Atari ST 520 on ebay

[sodarun]

I came across this Atari St on ebay, it look like its working ( he shows a screen boot up)

however the desktop doesn't show the A drive

 

http://r.ebay.com/bKyD6k

 

 

Its been a while since I seen a real Atari ST book up can anyone tell me if that is normal?

Edited March 3, 2015 by sodarun

[English Invader]

That's an original model ST which doesn't have an internal disk drive. Never used one myself so I don't know if the disk drive icons are still meant to be there if there is no disk drive connected.

 

If you're thinking about this and you're a new user, I would recommend waiting for an STfm or STe as they're a lot more common and infinitely better supported. The original model is for die-hard collectors.

Edited March 3, 2015 by English Invader

[Zogging Hell]

The disk drives won't appear on the ST if there is no drive connected so that is normal.

[sodarun]

That's an original model ST which doesn't have an internal disk drive. Never used one myself so I don't know if the disk drive icons are still meant to be there if there is no disk drive connected.

 

If you're thinking about this and you're a new user, I would recommend waiting for an STfm or STe as they're a lot more common and infinitely better supported. The original model is for die-hard collectors.

 

Thanks

[galax]

There's not a huge difference between this ST/STM (I think it's technically an an STM, as I see a TV out on the back) and an STFM. The great thing about these non-internal floppy STs though is that the joystick & mouse ports are on the side in a more sensible place (for the user at least, from the PCB designer's point of view it was a lot simpler to put them under on the keyboard).

 

I had an STFM years ago but I found one of these locally and I really like the cute little smaller case- I upgraded mine to TOS to 1.4 and 1MB and I use it with an external Ultrasatan and/or external HxC; no need for a bulky noisy slow floppy drive at all. The older TOS is OK for games but I think it's not as great at accessing hard drives. I have a Mega STE, TT, and Falcon for when I want to use a bigger and more powerful machine

 

There are still 1MB memory expansions around here and there, but it might be easier to expand the memory of an STFM, if that's important. Of course (most) STEs are easier still, as they usually have plug in SIMM memory a bit like modern PCs. Of course the STM doesn't have the STE's extra features, which makes a bit of a difference for demos, chiptune music, and a very few later games.

Edited March 4, 2015 by galax