to a square shape. This means that any upgrade device that is designed to fit on top of the CPU, such as the PC Speed board, will not work with the STe.
The system used TOS 1.6, which was substantially larger than the existing versions. It TOS ROMs were 256K, as opposed to the earlier 192K ROMs. As a result, most programs which did not follow Atari's software programming guidelines by cutting corners and making direct hardware calls to ROM routines would not work because many of the ROM routines had been moved from where they once were. Usually, these hardware calls were made by games, as programmers were attempting to squeeze every last bit of speed that they could out of the system. An interesting sidenote was that Microsoft's MS-Write for the ST failed to run on the STe. (Microsoft cut corners? I don't believe that for a minute, do you?) Typically, applications such as CAD, programming languages, word processors, spreadsheets, desktop publishers, MIDI, and graphics programs would function fine on the ST. Usually, the compatibility problems were with games.
Why was TOS changed? Well, Atari was trying to write an operating system that was "processor independent." At the time, Atari was planning the TT, and needed TOS to be able to run on the existing 68000 systems, and the 68020/68030 systems that were on the drawing board.
All in all, this was a nice step up (but not a big step up) for Atari users. However, there were a few things that annoyed me about this system. First and foremost: why did they insist on building these systems in a single piece case? Atari got it right with the previous MEGA ST systems, by producing a system with a GOOD non-mushy detached keyboard, and some expansion options. Atari went back to the same old "dead-end" box that couldn't grow with the users needs. (Of course, they didn't learn with this box either, and produced the Falcon030 using the same style case.) Why did Atari make you have to spend the extra money for a MEGA STe just to get this functionality?
Also, the motherboard on this system was completely redesigned. It was not just another ST board with a few extra goodies. Since Atari had a chance to fix the problem with the Joystick/Mouse ports underneath the system, why didn't they do it?
Atari 520/1040 STe Series:
CPU: Motorola MC68000 16-bit running at 8MHz.
FPU: None
DSP: None
TOS Version: 1.06 in ROM or 1.62 in ROM
RAM: 512kB or 1Mb, expandable up to 4Mb.
Graphics: 320x200 16 colors or 640x200 4 colors with an RGB monitor or TV. 640x400 greyscale using mono monitor. Palette of 4096 colors, TV modulator & Blitter chip.
Sound: 8-bit stereo.
Disk Drives: Internal 720kb floppy disk.
Ports: Cartridge (ROM) port, MIDI In and Out/Thru, DMA/ACSI port, parallel (printer) port, serial (modem) port running at 19.2kbps, stereo out ports, external floppy drive port, mouse, joystick and analogue joytick ports.
Case: One piece standard-style.
Release Date: 1989.