Atari ST - Models

Models

The members of the ST family are listed below, in rough chronological order:

520ST

Original model with 512 kB RAM, external power supply, no floppy disk drive. The early models had only a bootstrap ROM and TOS had to be loaded from disk.

130ST

intended to be a 128 kB variant. Announced at the 1985 CES alongside the 520ST but never produced.

520ST+

early 520STs with 1 MB of RAM, but without floppy disk

260ST

originally intended to be a 256 kB variant, but actually sold in small quantities in Europe with 512 kB. Used after the release of the 520ST+ to differentiate the cheaper 512 kB models from the 1 MB models

520STM

a 520ST with a built-in modulator for TV output, 512 kB RAM.

520STFM

a 520STM with a newly redesigned motherboard in a larger case with a built-in floppy disk drive (in some cases a single sided drive only), 512 kB RAM.

1040STF

a 520STFM with 1 MB of RAM and a built-in double-sided floppy disk, but without RF modulator

1040STFM

a 520STFM with 1 MB of RAM and a built-in double-sided floppy disk with RF modulator

Mega ST (MEGA 1, MEGA 2, MEGA 4)

redesigned motherboard with 1, 2 or 4 MB of RAM, respectively, in a much improved "pizza box" case with a detached keyboard. All MEGA mainboard have a PLCC socket for the Blitter chip and some early models did not include the BLiTTER chip. Included a real-time clock and internal expansion connector. Some early MEGA 2 had a MEGA 4 mainboard with half of the mem chip places unpopulated and these MEGA 2 can be upgraded by adding the additional DRAM chips and some resistors for the control lines. The MEGA 1 mainboards had a redesigned mem chip area and could not be upgraded in this way as there are only mem chip places for the 1 MByte DRAM chips.

520STE and 1040STE

a 520STFM/1040STFM with enhanced sound, the BLiTTER chip, and a 4096-color palette, in the older 1040 style all-in-one case

4160STE

as 1040STE but with 4 MB of RAM. Never officially released except a small quantity of development units. Labels were sent out to dealers to affix to machines that had been upgraded to 4MB.

Mega STE

same hardware as 1040STE except for a faster 16 MHz processor, an onboard SCSI controller, additional faster RS232 port, VME expansion port, in the TT case

STacy

a portable (but definitely not laptop) version of the ST. Originally designed to operate on 12 standard C cell flashlight batteries for portability, when Atari finally realized how quickly the machine would use up a set of batteries (especially when rechargeable batteries of the time supplied insufficient power compared to the intended alkalines), they simply glued the lid of the battery compartment shut, and soon discontinued the machine.

ST BOOK

a later portable ST, more portable than the STacy, but sacrificing several features in order to achieve this — notably the backlight, and internal floppy disk drive. Files were meant to be stored on a small amount (one megabyte) of internal flash memory 'on the road' and transferred using serial or parallel links, memory flashcards or external (and externally powered) floppy disk to a desktop ST once back indoors. The screen is highly reflective for the time, but still hard to use indoors or in low light, it is fixed to the 640 × 400 1-bit mono mode, and no external video port was provided. For its limitations, it gained some popularity, particularly amongst musicians.