(Exact) Timing of Atari ending/exiting ST(e) production/market?

[(Exact) Timing of Atari ending/exiting ST(e) production/market?]

There was an article in ST Format saying (I think it was Darryl Still) that Atari would still produce small batches of ST's if the companies buying them ordered enough at once, and that was fairly shortly before the collapse of the company. I don't know if this ever happened. There was some talk of some of the Atari die hard firms clubbing together to put an order in, again not sure if this happened. I suspect this would have been cobbling together unsold inventory even so. I imagine this was just keeping an iron in the fire so to speak, in case the Jaguar was successful and they could afford to put some money back into the computer line.

[falcon needs help]

Well if it is anything like other STs it won't work without the keyboard (the IKBD chip is used by the system), so you might want to stick that back in first

 

If that doesn't work then the NVRAM battery dead issue is likely to be the cause of the issue. Try resetting it as a first port of call.

[Mega 2 joystick]

Yep port 1 for joystick, port 0 for mouse/ joystick Because the hardware is read directly and there is no abstraction layer to decide what is plugged into what, developers always went for the port without the mouse, so people can leave that in and still play a game with a joystick in the other port. That standard Atari one will be fine, although if you are into ST games I would think about getting a nicer microswitched model (or a pad if you prefer).

[Mega 2 joystick]

If your mouse is working it's pretty likely the joystick is working in that port. But for most games the joystick usually needs to be in the other port (port 1 iirc) from your mouse (if a second player is playing you will need to plug their joystick into the mouseport). There are no drivers as such, each game usually reads the hardware directly to get the joystick state. Joysticks also don't work in GEM unless you are using one of the more obscure programs that let you control the mouse with the joystick. I take it you have loaded a game with the joystick in port 1 and are getting no response? Occasionally the mechanically not clever design and location of the joystick ports results some solder joints detaching themselves. If you find you can only move in certain directions, or the fire button doesn't work you will possibly need to break out the soldering iron or get someone who can and solder the ports back onto the keyboard. The other thing to check is that often joysticks of the period can run on different home computers, lots of which have different wiring/ pin outs. If the stick is completely unresponsive it may be it is designed for a Spectrum or Commodore or something else (or your joystick is broken). Often there is a switch to change the computer on the joystick (look underneath), or a different coloured additional plug. In the latter case, grey is usually the colour for the other computers and black for the Atari.

 

What joystick are you using BTW, some pads, such as those for the Megadrive/ Genesis are not compatible?

[Nick Harlow/Papyrus X]

Tempus Word was a good alternative if you fail to find a copy of Papyrus X.

 

http://www.tempus-word.de/

 

Might want to email them to see if it still available before you buy though as it hasn't been updated for a long while. I have a copy and can say it is comparable, minus the more office like functions.

[Nick Harlow/Papyrus X]

On 10/20/2020 at 4:23 PM, viking272 said:

It looks like Papyrus X was only made available in German - I wonder if that is an issue for you?

My version was English so I can only assume that a translated resource was made available by Nick. Some of previous versions (6 - 9) only made it in German iirc. I was stuck using version 5 for years until X was released.

[What is up with Elite Frontier?]

It is a bit buggy, and you do have to save a lot (each hyperspace trip really), although Braben did say in ST Format the ST version was actually less buggy than the Amiga and PC versions as the conversion came later and they had the chance to fix some of the bugs.

 

 

[What is up with Elite Frontier?]

43 minutes ago, Randy said:

Thanks Dragon, I continue to play this but on occasion it just misses the entrance and I end up being destroyed, lately just lot the atmospheric shielding but I am making some money on the Sol-Barnard's Star run, only problem with that is that you start out with such limited cargo space you can't really make enough money very fast to upgrade to a ship with more cargo space, even with luxury goods and robots the income is small...

 

The Sol to Banards run is safe, but slow. However, if you keep your eyes on the classifieds occasionally you will see someone trying to buy/ sell some of your favoured trades for a lot more money than normal (hint) and you can make larger amounts of cash that way. I used to break it up by making an occasional run to Ross 154. Occasional attacks make things more fun than trading slog. I did eventually get a Panther that way, used it for a bit before realising the range is limited and if you go anywhere vaguely dangerous you have to shoot down about 20 enemies per trip (not hard with 20 odd force fields and four military lasers, but somewhat tedious. Traded it in for the ship in the intro (imperial something or other iirc), which is a good all rounder.

[What is up with Elite Frontier?]

The docking computer issue is annoying and is present on the original floppy version, the work around is to stick the time control to maximum (ie time passes the fastest) as you dock, this seems to mostly cure the problem, occasionally you will get a bit of damage but no destruction unless you are really unlucky.

 

The other problem with autopilot was in systems where the planets orbit at fast speeds and you can run out of fuel as the autopilot whizzes past the planet, corrects and then misses again. I found manual control then a mix of time speeds was the only way to get to these stations.

 

I'm not sure about the random noises, that is not something I encountered using the floppy version.

[Help with Yamaha ABC channel audio]

If you've hit a brick wall you may want to try posting on Atari Forum or Exxos's forum, you'll most likely find more advice there and potentially someone to fix it. There was a thread recently on people that might repair your ST in the UK on Atari Forum iirc.

[trashed newdesk.inf on US C drive]

 

On 8/14/2020 at 2:43 PM, TGB1718 said:

Can you let us know what you actually did to recover the system, just in case someone else has a similar problem

@Zogging Hell gave quite a few options , would be nice to know which one worked

It should be mentioned that only works on TOS 2.06 upwards. On original TOS it's a bit more manual. Single click an existing drive so it is highlighted, go to option menu, select install disk drive. A dialogue opens and you should enter the drive letter you want and its label. So if you want to install drive C enter 'C' in the drive identifier entry and then a label like hard disk. You can duplicate icons if you want this way as well so if for some reason you wanted another floppy A drive you could use the dialogue to add another one. There is a limit to the letters you can use (I think P is the latest alphabetical letter you can use iirc). Also small 'c' is used to add an icon for the cartridge port so be careful with case.

[Help with Yamaha ABC channel audio]

An audio probe might be helpful to trace back the signal so far. It could be something simple like a broken track. The sound chip also drives some other functions in the ST so if the sound is your only issue then I suspect the fault still lies somewhere else. I believe the sound chip output is mixed with the DMA sound system at some point on the STe (I may be mistaken this is above my pay grade on the ST internals, hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge can chime in). I did manage to kill the sound chip in my Falcon by trying to drive a scanner through the parallel port back in the day, so perhaps trying to check to see if you can also print may also give further clues.

[Help with Yamaha ABC channel audio]

Is there sound coming from the monitor port (mono) on pin 1 (iirc). If so then the sound chip is probably ok. I have never used separate speakers with my STe, although have tapped the output into my Phillips monitor, but believe the sound they produce needs to run through an amplifier, so I don't know if you were doing this?

 

If not you will probably need to trace back from the audio outs until you find the culprit.

[good date/clock for mega/4160 STe]

Hi Randy, if the computer has the time set the time/ date stamp on files should happen automatically so shouldn't be a problem. For a clock on the desktop you will probably need to search what we called back then 'Public Domain' (Freeware) stuff, it will probably be a desktop accessory. If you trawl through the Floppyshop archive you should find something (search for clock or time in the utilities section)

 

https://exxoshost.co.uk/atari/PDL/FLOPPYSHOP/index.htm

 

Just be aware the seemingly best choices which place the clock in the top right hand bit of the desktop menu can clash with some programs, so you might want to go for one that displays the clock in a window.

[trashed newdesk.inf on US C drive]

The condition of newdesk.inf only really has an effect on whether the drive icon is displayed on the desktop, and shouldn't stop you installing or accessing the C drive. There are two possibilities here, either your C partition is totally trashed and corrupted, in which case copying stuff off the card and then repartioning is going to be the easiest option. Alternatively you have just a corrupted newdesk file. If you are using TOS 2.06 you should be able to install the C drive icon again from the menu (I think 2.06 has the install devices menu entry?) and then save desktop. If its not coming up after that and you really want to try and recover it then maybe Diamond Edge might be able to help (as long as you aren't using long file names and plain FAT 12) or maybe Knife. It could be your FAT has got corrupted. Really I would just zap it (easy these days when you can just stick the SD card in the PC and copy thing back and forth) and start again. I would also check the SD card, is it a good brand?

[connecting a Syquest drive to the Mega STe]

6 hours ago, atarian1 said:

Yep. That's why my first hard drive was a Syquest. I had one platter for color stuff, one for mono productivity, one for music and one for Spectre GCR. I even configured the Spectre cart to autoboot into MacOS so I never saw the GEM desktop when I wanted to use my Mac apps.

Ironically my Mac Plus relies on my Syquest drive for its hard drive on one of its disks. Completely unusable without a hard disk (thank god we had TOS/ GEM is ROM, the floppy swapping is horrendous) so the Syquest was actually a godsend.

[connecting a Syquest drive to the Mega STe]

On 7/17/2020 at 6:17 PM, Randy said:

Thanks Zog, so it looks like I can connect the Syquest using the Mega STe internal hard drive cable and would use a floppy with hard driver utilities to write a boot sector to the Syquest cartridge, correct?  Also, would I need to write a boot sector to every Syquest cartridge I would use? 

Sorry, totally missed this for some reason. Soulbuster has answered your question I think. All I would add is that would really need to think of each disk as a seperate hard drive. 44mb is going to be a little tight if you want to use a lot of apps, but can allow you to do some nice things like have a different disk/ hard drive for each different set up. So a DTP/ WP setup could have NVDI and some other stuff on and then a graphics/ CAD disk could have a more stripped back set up perhaps. Or you could experiment with a GDOS setup on one disk or replacement desktop on another. When I had time to use the ST more I quite enjoyed creating different set ups for different programs, and a big hard drive can get a bit complex for this as you need boot up selectors and what not, not to mention numerous assign.sys files.

[Crashed HD on a Mega STe]

When you say no mouse support, do you mean there is no mouse plugged in? The ST has mouse drivers in the ROM so doesn't need to load from disk. If the mouse isn't responding when you get to the desktop then there is either a hard ware issue (the keyboard is a likely culprit as the Mega STe/ TT keyboard mouse connector loves breaking) or the computer is freezing. Try using the 'hold down alternate key on the keyboard and press the arrow keys' trick to see if you can move the mouse cursor that way (holding 'alternate' and pressing 'insert' is the same as a left click).

 

The crash during memory check may well indicate there is a memory problem rather than a HD problem, although that may well have gone bad given the age of it. I would probably open the hood and remove two of the four sticks of SIMM memory (assuming it has 4mb) and then try swapping the memory round to try and get the memory test to complete (it might be the sticks have just got a bit loose in storage or there is some mild corrosion).

[connecting a Syquest drive to the Mega STe]

On a Mega STe or normal STe the Syquest needs to be used like a normal hard drive, you can't hot swap the cartridges while the drive is in use.

 

To install you need something like HD Driver (other hard drive software is available ) which will partition the disk and install a driver onto the boot sector of the disk as you would with a normal hard drive. I believe the Syquest is auto parking (it should be as it needs to eject disks) so park shouldn't be needed.

 

To connect it to the Mega you will need a 'Link' cable that converts ACSI signal to SCSI.

[Atari STFM 520 red screen *help*]

Usual steps on this would be to reseat all the socketed chips and check the PSU voltages (preferably recap the PSU or replace it). The disk drive is indeed an easy fix (Cool Novelties on ebay sell a replacement belt if you are in UK/Europe, might be a bit pricey on the postage to get to the US), it shouldn't cause a red screen. Having said that you may wish to swap out the drive for a more modern disk drive or a Gotek as that drive may well be single sided if it is old enough to be belt driven.

[SM124 Small Image?]

I had one monitor that had the screen expansion mod done and it did indeed go down after some use. There is a fix http://www-ftp.lip6.fr/pub/atari/Docs/dead_mon.txt that suggests replacing the faulty component with a higher spec one that can handle the increased stress. So if you want to go down the screen expansion route you may also wish to do that mod as well.

[Giana Sisters ST]

It's a rare game due to the recall, but I would say more somewhere in the £80 to £120 is the price I've seen it go for in the past. Without a box I think one went reasonably cheap on the ST version on Ebay UK (I say reasonable, but even then it was still over the original price). I did pick up a boxed version a few years back for around that price (most expensive game I've ever brought for the ST), but I collect boxed originals for the ST so it was worth it for me. It's not a great game, however, so unless you are into collecting I would spend it on some better games or download the STe version.

[Atari ST CP/M]

33 minutes ago, jblenkle said:

I seem to recall there was a CP/M emulator for the Atari ST. I've been searching all over trying to find it, but am coming up blank. Does anyone know where it might be found?

If no-one else can help more quickly I do have it somewhere in my backups (and the utilities disk). It may take a while to work out where the hell it is on my server though, so hopefully someone else can leap in.

[game color changes in STe, what?]

2 hours ago, Randy said:

One other thing I should note, on the Mega STe Breach runs significantly faster, on the 4160 STe the men move slowly into position, which is the normal way this game works.  But on the Mega STe, the men run into position, very obviously faster.  What is going on with that, is the Mega STe normally running @ 16 mHz?

I believe the Mega STe should boot at 8mhz and has to be 'switched' to 16mhz. There is a cache as well iirc (my Mega STe is out of action for about six years after a soldering accident ), which could effect gameplay speed. Not sure if that is on or off by default. Are you running a control panel acc or something - on you hard drive perhaps? that could alter the colours and switch on the 16mhz and cache. If not you could try running a control panel if Breach is GEM compliant. You would be able to alter the colours then as well as adjust the CPU speed. X-Control is the Atari control panel released around the time of the Mega STe and has several CPX modules to alter those things (I think General and Color are the CPXs you would want). Is your version of Time Bandit the 'demo' version (which is like a full game by itself) which launches from the desktop or the full monty version, which I think autoboots?

[Atari ST Mouse? Can I use an Amiga Mouse?]

3 hours ago, JayINZ said:

Hi! 

 

I am new to the Atari scene and just got an Atari 520 STFM. It came with a mouse but it is an Amiga one (says made in Taiwan). It does not really seem to work is there any way to rewire these Amiga mice to work on the Atari ST? Also, do you know where I can get an ST mouse in New Zealand? 

 

Please let me know and thanks in advance! 

You will need to swap two of the wires according to the pinouts, the X2 and Y2 are reversed on the Amiga it seems. With the plug facing you, and wider part on top, Y2 on the Amiga is on the top row on the far left while X2 is fourth from the left on the top row (second from the right) on the ST the Y2 is in the X2 position and vice versa. If you trace these back to the mouse internals using continuity on a multimeter you might/should be able to find a place to swap the two wires over (soldering may be required). All the other wires are the same on both.