From rnews Mon Jun 15 12:39:12 1992 Xref: umn.edu comp.sys.atari.st:8205 news.answers:1736 Path: umn.edu!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!news.iastate.edu!vincent1.iastate.edu!sourada From: sourada@iastate.edu (Steven D Ourada) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,news.answers Subject: Welcome to comp.sys.atari.st! (Hardware) Summary: Some frequent questions and answers about Atari 16/32 bit computers. Please read this before asking a question on comp.sys.atari.st. Message-ID: Date: 15 Jun 92 15:31:22 GMT Article-I.D.: vincent1.sourada.708622282 Expires: Wed, 15 Jul 1992 00:00:00 GMT References: Sender: news@news.iastate.edu (USENET News System) Followup-To: comp.sys.atari.st Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA Lines: 295 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Archive-name: csas-faq/part3 Welcome to comp.sys.atari.st! Please read this FAQ before posting a question to comp.sys.atari.st, since a lot of common questions are answered here. Thanks to David Paschall-Zimbel (davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu) for compiling most of this FAQ. The following is an index of the questions answered in this part of the FAQ. For easy access to a particular question, search for the tag surrounded by colons (i. e. :GNU:) WEL Welcome to comp.sys.atari.st ACCEL Hardware Accelerators DRIVES What should I know about hard drives and the ST? FLOPPY Can I use 1.44 meg floppy disks? GRAPHIC How can I enjoy enhanced graphics on my ST? JOY What joysticks work best with the Atari ST? MODEM What modems work with the Atari ST? MONITOR What should I know about monitors and the ST? PCEM How can I turn my Atari ST into a PC emulator? SPECTRE How can I turn my Atari ST into a Macintosh emulator? UPGRADE Can/should I upgrade my ST? :WEL: Welcome to comp.sys.atari.st ============================ This newsgroup is devoted to discussion about 16 and 32 bit Atari micros. At present that includes the Atari 520ST, 1040ST, Mega ST, STe, STacy, Mega STe, and the Atari TT. There are also emulators for the Apple Macintosh and IBM PC/XT/AT available. Most of the people who read this newsgroup are technically oriented. The newsgroup serves as a resource for Atari users ... feel free to contribute to the discussions. Associated newsgroups include: comp.binaries.atari.st ! uuencoded binary programs comp.sys.atari.st.tech ! technical programming/hardware topics comp.sources.atari.st ! uuencoded/shar sources :ACCEL: Hardware Accelerators ===================== :DRIVES: What should I know about hard drives and the ST? [Still under construction. Send me stuff!] On older ST's (pre Mega-STe), the only harddrive port available is Atari's proprietary one. This means that you must either buy a drive from Atari, or get a SCSI interface and use a SCSI drive. ICD makes several flavors of SCSI interfaces. (ICD, Incorporated, 1220 Rock Street, Rockford IL 61101, (815)968-2228) :FLOPPY: Can I use 1.44 meg floppy disks? 1.4 megabyte floppy drives will soon be available from Atari for MegaSTe and TT machines. If you own an older Atari ST, there is a company which offers a $199 kit (including floppy) to install and use the drive. (I will supply the name next month, sorry...) Note that Tos versions prior to 2.06 will not format a 1.4 meg floppy from the desktop. :GRAPHIC: How can I enjoy enhanced graphics on my ST? For stock STs, JRI makes a chip which allows a 4096 color palette. There is also a public domain enhancement that allows 32768 colors on older STs. This can be found as 32kcolor.lzh on some archives. There are a number of graphics boards on the market. Here is a first pass at listing some of them. The information is based on postings by Ben Gilbert and Jari Lehto. C32 board by Matrix Datensystem (Germany) * 800x608, 256 colors * all ST/TT models * 256k, 512k and 1meg versions C75Z board by Matrix Datensystem (Germany) * 1024x768, 256 colors * Mega ST or STe, TT VME Buss (Matrix GmbH has over 15, maybe over 20 with all versions, different graphics boards available, from hobbyist to professional, from CAD to GenLock and digitizing.) ISAC board by Dover Research Company (U.S.) * 1024x768, 16 colors from palette of 4096 * makes hi-res look like ST low res, just with a huge window * Mega ST buss * Dover Research Co. (612) 492-3913 The Imagine by Wittich Computer GmbH (Germany) * 1024x768, 256 colors * Mega ST only (Versions available for all ST/TT models. Several possible resolutions. Reasonable price, but slow and not very compatible..) Crazy Dots by TKR (Germany) * 1024x768, 256 colors * Mega ST only (1280x800, 256 colors out of 16.7 million color palette. 1664x1200 for both 16 color and monochrome. True color option available. Mega ST, Mega STe and TT.) reSOLUTION SuperVGA by GengTec (Germany) * 8 resolutions, 320x200 through 1600x1200 * 16 colors without driver, 256 out of 256,000 with driver * 1 mb RAM * uses a standard VGA monitor * Mega ST or regular ST * available in U.S. from Rio Datel, 1-800-782-9110, (702) 454-700 (1024x768 is the highest resolution with 256 colors. Driver is called Multicolor VGA option. Compatible with NVDI and Blitter. Multisync monitor recommended.) AlberTT * like ISAC card, but specific for TT VME buss MegaScreen * 832x624 monochrome * connects to MegaBus * works with Spectre Reflex *1024x1024 with SM124 monitor *2048x2048 possible with expansion *usable with most big-screen displays ODIN by Marvin AG (Switzerland) * external expansion * gives TT-resolutions to a regular ST Cyrel * RISC-based card * extremely costly Graphics cards for which information is sought: OmniChrome board by Omnimon Peripherals JRI GenLock Atari/Lexicor 24 bit color card Jari Lehto proposed the following recommendations: Low budget SVGA - reSOLUTION Professional high-end use Cyrel (or is it Cyrix?) Hobby or semi-pro DTP Reflex Hobby DTP MegaScreen To obtain TT resolution ODIN :JOY: What joysticks work best with the Atari ST? The Atari ST works with joysticks with a 'standard' D-Socket. IBM-style joysticks, Apple joysticks, and Nintendo joysticks will -not- work. Some recommended joysticks: Konix Navigator - "best .. if you want to use it for any length of time" Gravis - "responsive ... great for games like MidiMaze" WICO - "strong reed switches, hard plastic and metal components" Atari - "FAR more controllable and responsive than other, more durable units" :MODEM: What modems work with the Atari ST? Any external modem should work fine with the Atari ST-series of computers. You will need to purchase or build an RS-232 cable. Be sure the cable is capable of establishing DTR with your modem, as many telecommunications packages check the status of the DTR line. (Ask your local hardware guru if you don't know what DTR is...) The ST can connect to modems at up to 19,200 baud. Practically, you will purchase either a 2400-baud or 9600-baud modem. The cost of 2400-baud modems has dropped so much in the past few years that you should not even consider a slower modem. Believe me, modem speeds under 2400-baud are going to seem SLOOOOOOOW to you! :MONITOR: What should I know about monitors and the ST? The monitor is your connection to the ST. Without a monitor, you're typing blind. (Unless, of course, you have an RF modulator on your ST and attach it to your TV set. This is discouraged, as the bandwidth and resolution are pretty terrible for anything other than arcade games.) There are three monitor choices for those of us owning Atari ST/STe equipment: 1. Monochrome monitors - these include the venerable SM124, one of the sharpest monochrome monitors on the market. Street price is about $150, used monitors should run around $80-90. You can also purchase a 19" monochrome monitor. This gives you a 'big screen' to play around in, and is best for work with DTP and CAD systems. The price is a bit high at $1500+, and you'll need a plug-in board, which is generally set up for the Mega ST machine. 2. Color monitors - including the SC1224 in all of its incarnations (JVC and Goldstar being the primary vendors). The newer monitor, the SC1435, has a 14" screen and stereo sound. 3. Multisync monitors - these monitors provide monochrome and color access in one monitor. The street price is around $450, about $100 more than a standard Atari color monitor. You need to reset your computer to change resolutions. In many cases, a nice little switch box is provided (or you can build one) which does this for you. Examples of multisync monitors include the OMNIMON RAINBOW MONITOR. There are any number of monitor choices for those owning Atari TT equipment, although they all boil down to 'multisync VGA'. There 14" color VGA monitor from Atari is quite nice, as is the 19" monochrome monitor. Any standard 14" multisync VGA monitor will do as well. Forget moving your SM124 or SC1224 monitor to your new system, the cabling and electronics is just not going to work. :PCEM: How can I turn my Atari ST into a PC emulator? ============================================== :SPECTRE: How can I turn my Atari ST into a Macintosh emulator? ===================================================== :UPGRADE: Can/should I upgrade my ST? The answer depends on the type of ST you currently have, and what you want to do in the future. Be aware that there are a large number of modifications one can perform on the venerable 1040ST, and that newer machines are coming down in cost so much that to obtain a certain feature it may be cheaper to purchase new than to upgrade. 1. Memory - most ST machines may be upgraded to 4 megabytes. The newer STe machines use either SIP or SIMM 2. TOS - for those still running TOS 1.0, now is the time to consider an upgrade. TOS 1.4 has been around for at least 2 years now, and is -much- faster (and safer) for those using hard drives. TOS 2.06 is available as a hardware upgrade to ST and MegaST machines for about $150 from CodeHead ===================================================================== Hope you liked the comp.sys.atari.st FAQ. If you have comments, suggestions, more material, etc., mail me at sourada@iastate.edu Thanks to David Paschall-Zimbel (davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu) for compiling most of this FAQ. Later, Steven Ourada -- ----------------- Steven Ourada Member of the Students for Electronic Freedom Ask me how Iowa State University is censoring my Usenet access! sourada@iastate.edu "can't casts no shadow" -- cummings