Just got a MegaSTE but...

[Tyrant]

Hiya, a few questions.

 

I was given a Mega STE yesterday (woo!), however, it had been salvaged long ago, and lost it's keyboard. I've not tried powering it yet, since I have to dig out my old ST monitor (There is no RF out on the back, is that normal? I suspect it may be a French model, since I was also given a 1040 STE with an azerty keyboard). When I do, can I expect it to boot even without a keyboard? Where can I find a replacement? Is it possible to hack some other keyboard to work? If it is a French one, and expects an azerty keyboard, will it work with a querty one, will the keys map properly, and is there a way to set it up properly? Would the localisation data be part of the tos roms, and would replacing them with uk roms work?

 

Finally, what are the options I'd have for installing a hard drive? I'd love to use it as a serious machine, but I would really need some kind of hdd for that.

 

Thanks.

[mrnukem]

There are some pinned threads at the Atari ST forum that answer a few of those questions.

http://www.atari-forum.com/

 

There is also an Atari ST Wiki page here

http://www.atari-forum.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

Your best bet for a Hard drive is to get a SCSI or IDE interface and go that route. Trying to find a Megafile HD is tough and they use old MFM type drives which are small storage and tougher to find.

 

Your best bet is to check both of these vendors out. They are reliable and may have a keyboard for you too.

 

Bravo Sierra: http://www.aracnet.com/~atari/

Best Electronics : http://best-electronics-ca.com/

[jens]

Your best bet for a Hard drive is to get a SCSI or IDE interface and go that route. Trying to find a Megafile HD is tough and they use old MFM type drives which are small storage and tougher to find.

First question would be if there already is a hard drive or at least a scsi hard drive controller inside.

[Tyrant]

Your best bet for a Hard drive is to get a SCSI or IDE interface and go that route. Trying to find a Megafile HD is tough and they use old MFM type drives which are small storage and tougher to find.

First question would be if there already is a hard drive or at least a scsi hard drive controller inside.

I've opened it up, and no, it doesn't have a HDD already. I'm not sure how to tell if it already has a controller or not. Where would it be if there was one? what would it look like? The central expansion bay appears empty, with just a serial port on the back.

 

First priority however has to be a keyboard, since it's not really much use without one.

[jens]

Where would it be if there was one? what would it look like? The central expansion bay appears empty, with just a serial port on the back.

The internal scsi controller sits on the right side in the back of the machine.

[felicemaggie]

Tyrant,

 

First off, you are correct about the Mega STE not having an RF-out connector, they never had those included and were always, back in the day, sold with either a colour or a mono monitor.

 

When you do choose a keyboard, make sure you get a Mega ST one as the original Mega STe/TT keyboards can be a bit flimsy. Nick Harlow may have some in stock, since his "takeover" of System Solutions. Alternatively there is also Ebay.de (in Germany).

 

Congrats on getting the machine btw, they are highly sought after. Even if it is a French machine, the TOS roms can easily be swapped & Nick should have some of those in stock too.

 

Hope this helps,

 

cheers,

 

Rich

[Tyrant]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of asking Nick. I've gotta talk to him soon about some JagFest stuff anyway so looks like I'll kill two birds with one email, hopefully.

[+Zeptari]

Tyrant,

 

First off, you are correct about the Mega STE not having an RF-out connector, they never had those included and were always, back in the day, sold with either a colour or a mono monitor.

 

cheers,

 

Rich

 

 

 

My Mega STE has an RF-out. But I do have a weird beast as it has Tos 2.02 in it too.

 

 

-rick

[Tyrant]

It may be a french thing, the french jaguars don't have RF either (and mine is french, says so on top of the tos roms).

[belboz]

US Mega STE here and it has the RF output on it.

[ppera]

First off, you are correct about the Mega STE not having an RF-out connector, they never had those included and were always, back in the day, sold with either a colour or a mono monitor.

 

My German Mega STE has RF modulator. And had TOS 2.05, what I quickly replaced for TOS 2.06 (2.05 has some annoying bugs). And it was sold with mono monitor...

[muguk]

SatanDisk all the way .. who needs big clunky noisy drives when you can have as quiet as a mouse SD cards for your Mega STE

 

Thinking of getting a 2nd one as they're *that* good. May even sell my external 2Gig SCSI tower box too

[jens]

My German Mega STE has RF modulator. And had TOS 2.05, what I quickly replaced for TOS 2.06 (2.05 has some annoying bugs). And it was sold with mono monitor...

Several German ones, all with RF modulator.

[+Zeptari]

SatanDisk all the way .. who needs big clunky noisy drives when you can have as quiet as a mouse SD cards for your Mega STE

 

Thinking of getting a 2nd one as they're *that* good. May even sell my external 2Gig SCSI tower box too

 

 

link for satandisk?.... sounds very cool.. I really don't care for the name, but hey if it works...

 

-rick

 

never mind i found it.... site has pics too.

 

http://joo.kie.sk/satandisk/

Edited July 9, 2007 by Zeptari1