--- title: Atari MEGA STe categories: - Computers types: - Professional Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1991' cpus: - Motorola MC 68000 params: name: MEGA STe image: /media/museum/photos/atari_mega-ste_1.jpg company: /companies/atari company_name: Atari specs: - label: NAME value: MEGA STe - label: MANUFACTURER value: Atari - label: TYPE value: Professional Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: March 1991 - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: Unknown - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: None - label: KEYBOARD value: Full stroke 94 keys with numeric keypad, editing keys and 10 function keys - label: CPU value: Motorola MC 68000 - label: SPEED value: 8 / 16 mHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: Optional Motorola MC68881 math co-processor - label: RAM value: 1 / 2 / 4 MB - Up to 8 MB thanks to a 4 MB card connected to the VME bus - label: ROM value: 256 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines (bitmapped graphics) - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 320 x 200 / 640 x 200 / 640 x 400 - label: COLORS value: 16 among 4096 (320 x 200) / 4 among 4096 (640 x 200) / monochrome (640 x 400) - label: SOUND value: 3 FM channels, 8 octaves + two 8 bit PCM channels - label: I/O PORTS value: Cardridge, Midi (in, out), Centronics, RS232c (2), Hard Disk, Floppy disk, RGB, Joystick, mouse, Stereo, VME Bus - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: |- 3.5 '' disk drive, Seagate 48 MB hard drive\ The 'open' version had 2 MB of RAM but no hard disk. - label: OS value: TOS + GEM - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply unit - label: PRICE value: Unknown tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links - docs photos: - title: ANOTHER PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_mega-ste_2.jpg - title: ABOVE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_mega-ste_3.jpg adverts: - title: 'GERMAN BROCHURE #1' subtitle: '' text: Thanks to **Volken** image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_megaste_germandoc_s1.jpg - title: 'GERMAN BROCHURE #2' subtitle: '' text: Thanks to **Volken** image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_megaste_germandoc_s2.jpg hardware: - title: SF-354 subtitle: Single density disk-drive text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_sf354-diskdrive_1.jpg - title: SF-314 subtitle: Disk-drive text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_st-disk-drive_sf314.jpg - title: CUMANA DRIVE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_cumanadrive_1.jpg - title: SUPRADRIVE subtitle: 20 Mb hard-disk text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_supradrive_20mb.jpg - title: 170MB QUANTUM HARD-DRIVE subtitle: '' text: This unit has an ICD Host Adapter. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_quamtum_hd170.jpg - title: ATARI MEGAFILE 30 subtitle: '' text: This hard-drive has a 30Mb capacity. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_megafile30_1.jpg - title: INSIDE THE MEGAFILE 30 subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Seagate MFM 30 MB hard-disk Type ST-238\ **(2)** Power supply\ **(3)** Logical board\ **(4)** Power and disk access LED's image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_insidemegafile_1.jpg - title: ATARI UNIVERSAL MODEM subtitle: '' text: |- The SX212 modem was one of the rare Atari peripherals that could be used with all the Atari computers range, from the 400/800 series up to the Falcon. It had both the Atari I/O ports for the 8-bit systems and a standard RS-232 connector for ST's It was a 300/1200 baud modem compatible with the well-known Hayes 'AT' commands.\ Cable and software was sold separately, depending of the computer used. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_modemsx212_1.jpg - title: SML-804 subtitle: Laser printer text: |- The SLM-804 was actually a Kyocera F1000 printer but without neither on-board processor and memory nor buttons other than the on/off switch. It was first delivered with the Mega ST but could be connected on all of the ST series computers through a dedicated interface box.\ The printer used the processing power and the RAM memory of the ST computer for printing at 8 pages per minute and 300 DPI. The paper tray held 250 sheets. Thanks to **Francois Michaud** who donated us this printer. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_slm804printer_s1.jpg - title: SMLC-804 subtitle: Laser printer interface text: This interface allowed the SML-804 printer to be connected to any Atari ST holding at least 1 MB RAM. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_slmcinterface_s1.jpg emulators: - title: Pacifist ! url: http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/ platform: MS DOS text: Pretty good emulator - title: Gemulator url: http://www.emulators.com/gemul8r.htm platform: Windows text: '' - title: MagiCPC url: http://www.application-systems.de/magicpc/index.html platform: Windows text: '' - title: SainT url: http://saint.atari.org platform: Windows text: The best Atari ST Emulator ! - title: Steem url: http://steem.atari.st/ platform: Windows text: Excellent emulator for 1040/520 STE ! - title: Tos2Win url: http://www.aixit.com/tos2win/ platform: Windows text: A good Atari GEM Emulator ! - title: MagiCMac url: http://www.application-systems.de/magicmac/index.html platform: Apple text: '' - title: NoSTalgia & PowerST url: http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/ platform: Apple text: '' - title: STonX Homepage url: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stonx.html platform: Unix / Linux text: '' - title: Atari ST Emulator url: http://www.atari-st.lovely.net/ platform: Other platform text: Written in Java ! - title: ARAnyM url: HTTP://ARANYM.ATARI.ORG platform: Multiplatform text: Multiplatform project - title: Hatari url: http://hatari.sourceforge.net/ platform: Multiplatform text: Hatari is an Atari ST emulator for Linux, BSD, BeOS, Mac OS X and other systems that are supported by the SDL library. More precisely, Hatari is an adaption of the WinSTon source code to the SDL library. links: - title: Atari & Commodore Home Computer Museum url: http://www.best.com/~hmk/ text: '' - title: Atari Music Network url: http://www.atarimusic.net/ text: Atari Music Network welcomes and celebrates all vintage digital musicians no matter what their computer - title: Atari ST Demo History url: http://wwwbrauer.in.tum.de/~brandtf/ataridemos.html text: '' - title: Atari ST Download Area url: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Services/PDA/atari.shtml text: Atari 400/800/XL/XE & ST/TT/Falcon Software download page - title: ATARI.ORG url: http://www.atari.org/ text: Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links ! - title: Dead Hackers Society url: http://www.dhs.nu/ text: Atari demo scene - title: Little Green Desktop url: http://www.atari.st/ text: Largest Atari ST ressource! - title: Medusa computer url: http://www.kingx.com/kingx/medusa/thes.html text: You can still buy an Atari ST family clone computer - title: MiNTOS Distribution url: http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~steve/mintos.html text: '' - title: Musique.Atari.Org url: HTTP://MUSIQUE.ATARI.ORG text: Web site dedicated to the ATARI and the Music... - title: PLOPBOX - Atari music archive and jukebox url: http://www.plopbox.net/ text: listen to atari tunes directly from your browser - title: Polish Atari Wikipedia url: http://atariki.krap.pl text: A lot of info about Atari (in polish) - title: ST Anwender Bern url: http://my.blackpoint.ch/stab/ text: Atari ST Usergroup Bern (Swiss) - title: The Atari Historical Society url: http://www.atarimuseum.com/ text: The complete history of Atari Arcade and Home games and computers. Complete site with pictures, commercials (streaming), and full text articles. Amazing site ! - title: The Atari ST Quick FAQ url: http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/ST/ text: '' - title: The Atari WebRing Homepage url: http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=atari text: Useful ! - title: The Ultimate ATARI Resource url: http://www.atari.org text: '' - title: What is TOS url: http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/tos_main.htm text: '' - title: Index of -~archive-atari- url: http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/ text: '' - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: French forum docs: - title: ATARI 520 ST OWNER'S MANUAL url: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarist/index.htm cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/atari_520st_user_doc.jpg text: |- [**ATARI 520 ST OWNER'S MANUAL**](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarist/index.htm)written by Atari  compiled/archived by Daves Old Computers\  type of document : PDF\  size : 5 Mb\  source : [Daves Old Computers](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield) **... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :** comments: - author: Malcolm Ramage (United Kingdon) date: Friday 22nd April 2011 text: |- The Mega STE was the fastest released official ST from Atari and included the VME bus from the TT030. The bottom of the range Mega STE 1MB machine had an optional SCSI drive, though all other machines in the range came with SCSI as standard (At least here in the UK). The maximum official RAM capacity was the same as the rest of the ST range at 4MB, though there were upgrades available from 3rd parties that took advantage of the 68000 address bus, allowing for up to 16MB to be added. AtariFreakz have a range of mega STE and TT keyboards available and have them on their eBay shop, also 16/32 systems also sometimes carry spares. The Mega STE makes an excellent MIDI sequencer, and the LAN port can make use of early Apple Macintosh MIDI interfaces, so long as you are using Cubase and the latest version of MROS. The Mega STE is also the only one of Atari''s ''Professional'' range of computers to have a TV modulator on the back, allowing it to be used if a monitor is not available. - author: Jan Thomas date: Saturday 6th July 2013 text: The internal SCSI drive inside was actually connected to an ACSI$SCSI converter card, as the motherboard had only an ACSI controller. The ACSI-SCSI card only supports a maximum of 1GB hard drives, without modification. - author: Shredder11 (United Kingdom) date: Friday 2nd September 2011 text: |- My Mega STE does not have the RF port for some unknown reason$ was this later $ped from the computer by Atari? This computer was originally a 2MB RAM / 40MB SCSI machine with a French TOS and keyboard, but it was later upgraded to 4MB / 100MB+ and a 68881 FPU chip. Since I bought it, I have turned the keyboard into a UK layout and I am in the process of replacing the floppy drive and TOS chips. This is an excellent computer and pretty fast when optimised with the right software. It also has great looks. - author: Malcolm Ramage (United Kingdom) date: Saturday 21st May 2011 text: Just noticed an error above. The Mega STE was not the only Atari machine to have the AppleTalk (Or RS432) port, the TT030 was the first machine to have it and the Falcon also has one. In fact with the LAN.DRV driver in the Cubase MROS folder, Cubase on Atari can use a number of Apple MIDI interfaces for Macs! - author: Alex (Germany) date: Saturday 8th March 2008 text: My uncle still has an Atari Mega STE, it still works pretty well, he's also got a 5 1/4 floppy drive and a printer for it. - author: Jeff Stenett (USA) date: Thursday 3rd May 2007 text: |- I still have one of the first Mega STe's...still hooked up, works fine, though not in use. I paid between $1100-1300 for it (don't remember...long time ago!), with 4 MEG of RAM, which I immediately upgraded to 8 MEG. It did NOT come with an IDE hard drive, as your data reflects, and I don't remember any of them coming with IDE, that was the later TT....mine came with a Seagate 20gig SCSI drive, 3.5"x1" form-factor, which I still have, and which still works fine ! :). Since mine was one of the first Mega STe's, in also did not come with a 1.44 floppy, mine was only 720, so I bought an after-market 1.44 meg HD floppy for it. My primary use for it was MIDI control of synthesizers and a drum machine, and loudspeaker design using the original version of MacSpeakerz, which was sold through the Carvin guitar/amp company of California, U.S. - author: Max (California) date: Friday 31st October 2003 text: I found one of these with a buncha music editing equipment! Could any of you tell me how to set it up? Oh, and there is no monitor. Can I hook it up to a TV via that one output on it? - author: pedro (portugal) date: Saturday 11th October 2003 text: |- i want to buy a atari mega ste to use as a midi sequencer.this is the best atari for that?\ if any one have one to sell ,contact me.\ thanks..............:) - author: pod (australia) date: Tuesday 14th May 2002 text: my mega st keyboard is broken (although the mouse still works)does anyone have any suggestions/info on a suitable replacement or any technical info on the keyboard or know of a good link to help me??????? please help me!!it's driving me insane. related: - /museum/atari-130-st-260-st - /museum/atari-4160-ste - /museum/atari-520-1040-ste - /museum/atari-520-1040-stf-stfm - /museum/atari-520-st-st-stm - /museum/atari-falcon-030 - /museum/atari-falcon-030-microbox - /museum/atari-fx-1-sparrow - /museum/atari-mega-st - /museum/atari-st-book - /museum/atari-stacy - /museum/atari-stylus-st-pad - /museum/atari-tt-030 oc_id: 164 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230605041509/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=164 date: '2023-06-05' --- The Atari Mega STe is the successor of the [Atari Mega STf](/museum/atari-mega-st/). It is an Atari STe with some features of the [TT](/museum/atari-tt-030/) (the case, the VME bus) and has a new version of TOS (2.05 and 2.06). It has (like the Mega STf) a battery-backed up clock. The user can choose in the configuration panel the speed of the CPU (8 or 16 MHz) and can switch on or off a small memory cache. Thanks to these two features, the Mega STe was really faster than the STf. Some companies developed VME graphic cards for the Mega STe. This computer had less success than the Mega STf and was used as a publishing station or in music studios. A minor note: the Mega and TT gave a nod to the earlier integrated-keyboard ST series by adding a tongue-and-groove design element for loosely connecting the keyboard to the base of the CPU. The Mega STe ended production in 1993. This was also one of the few Atari product to have an Appletalk networking port (or RS432)built-in. The TT030 was the first machine to have it and the Falcon also had one. Some models included hard drives, and some did not. The drives were usually shipped separately to the the dealers, and installed in the store. The internal hard-drives in the Atari Mega STE where SCSI, not IDE. A small internal SCSI adaptor board had to be installed for this feature. The Mega STE was the fastest released official ST from Atari and included the VME bus from the TT030. The bottom of the range Mega STE 1MB machine had an optional SCSI drive, though all other machines in the range came with SCSI as standard (At least here in the UK). The maximum official RAM capacity was the same as the rest of the ST range at 4MB, though there were upgrades available from 3rd parties that took advantage of the 68000 address bus, allowing for up to 16MB to be added. The Mega STE makes an excellent MIDI sequencer, and the LAN port can make use of early Apple Macintosh MIDI interfaces, so long as you are using Cubase and the latest version of MROS. The Mega STE is also the only one of Atari's 'Professional' range of computers to have a TV modulator on the back, allowing it to be used if a monitor is not available. --- Contributors: Steve Martin, Malcolm Ramage
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.