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---
title: Atari 520 / 1040 STe
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1990'
cpus:
- Motorola MC 68000
params:
name: 520 / 1040 STe
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_1040_ste_with_box.jpg
company: /companies/atari
company_name: Atari
specs:
- label: NAME
value: 520 / 1040 STe
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Atari
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1990'
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full-stroke keyboard with editing and numeric keypads
- label: CPU
value: Motorola MC 68000
- label: SPEED
value: 8 mHz
- label: RAM
value: 4 x SIMM sockets - From 512 KB up to 4 Mb
- label: ROM
value: 192 KB (256 KB in later versions)
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines (bitmapped graphics)
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 320 x 200 (16 colors) / 640 x 200 (4 colors) / 640 x 400 (monochrome)
- label: COLORS
value: '4096'
- label: SOUND
value: 3 voices + 1 noise channel, 8 octaves + two 8 bit PCM channels
- label: I/O PORTS
value: Cardridge, Midi (in, out), Centronics, RS232c, Hard Disk, Floppy disk, RGB, Joystick, mouse, 2 x analogue controllers, Stereo RCA jacks
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 3.5'' disk-drive
- label: OS
value: TOS + GEM
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Built-in PSU
- label: PRICE
value: '520 STE : 396 (France, dec.1989)'
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- emulators
- links
- docs
photos:
- title: THE STE PROTOTYPE (?)
subtitle: ''
text: |-
Someone from Atari France gave us this photo and told us it was the case of the Atari STe prototype.
This case was designed by Ira Velinsky, Director of Industrial Design at Atari, who made the cases of the Commodore 500 / 600 / 700 series and the Commodore Ultimax.
The "Macintosh-like" unit on the right is the PS3000, a prototype combination of a SC1224 Monitor and a SF354 disk drive.\
One of this case (one the right) looked like the Macintosh !
**Malcolm Ramage** adds:\
The prototype was of the eST, an MC68020 prototype, which may have been an early version of the TT030.\
Not much information exists about this machine, only a few pictures have been leaked and it's not known if any functioning hardware still exists.
Although this information was disclosed by several magazines, it was told us by "someone" that this case was only an exercise in style for a future Atari machine. No card was developed to fit this case.
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_ste_proto.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: Emulators Online
url: http://www.emulators.com/
platform: Windows
text: Demo of Gemulator, a commercial product from BraSoft.
- 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: Pacifist
url: http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/
platform: Windows
text: The best Atari ST emulator
- 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: STonX Homepage
url: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stemu.html
platform: Windows
text: The Atari ST Emulator for Linux/X windows
- title: Toad Computers' Atari Central
url: http://www.ataricentral.com/
platform: Windows
text: Demo of Magic, a commercial emulator for PC/Windows and Macintosh.
- title: Tos2Win
url: http://www.aixit.com/tos2win/
platform: Windows
text: A good Atari GEM Emulator !
- title: TOSBOX Atari emulation homepage
url: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4448/
platform: Windows
text: ''
- title: WinSTon
url: http://www.winston.fatal-design.com/
platform: Windows
text: An emulator for Win95 / Win NT
- 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: NoSTalgia The AtariST Emulator for the Macintosh
url: http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/
platform: Apple
text: ''
- title: Toad Computers' Atari Central
url: http://www.ataricentral.com/
platform: Apple
text: Demo of Magic, a commercial emulator for PC/Windows and Macintosh.
- 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: Application Systems Heidelberg
url: http://members.aol.com/ashinfo/index.html
text: ''
- title: Atari & Commodore Home Computer Museum
url: http://www.best.com/~hmk/
text: ''
- title: Atari Demo Scene
url: http://rzserv2.fh-lueneburg.de:8080/Demo_Scene
text: ''
- title: Atari game links
url: http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/cache/369/index.html
text: ''
- title: Atari Information
url: http://www.qnx.com/~chrish/Atari/index.html
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 Vaporware Museum
url: http://www.atari.nu/
text: ''
- title: ATARI.ORG
url: http://www.atari.org/
text: Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links !
- title: Atari-WEB
url: http://web.cnam.fr/Comp/Atari/
text: ''
- title: Calculating Pi and Atari ST-Falcon
url: http://www.ast.univie.ac.at/~wasi/PI/stuart_lyster/stlib.htm
text: ''
- title: CareBears Online
url: http://hem1.passagen.se/carebear/
text: ''
- title: Centek Homepage
url: http://www.centek.fr
text: ''
- title: Dead Hackers Society
url: http://www.dhs.nu/
text: Atari demo scene
- title: Elysium Atari & TOS Compatible Pages
url: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/aseabrook/a_index.htm
text: ''
- title: Emulators Online
url: http://www.emulators.com/
text: ''
- title: Gem programmer's page
url: http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d2cg/gem/
text: ''
- 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: Network ST - The Atari Network - Homepage
url: http://www.nest.demon.co.uk/index.htm
text: ''
- title: oAESis
url: http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d2cg/oaesis/
text: ''
- title: OXO Concept Home Page
url: http://www.oxo.ch/
text: ''
- title: Planet IRATA
url: http://www.http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/3015
text: ''
- 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://atariwebring.home.ml.org/
text: ''
- title: The Atari WebRing Homepage
url: http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=atari
text: Useful !
- title: The New Funkyware Generation
url: http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/
text: ''
- title: The Ultimate ATARI Resource
url: http://www.atari.org
text: ''
- title: The Wonderful World of Atari Computing
url: http://inet.uni-c.dk/~netop/atari.htm
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: Andy Murray
date: Thursday 27th January 2011
text: Atari 1040 ST was the bomb. Mine quit working in the early nineties because we experienced an Argentine ant infestation in our yard and they came in and built a colony in the disk drive. I still have all my software. I would love to buy a new one. Best games ever! Lots of EA stuff and a stunning VGA monitor which was hot stuff for 1987.
- author: Jeff
date: Tuesday 3rd April 2018
text: I am the proud owner of a 1040 STE and I have just scratched the surface of what this system can do. Granted there is no comparison to today''s computers, but for its generation of systems, I feel it is the best of my 16-bit collection. Even better than the Amiga 1200...and I own one of those too.
- author: Ton
date: Friday 12th August 2016
text: I own 2 1040 STEs, and 2 Mega ST with all the hard-drives, etc. The ''tightest'' computer for MIDI sequencing up to this day. I run Cubase MIDI, and Hybrid-Arts SMPTE-TRACK ST software, not to mention Dr.Ts, Sweet 16, etc. . One of the MEGAs also runs the ADAP-2 editing system and sampling system to this day. A bit ''slow'' but steady. None of my PCs or Macs can do as much for MIDI as the Ataris. I am keeping them all. Cheers.
- author: Harald
date: Friday 7th March 2014
text: I notice in the user addedum below the article it says that monocrome was only available in ST High on the TV output. You couldn''t display ST High on a TV, for that you needed a monochrome VGA monitor like the SM124 or a compatible monitor.
- author: Charles Rose, AKA, Dubwise007 (England, Northamptonshire)
date: Monday 30th January 2012
text: I still have and use my AtariSte1040 for building my tunes $dub$ not dubstep. My Atari is now 22years old and i still use it, but with the way of the world wide web now, i can not get my music to any format that people can listen too online, and so i am and have been looking for a emulator so i can use and up to date version of Que base to mix my music to a standard that others can hear online, my e mail addres is tuffgongace@yahoo.co.uk if you have possiible links that may be of use to me,, only ones that have been tried and tested please.
- author: Dark Willow (UK)
date: Saturday 10th December 2011
text: |-
Just a correction to the article. The TOS version in the STe was "STe TOS", v1.60 and v1.62. Rainbow TOS was v1.04 and was for Mega ST and STfm systems.
Also mention should be made of how the STe differs from it''s predecessor systems. Although they look similar to the end user, the STe is considerably upgraded.
Expandability was improved by memory being installed in standard 30 pin SIMMS. 4 slots were provided, allowing the user to install up to 4mb RAM without needing to modify the motherboard or install any kits/hacks (which had been the nightmare of anyone who had a 520STfm - like yours truly did).
Sound was also much improved, stereo 8-bit DMA sound rather than the Yamaha YM2149 "chip tunes" sound used before (which was kept alongside the improved sound for backwards compatibility) though only a few dedicated audio applications and "STe Enhanced" games took advantage of it, as most developers didn''t want to lock out the large market of stock ST / Mega ST users.
- author: Happysad (England)
date: Thursday 22nd March 2007
text: |-
The ST is an amazing machine. I still have several in use running Cubase. I find the ST to be much more reliable than a PC or MAC when it come to this software. I have a 4mb STE with TOS1.62, a MEGA ST4, a 1mb ST (a bit of an oddity as it has both floppy and TV modulator!).
Long live the ATARI ST (and Sensible Soccer !)
- author: Philip Trott (Kent)
date: Thursday 14th April 2005
text: My Atari STe still works the only game that I found that will not work on it is Captain Blood everything else works fine I upgraded my STe to 1024 KB which helped with cutting down loading times and allowed for less drive access
- author: Darren (u)
date: Friday 8th April 2005
text: Floppy drive is replaceable by any disk drive off the shelf, BUT you have to cut out a new hole in the case, no video output? from both the monitor out AND TV out? either one or the other should work, is the TV tuned to the correct channel? what kind of monitor are you using?
- author: Dino (France)
date: Wednesday 16th March 2005
text: |-
3 version of STE exist,\
\- no Upgradale Memory\
\- A bugged TOS 1.6\
\- Correct TOS 1.62
- author: D WOOD (ENGLAND)
date: Thursday 16th December 2004
text: I HAVE RECENTLY AQUIRED A 520 STE\[UPGRADEABLE\] ONLY TROUBLE IS NO VIDEO OUTPUT COMING THROUGH TO MONITOR OR TV BUT THERE IS SOUND,ANY HELP OR ADVICE APPRECIATED THANKING YOU IN ANTICIPATION!!!
- author: A Hodson (England)
date: Friday 6th February 2004
text: How can I fix the floppy drive?
- author: fredrik kjelman (norway)
date: Tuesday 2nd September 2003
text: 'question: is it possible to change the resolution on the atari ste, and if possible, how?'
related:
- /museum/atari-130-st-260-st
- /museum/atari-4160-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-mega-ste
- /museum/atari-st-book
- /museum/atari-stacy
- /museum/atari-stylus-st-pad
- /museum/atari-tt-030
oc_id: 24
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530085305/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=24
date: '2023-05-30'
---
The Atari STe is the successor of the [Atari STf](/museum/atari-520-1040-stf-stfm/) (The 'e' stands for 'enhanced') and is almost fully compatible with the STf.\
In september 1986, Atari decided to make a successor to the STf. They planned to equip it with enhanced video features : Atari said then that the STe will have a 640 x 400 with 16 colors among 4096 and a 320 x 200 with 256 colors among 4096 graphic modes. Unfortunately, eventually, the STe will have none of these graphic modes.
The new features are :\
\- a new version of the OS ("Rainbow" TOS 1.6 and later, 1.62),\
\- a Blitter chip to quick perform memory moves (it is the [the Mega STf](/museum/atari-mega-st/) one),\
\- the video chip (Shifter) has been enhanced: the STe can perform, as the [Amiga](/museum/commodore-amiga-1000/), hardware scrolling in all directions and it is possible to write into the video counters. It also handle 4096 colors instead of 512, unfortunately, it can only display a maximum of 16 of them (without trick).\
\- 'phase lock' of the video output to an external video source permitting direct linking to genlocking device.\
\- It has enhanced sound features too: two 8 bit PCM (Pulse Coded Modulation) channels which can replay stereo sound at 6.25, 12.5, 25, or 50 KHz and which can be mixed with the 3 FM channels.
Despite its new and interesting features, the Atari STe was a flop in the marketplace. The STf market was too important and the software editors (especially game editors) didn't sell STe versions of their products.
Not long after this, Atari launched the [Mega STe](/museum/atari-mega-ste/) to replace the [Mega STf](/museum/atari-mega-st/).
There was an interesting variation on the STe in the R&D labs of Atari, called the STe+, which had an AMD 286 chip and a small IDE hard drive built in. Quite why this was abandoned nobody really knows, but a number of working prototypes were found in Atari's Mexico office when Atari finally blinked out of existence and have appeared on ebay from time to time.
---
**Contributors:** Malcolm Ramage.
PC emulator by **James Cronin**:\
I had a 512 version of the STe, which we later upgraded to 1024 by the purchase of additional memory. We also later purchased a second floppy drive for it. As you said the main limitation to it was the graphics which you could switch between High, Medium and Standard. The High mode was only in black and white on the TV output. The nice thing was that they had a phono composite video output on them which allowed them to easily be hooked upto a projector / large TV.\
One interesting thing we fitted to ours was a PC emulator. There were a number avaliable during the lifespan of the machine, either hardware or software. the unit we chose was called ST-AT16. It consisted of an aditional card which had an AMD 286 16Mhz processor on it, and a socket for the Motorola chip this pluged into the main processor socket, and you put the motorola chip onto this card as well. Two disks were used to swap it into PC mode and you then booted dos from here.\
It was painfuly slow, and as we had no hard drive was very limited as most IBM compatible software that was beign produced at this time required a hard drive to run. Te fact that the graphics were now outdated soon brought it to the end of its life. However it became a glorified typewriter for a few more years. Software wise all we really did was run ST FM software on it and only had one piece specific for the STe which was a midi program (name slips my mind).\
It was after around 4 years of good service replaced by a philips 286 with a 1024X768 X 256 colour display. The only thing that ever went wrong was the phono socket for the TV out came lose on the board, but this was quickly soldered back on.
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