Got all my computer crap out of basement, what to do with TT030?

[bobotech]

I have a TT030 system in my basement. Powered it up about 9 years ago and it apparently worked fine. Had a hard drive, forgot what size though.

 

Anyway, I am thinking of getting rid of it but what should I look for in the system? I don't have any software for any ST class machine other than what is on the hard drive.

 

I just never used an ST machine when I was growing up. It was all 8-bit atari for me as a young one.

 

But this TT030 thing intrigues me.

 

Was it made before or after the Falcon?

 

[Justin Payne]

Yep. It was released in 1990 and was targeted to the business community. Of course, the Internet provides.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT030

 

That's a nice little collectors item and I'm sure any ST fan would love to add that to their collection. I know I would. It does have some advantages over the Falcon but also some limitations.

[Rybags]

TT came before Falcon - it's better endowed in the CPU department but the Falcon betters it with sound/graphics capabilities.

 

I should think it'd fetch a decent price, probably not as much as a Falcon but still probably over $150.

[Muzz73]

<DROOL>

 

I've never even seen a TT030 up close! Man, I'd love to get my knuckles around that!

 

Seriously, though... it's a neat machine, designed more as a business/workstation type rather than a personal computer. It came out before the Falcon and has the most guts of any Atari desktop overall (68030 & 68882, both @ 32MHz). It has the same sound capabilities as the STE line and a really nice monochrome high res. mode (1280x960) with the right monitor.

 

A lot of older games don't like it, but for running apps, it's awesome.

 

If you ever decide to part with it...

[bobotech]

I just bypassed the whole ST era back in the late eighties. I didn't have money for fancy computers so I ended up going with a low end entry level Compuadd XT clone around 1988 or so and left my atari stuff behind. I collect to mainly play games. Like recreating my childhood with stuff that I could only dream of and now can afford cheaply. Found a lot of nice stuff in my basement that I have long forgotten about (15 years worth of collecting, but I'm moving to a much smaller place). Sega Nomad, 3 Indus GT drives for my 8 bit stuff, couple of 1200XLs, couple of Virtual Boys, lots of Apple 2 stuff, an Amiga (never ever had an interest in them), and my TT030 and a customized 1040st (has a bunch of added on chips and stuff), a few Commodore monitors, and a pair of Atari SC1224 monitors and my Northstar Horizon.

 

The key is that I like to play games, not really use applications. Honestly, what do people use the TT030 for when you say applications? Sounds like it really isn't geared for video games though.

[Muzz73]

The TT030 is great for music, graphic arts, desktop publishing and pretty much anything you can do with a computer that isn't a game.

 

The things that some games don't like much on the TT030 are the advanced version of TOS that ir runs, and a few things about the architecture... primarily that fact that Atari didn't install the scrolling hardware that a lot of games use, figuring that having such a powerful processor would compensate for it. Unfortunately, that's not how a lot of programmers felt at the time.

[bobotech]

The TT030 is great for music, graphic arts, desktop publishing and pretty much anything you can do with a computer that isn't a game.

 

The things that some games don't like much on the TT030 are the advanced version of TOS that ir runs, and a few things about the architecture... primarily that fact that Atari didn't install the scrolling hardware that a lot of games use, figuring that having such a powerful processor would compensate for it. Unfortunately, that's not how a lot of programmers felt at the time.

So in other words, keeping my 1040st(e?) would probably be better for games anyway. I don't do desktop publishing, graphic arts, music, etc so it is a machine that would be wasted on me.

 

Can you easily add hard drives or other forms of mass storage to the 1040 class of machines? That is the one appealing feature of the TT030, is that it has the internal hard drive.

[Justin Payne]

Yep or you can use an SD Card use an UltraSatan, which is probably easier since you'll need to find an ol' scsi drive and ICD Contoller.

Now, I don't have an UltraSatan but I'm pretty sure you'll also need HDDriver driver software, which will set you back a few additional dollars. Do a web search for both.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

TT was designed for serious work in first place, while being pretty much ST compatible. There was high res. monitor for it. Of course, all that was not cheap.

Indeed, today is not much interesting, and TT exclusive SW count is low. And there are only few games made specially for TT - not surprise.

Today is possible to play many ST games on TT, because 'some' people work on it. But some can not be fixed.

I think that if you want only to play Atari games, best would be to sale that TT for someone who can utilise it, and fix, upgrade by need.

I would be interested, and I have some SCSI disks, which will work fine in TT. PM me if want to talk about ..

[Umberto]

you want to sell it? pm sent

[Justin Payne]

Let the bidding war begin.

[doctorclu]

Wow soooo tempted by this. I've had two TT030's and they have so many add-ons and compartments I always thought the computer was like the ST equivalent of the Atari 800 in the 8 bit world.

 

What I enjoyed on the TT030 was internet browsing with CAB 2.7 (in 2000). IRC chat, Mod Players, and PageStream for newsletter publication. Had a laser printer or two that I got working. There was even a good movie player for the Atari ST/TT/Falcon.

 

AMAZING machine. As you play more and more with the ST world you find that everything is devided between types of computers, and types of operating systems. At the time you were split with MINT, TOS, Magic, Geneva, and other smaller ones. Each adding something new to the look of the ST, and not all cross compatible.

 

The final straw for me when was the coldfire upgrade was made available for the Falcon but not the TT030, though interest was found and proven for such an upgrade.

 

That said, if you look you will find cool video and processor upgrades for the TT030.

 

Most games break with the TT030 chipset, especially those that used hardware tricks especially designed for the ST. Maybe some have been hacked to work with the later ST/TT/Falcon line. One game I LOVED on the TT030 was "The Battle of Britian: Their Finest Hour" which not only ran well, but smoothly thanks to the extra power of the TT030 (at 33mhz) verses the original ST (running at 8 mhz). I loved the game so much that when I got rid of all my ST items for a while I kept that game.

 

Another fun aspect the TT030 has over the Falcon is the ability to run the Macintosh Emulator Spectre. The TT030 becomes a blazingly fast Mac Plus that can run up to system 6.08. Ok, that is REALLY old these days, but back when I was playing with it they were only up to system 8 or maybe 9. Still many games worked under that emulation like Creepy Castle and ironically the tank game, Spectre.

 

And what was REALLY funny was how you could run a TT030, running Spectre, and then run the Apple 2 emulator or PC emulator. That was a trip.

 

When I sold my 2nd TT030 they were just starting to play with SCSI ethernet adaptors and those that got them working loved the internet speeds.

 

For a gamer, you are right, the original ST is the way to go, but if you can, get a ST with an AdSpeedST (to switch from 8 mhz to 16 mhz) or a Mega STE, which looks like a TT on the outside, but had better backwards compatibilitiy with more speed.

[Justin Payne]

Wow soooo tempted by this. I've had two TT030's and they have so many add-ons and compartments I always thought the computer was like the ST equivalent of the Atari 800 in the 8 bit world.

 

 

You've had two. Well, sir, I'm sorry but you've met your quota. You will have to let others have first dibs.

[bobotech]

I forget, can this machine use a standard VGA monitor? I seem to remember hooking it up to a regular VGA monitor 9-10 years ago when I last powered it up.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Yes, TT works pretty well with VGA monitors. so with new LCD ones too.

 

 

 

...

Most games break with the TT030 chipset, especially those that used hardware tricks especially designed for the ST. Maybe some have been hacked to work with the later ST/TT/Falcon line. One game I LOVED on the TT030 was "The Battle of Britian: Their Finest Hour" which not only ran well, but smoothly thanks to the extra power of the TT030 (at 33mhz) verses the original ST (running at 8 mhz). I loved the game so much that when I got rid of all my ST items for a while I kept that game.

 

 

Most games ? Not true. Aprox half of games work on TT without changing their code. May need to turn off cache, some may run too fast, but work. With special launchers % of games working on TT goes up to 98% . And incompatibility is CPU in most cases, + it is what causes speed troubles, so must add slowdown in many cases. Yes, hardware tricks are which work not on TT (and Faclon) - but they are used in rare cases - like overscan and some tricks for scrolling. Beside CPU, problems are usually with video, MFP - correctable.

[+Guitarman]

Wow soooo tempted by this. I've had two TT030's and they have so many add-ons and compartments I always thought the computer was like the ST equivalent of the Atari 800 in the 8 bit world.

 

 

 

You've had two. Well, sir, I'm sorry but you've met your quota. You will have to let others have first dibs.

 

I guess I shouldn't mention the 2 TT030's I have then, one boxed with the 19" HiRes monitor!!! LOL It is an amazing system and probably the corner-piece of the ST/TT/Falcon side of my collection.

[TwiliteZoner]

My advice would be to think long and hard before selling off anything. Its usually after something is gone that you remembered why you bought it in the first place and to buy it back is almost always more expensive.

[delvis]

Sounds like some choices are to be made. What ever you do, do not trash it. Someone will buy it from you I am sure, if the price is right.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

My advice would be to think long and hard before selling off anything. Its usually after something is gone that you remembered why you bought it in the first place and to buy it back is almost always more expensive.

That would be true if machines would be not so old as they are now. Keeping TT (or any similar oldie) for another decade without use means practically that machine will not be used anymore - may say that will 'die alone' . Chances that will work when you just turn it on in 2024 are minimal.

This is not as collecting old books, stamps ..

Edited April 11, 2014 by ParanoidLittleMan

[Justin Payne]

I think it's like anything as it gets older. One would expect it to require a little more work to keep it going. So, I think the questions on should ask themselves before selling something off like this are...

1. Is the person you are selling this to show signs that they care for this piece of history?

2. Do you feel that they will do the same when the sell it to the next person?

I know you have no control over what will happen to the thing after you sell it but you can still do anlittle homework before you do, like seeing if this person has a collection already and is part of a retro computer group and has been for quite some time.

My dad has a 1941 Studebaker show car. He will probably will it to me. He knows I have no interest in it but I do understand the historic value so I intend to make sure the next owner is a good owner.

Speaking of that, are schematics available for these old system? It might be a good idea to have things like this to keep then running to 2024 and beyond. :-)

[TwiliteZoner]

That would be true if machines would be not so old as they are now. Keeping TT (or any similar oldie) for another decade without use means practically that machine will not be used anymore - may say that will 'die alone' . Chances that will work when you just turn it on in 2024 are minimal.

This is not as collecting old books, stamps ..

 

That's a valid opinion. I was speaking from my personal point of view and experience. I have sold off parts of my collection in the past and ended up regretting it and replacing it later at a higher cost.

[Lynxpro]

You can apparently upgrade the TT to 256MB RAM but I don't have a link handy. There's also a website that has a bunch of code fixes for the ST's most popular games so they'll work with the TT.

[rustynutt]

Chronos Key Frame Animator, Phoenix, Zenomorph, DynaCadd, POV, EB MODEL, it's all a game

Using graphic output from those programs, and one of the game creator programs, you'll be so busy you'll want to retire, if not already done so!

[rustynutt]

You can apparently upgrade the TT to 256MB RAM but I don't have a link handy. There's also a website that has a bunch of code fixes for the ST's most popular games so they'll work with the TT.

GE Soft TT Ram card can handle that much RAM. Not sure if there are others. Likely.

[+slx]

I used a TT with a graphics card and a 17" VGA Monitor as my main machine from about 92-96, upgrading from a Mega ST and l enjoyed it very much. Compared to the ST the extra RAM and speed allowed for smoother use of enhanced OSs and desktops and more screen real estate than the ST plus colour, offering much better usability than its Win 3.1 contemporary for less money than a Colour Mac with equal performance. I only switched to PCs when Internet use with CAB became a bit tedious compared to Netscape and I needed Word to work on files from work at home. Now it's resting in the basement but I'll try to power it up before 2024.