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---
title: Atari 130 ST - 260 ST
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1985'
cpus:
- Motorola MC68000
params:
name: 130 ST - 260 ST
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_system_350_1.jpg
company: /companies/atari
company_name: Atari
specs:
- label: NAME
value: 130 ST - 260 ST
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Atari
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1985'
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full-stroke keyboard with numeric and cursor keypads
- label: CPU
value: Motorola MC68000
- label: SPEED
value: 8 mHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: N/A
- label: RAM
value: 128 KB (130 ST) / 512 KB (260 ST)
- label: ROM
value: 32 KB to 192 KB
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 40 or 80 columns x 25 lines
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 320 x 200 / 640 x 200 / 640 x 400 dots
- label: COLORS
value: 16 among 512 (320 x 200) / 4 among 512 (640 x 400) / monochrome (640 x 400) this last mode needs a special monitor.
- label: SOUND
value: 3 voices, 8 octaves
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 47 (W) x 24 (D) x 6 (H) cm
- label: I/O PORTS
value: RGB, Cardridge, Midi (in/out), Centronics, RS232c, Hard Disk, Floppy Disk, Joystick, Mouse
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 3.5'' external disk-drive unit
- label: OS
value: TOS / GEM
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: External power supply unit
- label: PRICE
value: 520 (260ST with SF354 disc drive unit)
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- emulators
- links
- docs
forum_thread: 899
photos:
- title: ATARI 130 ST -VIEW#2
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_130st_3.jpg
- title: ATARI 130ST -VIEW#1
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_130st_1.jpg
- title: 260ST LARGER VIEW
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_system_1.jpg
- title: LEFT SIDE
subtitle: ''
text: ROM cartridges connector
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_leftside_1.jpg
- title: RIGHT SIDE
subtitle: ''
text: Joystick and mouse connectors
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_rightside_1.jpg
- title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_keybcloseup_1.jpg
- title: REAR SIDE
subtitle: ''
text: |-
**(1)** Reset switch\
**(2)** Power switch. Power is supplied by an external PSU providing +5V, +12V and -12V\
**(3)** Power DIN plug\
**(4)** Midi Out DIN plug\
**(5)** Midi In\
**(6)** RGB monitor output. 13-pin DIN plug\
**(7)** Paraller printer DB25 connector\
**(8)** Serial RS232 DB25 connector\
**(9)** External floppy disc unit 14-pin DIN plug\
**(10)** External hard disc unit 19-pin DIN plug
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_backside_1.jpg
- title: MAIN BOARD
subtitle: ''
text: |-
**(1)** DMA controller for external FD/HD drives\
**(2)** Western Digital WDC 1772 floppy disc controller\
**(3)** 2 x 6850 ACIA. Manage Midi IN & OUT\
**(4)** Yamaha YM21149F sound generator (AY-8912 compatible)\
**(5)** Video shifter (shifts video registers). This chip is normally covered with a metallic magnetic shield\
**(6)** Keyboard connector\
**(7)** 512 KB RAM chips - 16 x Fujitsu 81256 (256K x 1 bit)\
**(8)** MMU chip (Memory Management Unit)\
**(9)** MC68000 processor\
**(10)** 68901 chip, also called 'Multi-Function Peripheral', handles peripherals interrupts\
**(11)** 'Glue' custom chip, coordinates all the components of the system\
**(12)** 6 x 32 KB ROM chips, hold TOS operating system and GEM graphics interface
image: /media/museum/photos/atari_260st_mainboard_1.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 :**
related:
- /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-mega-ste
- /museum/atari-st-book
- /museum/atari-stacy
- /museum/atari-stylus-st-pad
- /museum/atari-tt-030
oc_id: 922
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230606140948/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=922
date: '2023-06-06'
---
The Atari 130 ST (ST means sixteen/thirty-two :16 bit data bus & 32 bit address bus) was shown at the Winter Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in 1985. It was the great surprise of the show and was presented only six months after Jack Tramiel bought Atari, Inc. (He later named it Atari Corp).
The ST series was rushed onto the market as Atari had originally contracted Amiga Corp. to manufacture a 16-Bit home computer, but legal issues caused the dissolution of that contract resulting in Commodore Computer releasing the [Amiga](/museum/commodore-amiga-1000/) and Atari creating the ST using 'Off The Shelf' electronics to release a computer to coincide with Commodore's release of the Amiga.
It was also designed to be a "[Macintosh](/museum/apple-macintosh/) Killer", and was jokingly called the "Jackintosh". It offered lots of features never found on home computers before: 16 bit microprocessor, lots of interfaces, standard MIDI interface, high graphic resolution, lot of colors, enhanced GUI (Graphic User Interface). It was much more powerful and expandable than the Macintosh (MIDI, graphics, colors, and the like) and competitors weren't very numerous ([Commodore 128](/museum/commodore-c128-c128d/), [PC AT](/museum/ibm-pc-at/), & compatibles, and the old CP/M machines). That explains why more than 6 million of Atari ST's were sold around the world.
The Atari 130 ST was a prototype for the press demonstration and was never released because of its small memory size : the complete operating system couldn't fit in it. It was replaced by the **Atari 260 ST** and the **Atari 520 ST**. Despite its name, the Atari 260 ST was shipped with 512 KB of RAM, because the 192 KB operating system left less than 64 KB of free RAM.
The Operating System was TOS (**T**ramiel **O**perating **S**ystem, later renamed just "The Operating System") which was in fact no more than the old CP/M 68K. Notice that to make easy the transition from the PC to ST, all the high level calls of the TOS (called GEMDOS) were compatible with the DOS calls of the PC (int 21h).
All of the ST family systems used the GEM, which stands for Graphic Environment Manager, GUI (from Digital Research) which has a striking resemblance to the Macintosh GUI (windows, dialog boxes, desktop, desktop accessories, & bitmap fonts) even if it is a bit less friendly than the Apple one.
The 260ST Operating System (TOS & GEM) was supplied on disquette with earlier models, then into 6 x 32 KB ROM chips when the development of the O.S. was fully finished.
ST systems had several dedicated coprocessors for interrupt handling (MFP 68901), sound (the old Yamaha YM 2149, same as General Instruments AY-3-8910 found in [MSX computers](/museum/msx-1/), [Amstrad](/museum/amstrad-cpc-464/) or [Oric](/museum/oric-1/)), video (a custom chip called "Shifter"), and memory (a custom chip called "GLUE" and the MMU).