website/content/museum/atari-falcon-030.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Atari FALCON 030	Computers	Home Computer	U.S.A.	1992	Motorola MC68030	name image company company_name specs tabs photos hardware emulators links docs comments related oc_id source FALCON 030 /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_system_1.jpg /companies/atari Atari label value NAME FALCON 030 label value MANUFACTURER Atari label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1992 label value CPU Motorola MC68030 label value SPEED 16 MHz (68030) / 32 MHz (56001) label value CO-PROCESSOR optional FPU (Motorola 68882) label value RAM 4 MB (up to 14 MB) label value ROM 512 KB label value TEXT MODES 40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines (bitmapped graphics) label value GRAPHIC MODES ST Modes, TT Modes, VGA (640 x 480), True Color. label value COLORS Two modes : 16 / 15 bit with True color mode or 262144 with paletted mode label value SOUND 8 channel 16 bit PCM audio system label value I/O PORTS RGB, VGA, PAL, DSP, SCSI, Stereo IN/OUT, Midi (2), LocalTalk, Cardridge, RS232c, Centronics, Analog Joystick (2), Digital Joystick (2), 68030 Bus label value BUILT IN MEDIA 3.5'' FDD and 2.5'' IDE hard disk (44, 65 or 80 MB) depending models. label value OS TOS + GEM photos hardware emulators links docs title subtitle text image NICE PILLOW ! My cat, Praline, is using my Atari Falcon 030 as a pillow. It seems to be really comfortable ! /media/museum/photos/praline.jpg title subtitle text image CLOSE-UP #1 /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_keyboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image CLOSE-UP #2 /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_keyboard_2.jpg title subtitle text image CASE SIDES Left side **(1)** MIDI In\ **(2)** MIDI Out\ **(3)** ROM cartridge connector\ **(4)** 2 x joystick plugs Right side **(5)** Floppy-disc drive /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_sides_1.jpg title subtitle text image MOTHERBOARD **(1)** Midi In/Out DIN plugs\ **(2)** Reset switch\ **(3)** Lan MiniDIN plug\ **(4)** Modem/Serial DB9 connector\ **(5)** Printer/Parallel DB25 connector\ **(6)** IDE bus connector (hard-disk)\ **(7)** Video signals generator chip called VIDEL\ **(8)** RF modulator and TV aerial output chinch plug\ **(9)** RGB monitor DB 19 connector\ **(10)** SCSI controller chip\ **(11)** SCSI connector\ **(12)** Microphone / Headphone jacks\ **(13)** DSP connector\ **(14)** CODEC Chip\ **(15)** 56K DSP (Digital Signal Processing) chip\ **(16)** 64 KB DSP SRAM chips\ **(17)** Direct Memory Access chip\ **(18)** Floppy disc drive cables (data and power)\ **(19)** fan\ **(20)** BIOS and GEM ROM\ **(21)** Memory expansion connectors\ **(22)** COMBEL chip (MMU + GLUE + Blitter)\ **(23)** Motorola 68030 microprocessor\ **(24)** 'Direct Processor' expansion connector\ **(25)** Joystick connectors\ **(26)** Motorola Math coprocessor socket\ **(27)** Multi-Function Peripheral 68901 chip. Performs a 8-bit parallel port, a built-in serial interface, timers and interrupts.\ **(28)** ROM cartridges connector /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_motherboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE Falcon's internal peripharals: **(1)** Switching power supply (+5V - 7A, +12V - 0.5A)\ **(2)** 60 MB CP-2064 Conner hard-disk\ **(3)** 3.5" F.D. drive\ **(4)** 4 MB RAM module /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR CONNECTORS **(1)** Second pair of joystick connectors housing\ **(2)** DSP connector\ **(3)** Headphone jack\ **(4)** Microphone jack\ **(5)** SCSI connector\ **(6)** RGB monitor connector\ **(7)** TV aerial output plug\ **(8)** Parallel/Printer connector\ **(9)** Serial/Modem connector\ **(10)** Lan Mini-DIN connector\ **(11)** Mains power plug and switch\ **(12)** Reset switch /media/museum/photos/atari_falcon30_back_1.jpg title subtitle text image SF-354 Single density disk-drive /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_sf354-diskdrive_1.jpg title subtitle text image SF-314 Disk-drive /media/museum/hardware/atari_st-disk-drive_sf314.jpg title subtitle text image CUMANA DRIVE /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_cumanadrive_1.jpg title subtitle text image SUPRADRIVE 20 Mb hard-disk /media/museum/hardware/atari_supradrive_20mb.jpg title subtitle text image 170MB QUANTUM HARD-DRIVE This unit has an ICD Host Adapter. /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_quamtum_hd170.jpg title subtitle text image ATARI MEGAFILE 30 This hard-drive has a 30Mb capacity. /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_megafile30_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE THE MEGAFILE 30 **(1)** Seagate MFM 30 MB hard-disk Type ST-238\ **(2)** Power supply\ **(3)** Logical board\ **(4)** Power and disk access LED's /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_insidemegafile_1.jpg title subtitle text image ATARI UNIVERSAL MODEM 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. /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_modemsx212_1.jpg title subtitle text image SML-804 Laser printer 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. /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_slm804printer_s1.jpg title subtitle text image SMLC-804 Laser printer interface This interface allowed the SML-804 printer to be connected to any Atari ST holding at least 1 MB RAM. /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_slmcinterface_s1.jpg title url platform text Pacifist ! http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/ MS DOS Pretty good emulator title url platform text Gemulator http://www.emulators.com/gemul8r.htm Windows title url platform text MagiCPC http://www.application-systems.de/magicpc/index.html Windows title url platform text SainT http://saint.atari.org Windows The best Atari ST Emulator ! title url platform text Steem http://steem.atari.st/ Windows Excellent emulator for 1040/520 STE ! title url platform text Tos2Win http://www.aixit.com/tos2win/ Windows A good Atari GEM Emulator ! title url platform text MagiCMac http://www.application-systems.de/magicmac/index.html Apple title url platform text NoSTalgia & PowerST http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/ Apple title url platform text STonX Homepage http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stonx.html Unix / Linux title url platform text Atari ST Emulator http://www.atari-st.lovely.net/ Other platform Written in Java ! title url platform text ARAnyM HTTP://ARANYM.ATARI.ORG Multiplatform Multiplatform project title url platform text Hatari http://hatari.sourceforge.net/ Multiplatform 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. title url text Atari & Commodore Home Computer Museum http://www.best.com/~hmk/ title url text Atari Music Network http://www.atarimusic.net/ Atari Music Network welcomes and celebrates all vintage digital musicians no matter what their computer title url text Atari ST Demo History http://wwwbrauer.in.tum.de/~brandtf/ataridemos.html title url text Atari ST Download Area http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Services/PDA/atari.shtml Atari 400/800/XL/XE & ST/TT/Falcon Software download page title url text ATARI.ORG http://www.atari.org/ Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links ! title url text Dead Hackers Society http://www.dhs.nu/ Atari demo scene title url text Little Green Desktop http://www.atari.st/ Largest Atari ST ressource! title url text Medusa computer http://www.kingx.com/kingx/medusa/thes.html You can still buy an Atari ST family clone computer title url text Milan Computer GmbH http://www.milan-computer.de/ Atari ST - Falcon Clone title url text MiNTOS Distribution http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~steve/mintos.html title url text Musique.Atari.Org HTTP://MUSIQUE.ATARI.ORG Web site dedicated to the ATARI and the Music... title url text PLOPBOX - Atari music archive and jukebox http://www.plopbox.net/ listen to atari tunes directly from your browser title url text Polish Atari Wikipedia http://atariki.krap.pl A lot of info about Atari (in polish) title url text ST Anwender Bern http://my.blackpoint.ch/stab/ Atari ST Usergroup Bern (Swiss) title url text The Atari Historical Society http://www.atarimuseum.com/ The complete history of Atari Arcade and Home games and computers. Complete site with pictures, commercials (streaming), and full text articles. Amazing site ! title url text The Atari ST Quick FAQ http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/ST/ title url text The Atari WebRing Homepage http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=atari Useful ! title url text The Ultimate ATARI Resource http://www.atari.org title url text What is TOS http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/tos_main.htm title url text Index of -~archive-atari- http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/ title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com French forum title url cover text ATARI 520 ST OWNER'S MANUAL http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarist/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/atari_520st_user_doc.jpg [**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 :** author date text Dr. Bob Abell (Kanata, On, Canada) Thursday 22nd August 2013 Jason, Nice to know you remember where you BOUGHT the equipment. The IIe clone was probably a Laser Vtech, but we did have some others. My wife and I owned and ran Alphatel. I still have an STM125, and a couple of new toner cartridges for the 804 laser printer - which was also ahead of its time. We were, until Atari closed their Canadian operations, the Western service center for Atari as well. And we had really loyal customers. Best regards, Bob. author date text Exin (Deutschland) Tuesday 21st May 2013 The Falcon didn''t have any TT Graphics modes, but those from the STe instead. The TT had a 256 Grayscales mode which is not present in the Falcon. author date text Jakob J. (Denmark) Sunday 9th October 2011 The Falcon was my baby back in the good old days (also had a ST and a Mega ST), I got my Falcon 030 cpu running 36MHz with a barracuda card from Germany, great stuff $) I loved the DSP - back in the assembly coding days...\ -Love this "Museum" :) author date text Jason Thompson (Calgary/Canada) Saturday 25th June 2011 My father still has and uses an Atari Falcon 030. I was born in 1975, the first computer we had that I remember using was a TI-99/4A, followed my a Apple IIe clone (can''t remember manufacturer but purchased at Alphatel in Edmonton, AB), followed by an Atari 520STFM and then an Atari 1040ST and eventually the Falcon 030 that is still used today. I think the 520 and 1040 are still operational but haven''t been powered up in decades since the Falcon was purchased... The Atari and Amiga I remember fondly as true leaders of their day. author date text Malcolm Ramage (United Kingdon) Thursday 21st April 2011 I now have 2 of these brilliant if compromised machines. Sadly a full 32 bit processor on a 16 bit data bus and a 24 bit address bus, limiting the 68030 to the same data and address width of the 68000 in the ST. Also the internal expansion bus only brought the signals common to the 68000, making it more like the expansion connector in the Mega ST rather than the VME bus in the TT and Mega STE author date text geff spicmen (Italy) Friday 26th November 2010 these were great computers. Amiga, Atari STe, Falcon... PCs are shit in confrontation, and they killed the market. author date text Alex (Bulgaria) Wednesday 22nd September 2010 This was my first computer :) author date text erika (cambridge, ontario) Thursday 3rd January 2008 this is the first computer i ever used, i remember it had a bumblebee for the cursor, after it's hard drive died my parents threw it out and got a Tandy 1000 author date text Dave Wolnik (Phoenix, Az) Saturday 19th November 2005 Does anyone have a Falcon 030 for sale or know where I can get one? author date text Sprockett (Vancouver, BC) Tuesday 20th September 2005 If anyone is interested in a bit of obscure trivia regarding the Falcon: a company called Bell & Howell (manufacturer of many things from cameras to industrial machines) used Falcons as a control computer for their postal inserting equipment (essentially automated machines that insert mail into envelopes at high speed.) To this day, some of these old mail machines are still in operation in some very prominent mail houses, and the company's technicians scrounge for used machines and parts for these computers to keep them running. author date text Alejandro Corral (Granada (Spain)) Monday 25th August 2003 Hello... I've recently acquired this beautiful computer, and I'm searching for info on an accelerator it has installed, the Skunk Falcon Accelerator. If anyone knows about it, please tell me...\ By the way the computer is absolutely fascinating!! author date text David A. Czuba (Buffalo NY) Tuesday 30th July 2002 We are a Direct Mail printshop which acquired two Bell+Howell Mailstar 500 machines driven by Atari Falcon 030 computers. Since their use is intended for a production environment, the Falcon must be operational despite dust and abuse. So the contention that the OS is unstable has less merit. I am impressed by the variety of interface ports available, including AppleTalk LAN. What could be useful is a TOS2DOS utility for creating bootable disks. /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-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-030 125 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230528022437/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=125 2023-05-28

The Atari Falcon 030 is the successor of the Atari 520 STe and the Atari TT 30.

It keeps some features these machines : The graphic modes (320 x 200 / 16 colors, 640 x 200 / 4 colors, 640 x 400 / 2 colors, 320 x 480 / 256 colors and 640 x 480 / 16 colors) and the sound chips (the old Yamaha PSG and the two 8 bits PCM channels of the STe).

Two new graphic modes have been added : a "small" 256 colors SVGA (640 x 480) and a true color VGA mode (32768 / 65535 colors in 320 x 480). Also when running on a TV, the resolutions are different: True Color mode is 640x480 in PAL and 640x400 in NTSC. The other TV resolutions also have a difference of vertical resolution between PAL and NTSC: 200 or 400 lines in NTSC, 240 or 480 in PAL.

New interfaces were added too : an ADC 16bit 50 KHz and a DSP I/O port. The videochip has also genlocking features.

The Falcon was sold with the single-task TOS operating system in ROM (4.04). It is the old Atari ST TOS with new functions to handle the DSP and the new graphic modes. The GUI was slightly enhanced with colored icons and 3D windows.
Hopefully a multi-task TOS - MultiTOS) was also delivered on disks. This multitasking system uses the MiNT kernel and an enhanced GUI. MiNT (which stands for MiNT is NOT TOS) is a multitasking Operating System with lot of Unix features. It was initially done by Eric Smith. It was bought later by Atari and became then "MiNT is NOW TOS). Atari planned first to put it in ROM, but it was not finished and was shipped on disks.

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More information by Malcolm Ramage:
There are at least 3 types of 'ST' style Falcon, the first version was in an FX-1 type case (Complete with FX-1 keyboard, yellow lettering with red function key numbers), the second was like the machine here (In ST colouring) and the release machine (Lighter case than the FX-1, but still had the dark keys with all lettering in white).

C-Lab licenced the Falcon and released their own version with a slight modification to the audio hardware. The Mk I was a bare falcon with no hard drive, the Mk II included a 500MB hard drive and the Mk X was in a pizza style box with a Mega STe keyboard, but was nothing more than a Mk II in a fancy box.
When C-Lab stopped manufacturing the Falcon in 1995, the machine vanished. No further development was done on the Falcon hardware after 1992.