Jump to content
IGNORED

What STs do people own? Would like to know for developing a game.


What STs do people own? Would like to know for developing a game.   

89 members have voted

  1. 1. What ST(s) do you own?

    • 520ST/520STF/520STFM
      32
    • 1040ST/1040STF/1040STFM
      43
    • Mega ST (Any version)
      34
    • 520STE
      7
    • 1040STE
      47
    • TT
      21
    • Falcon/030
      35

  • Please sign in to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

I have Mega STE, what is not listed here, and therefore yesterday he gave me hard time ?

 

Seriously: categorizations should be different. From SW side all STs have only 2 relevant differences: RAM size (and that's not always what is written on case) and blitter presence. Is it Mega ST or just ST(F,M) is not relevant for running SW.

Some may say that then no diff between STE and Mega STE, but that's different - Mega STE can 16 MHz and has some extra HW in compare to STE, and it has TOS 2.06 by default, what is known as not so game friendly.

So, I think that, considering purpose of this poll - writing a game for ST family, it would be better like:

1. ST with 512 KB

2. ST with 512 KB and blitter

3. ST with 1 MB or more

4. ST with 1 MB or more, and blitter

5. STE with 512 KB
6. STE with 1 MB or more

7. Mega STE - I guess it was with min 1 MB RAM

8. TT

9. Falcon

10. I use emulator

Multiple selections allowed

 

Yeah, lot of people like old games, but prefers running them on emulators, from different reasons. Like someone's ST(E) just broke, and fixing, getting another takes time and money.

Now, why blitter is interesting ? Because it can make screen operations (in first place) much faster. Look new Lotus version. Myself made some blitter using game improvements (Giana, Uridium ..), so know what talking about. STE gives beside blitter more color nuances, HW scroll (little limited in some things) and probably best one: DMA audio. So, it's all depend from game (project) self - is it worth to force STE if it's extra features will not make game significantly better ?

And something more: compatibility:  game can be coded to work well on complete listed range of machines.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/13/2021 at 1:04 AM, ParanoidLittleMan said:

I have Mega STE, what is not listed here, and therefore yesterday he gave me hard time ?

 

Seriously: categorizations should be different. From SW side all STs have only 2 relevant differences: RAM size (and that's not always what is written on case) and blitter presence. Is it Mega ST or just ST(F,M) is not relevant for running SW.

Some may say that then no diff between STE and Mega STE, but that's different - Mega STE can 16 MHz and has some extra HW in compare to STE, and it has TOS 2.06 by default, what is known as not so game friendly.

So, I think that, considering purpose of this poll - writing a game for ST family, it would be better like:

1. ST with 512 KB

2. ST with 512 KB and blitter

3. ST with 1 MB or more

4. ST with 1 MB or more, and blitter

5. STE with 512 KB
6. STE with 1 MB or more

7. Mega STE - I guess it was with min 1 MB RAM

8. TT

9. Falcon

10. I use emulator

Multiple selections allowed

 

Yeah, lot of people like old games, but prefers running them on emulators, from different reasons. Like someone's ST(E) just broke, and fixing, getting another takes time and money.

Now, why blitter is interesting ? Because it can make screen operations (in first place) much faster. Look new Lotus version. Myself made some blitter using game improvements (Giana, Uridium ..), so know what talking about. STE gives beside blitter more color nuances, HW scroll (little limited in some things) and probably best one: DMA audio. So, it's all depend from game (project) self - is it worth to force STE if it's extra features will not make game significantly better ?

And something more: compatibility:  game can be coded to work well on complete listed range of machines.

 

 

I appreciate it, I'm new to Atari stuff so I figured my categories might be a little bit off. I got a good enough idea though from this of what people have, and what I have, the overlapping thing is ST with 1MB and no blitter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/12/2021 at 7:50 PM, TempterOfFate said:

I think I'll be developing for standard ST since I don't have an STE sadly, but when possible I'll try and pick up a 1040STE.

Write a great game and maybe people will be inspired to take up a collection. ;)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I have 520STM ("short ST") with a few amateur hardware extensions, including hardware overscan - it would be great if you could test your ideas against latest versions of Steem, which allow emulation of 2 types of hw overscan - LaceScan and AutoSwitch on ST/F/M. Actually there are more types of this hack "in the wild", I have one for instance which is (de)activated via YM2149 I/O port A (#14)'s bit 7, and I have preserved by miracle two assembly routines - to switch it on or off, nothing more.

 

I mention this, because the hardware overscans should allow to do the same as software overscan - sync scrolling:

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4357

manipulating their "on/off" state should allow to do hardware scrolling with word precision on ST/F/M. Haven't tried it yet, I was happy to find out that my old ST is still working, and the overscan works too. I doubt Steem would emulate that, not yet.

overscan-2.png

Edited by xorcerer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
On 8/31/2022 at 6:56 PM, Jinroh said:

I was curious too. Though from what I hear they are not very common.

To put it very simply: MegaST=ST/STF with VME bus, MegaSTE=STE with VME bus. Plus or minus some other bits of course like ACSI/SCSI connectors etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, ggn said:

To put it very simply: MegaST=ST/STF with VME bus, MegaSTE=STE with VME bus. Plus or minus some other bits of course like ACSI/SCSI connectors etc.

I figured at least Mega STe can be listed since it can run in 16MHZ mode. :D

 

Always good to know for your audience. 

Edited by Jinroh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, snarkdluG said:

MegaST does not have a VME bus. Only MegaSTe and TT have that. 

I just checked (as the Mega ST is one of the few models I don't own): It has an expansion bus called "Mega-bus" apparently (http://www.atarimuseum.de/megast.htm).

 

In any case, I would also say that targeting a 1Mb ST should cover most people. If however you want some extra STE features, then STE it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...