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title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params
title categories types origins years cpus params
Atari 520 / 1040 STe
Computers
Home Computer
U.S.A.
1990
Motorola MC 68000
name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos hardware emulators links docs related oc_id source
520 / 1040 STe /media/museum/photos/atari_1040_ste_with_box.jpg /companies/atari Atari
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NAME 520 / 1040 STe
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MANUFACTURER Atari
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TYPE Home Computer
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ORIGIN U.S.A.
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YEAR 1990
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KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard with editing and numeric keypads
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CPU Motorola MC 68000
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SPEED 8 mHz
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RAM 4 x SIMM sockets - From 512 KB up to 4 Mb
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ROM 192 KB (256 KB in later versions)
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TEXT MODES 40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines (bitmapped graphics)
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GRAPHIC MODES 320 x 200 (16 colors) / 640 x 200 (4 colors) / 640 x 400 (monochrome)
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COLORS 4096
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SOUND 3 voices + 1 noise channel, 8 octaves + two 8 bit PCM channels
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I/O PORTS Cardridge, Midi (in, out), Centronics, RS232c, Hard Disk, Floppy disk, RGB, Joystick, mouse, 2 x analogue controllers, Stereo RCA jacks
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BUILT IN MEDIA 3.5'' disk-drive
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OS TOS + GEM
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POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU
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PRICE 520 STE : 396 (France, dec.1989)
photos
hardware
emulators
links
docs
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THE STE PROTOTYPE (?) 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. /media/museum/photos/atari_ste_proto.jpg
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SF-354 Single density disk-drive /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_sf354-diskdrive_1.jpg
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SF-314 Disk-drive /media/museum/hardware/atari_st-disk-drive_sf314.jpg
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CUMANA DRIVE /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_cumanadrive_1.jpg
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SUPRADRIVE 20 Mb hard-disk /media/museum/hardware/atari_supradrive_20mb.jpg
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170MB QUANTUM HARD-DRIVE This unit has an ICD Host Adapter. /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_quamtum_hd170.jpg
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ATARI MEGAFILE 30 This hard-drive has a 30Mb capacity. /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_megafile30_1.jpg
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Pacifist ! http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/ MS DOS Pretty good emulator
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Emulators Online http://www.emulators.com/ Windows Demo of Gemulator, a commercial product from BraSoft.
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Gemulator http://www.emulators.com/gemul8r.htm Windows
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MagiCPC http://www.application-systems.de/magicpc/index.html Windows
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Pacifist http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/ Windows The best Atari ST emulator
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SainT http://saint.atari.org Windows The best Atari ST Emulator !
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Steem http://steem.atari.st/ Windows Excellent emulator for 1040/520 STE !
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STonX Homepage http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stemu.html Windows The Atari ST Emulator for Linux/X windows
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Toad Computers' Atari Central http://www.ataricentral.com/ Windows Demo of Magic, a commercial emulator for PC/Windows and Macintosh.
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Tos2Win http://www.aixit.com/tos2win/ Windows A good Atari GEM Emulator !
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TOSBOX Atari emulation homepage http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4448/ Windows
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WinSTon http://www.winston.fatal-design.com/ Windows An emulator for Win95 / Win NT
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MagiCMac http://www.application-systems.de/magicmac/index.html Apple
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NoSTalgia & PowerST http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/ Apple
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NoSTalgia The AtariST Emulator for the Macintosh http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/ Apple
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Toad Computers' Atari Central http://www.ataricentral.com/ Apple Demo of Magic, a commercial emulator for PC/Windows and Macintosh.
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STonX Homepage http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stonx.html Unix / Linux
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Atari ST Emulator http://www.atari-st.lovely.net/ Other platform Written in Java !
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ARAnyM HTTP://ARANYM.ATARI.ORG Multiplatform Multiplatform project
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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.
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Application Systems Heidelberg http://members.aol.com/ashinfo/index.html
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Atari & Commodore Home Computer Museum http://www.best.com/~hmk/
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Atari Demo Scene http://rzserv2.fh-lueneburg.de:8080/Demo_Scene
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Atari game links http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/cache/369/index.html
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Atari Information http://www.qnx.com/~chrish/Atari/index.html
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Atari Music Network http://www.atarimusic.net/ Atari Music Network welcomes and celebrates all vintage digital musicians no matter what their computer
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Atari ST Demo History http://wwwbrauer.in.tum.de/~brandtf/ataridemos.html
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Atari ST Download Area http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Services/PDA/atari.shtml Atari 400/800/XL/XE & ST/TT/Falcon Software download page
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Atari Vaporware Museum http://www.atari.nu/
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ATARI.ORG http://www.atari.org/ Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links !
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Atari-WEB http://web.cnam.fr/Comp/Atari/
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Calculating Pi and Atari ST-Falcon http://www.ast.univie.ac.at/~wasi/PI/stuart_lyster/stlib.htm
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CareBears Online http://hem1.passagen.se/carebear/
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Centek Homepage http://www.centek.fr
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Dead Hackers Society http://www.dhs.nu/ Atari demo scene
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Elysium Atari & TOS Compatible Pages http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/aseabrook/a_index.htm
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Emulators Online http://www.emulators.com/
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Gem programmer's page http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d2cg/gem/
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Little Green Desktop http://www.atari.st/ Largest Atari ST ressource!
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Medusa computer http://www.kingx.com/kingx/medusa/thes.html You can still buy an Atari ST family clone computer
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MiNTOS Distribution http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~steve/mintos.html
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Musique.Atari.Org HTTP://MUSIQUE.ATARI.ORG Web site dedicated to the ATARI and the Music...
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Network ST - The Atari Network - Homepage http://www.nest.demon.co.uk/index.htm
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oAESis http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d2cg/oaesis/
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OXO Concept Home Page http://www.oxo.ch/
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Planet IRATA http://www.http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/3015
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PLOPBOX - Atari music archive and jukebox http://www.plopbox.net/ listen to atari tunes directly from your browser
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Polish Atari Wikipedia http://atariki.krap.pl A lot of info about Atari (in polish)
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ST Anwender Bern http://my.blackpoint.ch/stab/ Atari ST Usergroup Bern (Swiss)
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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 !
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The Atari ST Quick FAQ http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/ST/
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The Atari WebRing Homepage http://atariwebring.home.ml.org/
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The Atari WebRing Homepage http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=atari Useful !
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The New Funkyware Generation http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/
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The Ultimate ATARI Resource http://www.atari.org
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The Wonderful World of Atari Computing http://inet.uni-c.dk/~netop/atari.htm
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What is TOS http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/tos_main.htm
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Index of -~archive-atari- http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/
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Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com French forum
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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 :**
/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
24
url date
https://web.archive.org/web/20230530085305/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=24 2023-05-30

The Atari STe is the successor of the Atari STf (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 one),
- the video chip (Shifter) has been enhanced: the STe can perform, as the Amiga, 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 to replace the Mega STf.

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.