New to ST: Ultrasatan in MEGA STE? CosmosEX?

[Smokeless Joe]

The good news:  I’m the proud owner of my very first Atari ST system; a MEGA STE!  I set it up and it (eventually) boots to the GUI.

The less good news:  It’s a 1 MB model with no hard drive, no hard drive controller, and TOS 2.05.

 

I’ve ordered a set of TOS 2.06 chips and four matching 1 MB 30-pin SIMMS.  Now I’m looking for a hard drive solution.  
 

The CosmosEX looks like everything I could possibly want.  I especially like the idea of replacing the keyboard/mouse via USB.  But I’m not seeing it for sale anywhere.  Anyone know where I could get one?
 

The Ultrasatan seems popular, and Lotharek sells an internal version here: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=47, but I’m worried about the part where he says:

 

You can connect ULTSATAN also inside ATARI ST/STE, but:

• soldering / electronic skill required... 7/10 difficulty
• I do not support this and do not answer questions HOW/WHERE to soler. sorry

 

I’m okay with soldering, but it’d be nice to have instructions on how to do this.  Has anyone had any luck installing an Ultrasatan internal into a MEGA STE?  Or should I just stick with the external version?

 

Thanks!

[youxia]

I've got one of these from @masteries

Works very well (on my 1040STFM), and no need for any modifications, at leas ton my machine - it just plugs in the back. Is also much cheaper than -Satan.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

As I know, there is internal UltraSatan special for Mega STE, and it goes to connector where normally internal ACSI-SCSI adapter is. What is not present in other Ataris except Stacy.

You can use external UltraSatan without having ACSI-SCSI adapter in machine by adding 8 jumpers on connector.

It has benefit that you can access SD card without opening computer case - for data transfer with some modern computer, using USB reader.

 

[+DarkLord]

Lotharek's internal Ultrasatan and adapter work fine

together with NO soldering. You can even mount it

into the Mega STe's hard drive bay.  No external P/S

needed. You can even use the Mega STe's original

hard drive LED to show access.

 

Last time I checked, the CosmosEx was unavailable.

 

Does Masteries HD version have 2 SD card slots or 1?

 

Just something else to think about...but I don't think

you can go wrong with either choice.   HTH's.  

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by DarkLord
Clarification....

[masteries]

17 hours ago, youxia said:

I've got one of these from @masteries

Works very well (on my 1040STFM), and no need for any modifications, at leas ton my machine - it just plugs in the back. Is also much cheaper than -Satan.

 

 

Thanks Youxia, for the recommendation!

 

[+SoulBuster]

The CosmosEX is not being produced by anyone at the moment.  I was able to get two of them the during the last batch a couple years ago.

 

Here is another alternative, A SCSI2SD

 

SCSI2SD (inertialcomputing.com)

 

[ojanhk]

SCSI2SD is a nice adapter, but it will require an internal ACSI to SCSI adapter and the one coming with MegaSTE is limited to 1GB by default. The ACSI2STM is a pretty good solution at a very reasonable price, but it’s very picky on the power supply. I’ve tried to mount one internally on a MegaSTE but without success so far, it seems it doesn’t like the internal power supply ☹️. I will keep looking into it, but the only “plug and play” solution for internal HD on MegaSTE seems to be Ultrasatan.

[youxia]

14 minutes ago, ojanhk said:

it’s very picky on the power supply

I don't know about internal, but for external most RPi chargers will do fine (I'm using one myself).

[atarian1]

18 hours ago, ojanhk said:

SCSI2SD is a nice adapter, but it will require an internal ACSI to SCSI adapter and the one coming with MegaSTE is limited to 1GB by default. The ACSI2STM is a pretty good solution at a very reasonable price, but it’s very picky on the power supply. I’ve tried to mount one internally on a MegaSTE but without success so far, it seems it doesn’t like the internal power supply ☹️. I will keep looking into it, but the only “plug and play” solution for internal HD on MegaSTE seems to be Ultrasatan.

How much space do you REALLY need? Seriously, 1GB is plenty, unless you plan to do some serious programming/work/etc. We are talking about the ST here, not Windows or MacOS.

 

I agree that the UltraSatan is still the best overall. On my MegaSTE, I have an internal SCSI2SD with 1GB card in it that I mainly use for music. I still have plenty of room on it for years now. I have an UltraSatan too that I connect up when I need to transfer files. When it's not hooked up to the MegaSTE, the UltraSatan is usually connected to my 1040ST.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Anyone with little soldering skill can connect any of usual, for external ACSI connector made adapters. And not only in Mega STE. Actually, Mega ST is probably best, because it has internal ACSI conn. But there is space in any ST, STE for smaller adapter.

Not sure that should declare ACSI2STM as very picky on power supply. Maybe to do recap of Mega STE PSU ? Surely trying it in more machines, and not only Mega STE can give more accurate answer.

Indeed 1 GB space is plenty for people using it's Atari for some specific purpose. It is just that today will hardly find SD card under 8-16 GB  . And then why not having access to all it ?

 

[+DarkLord]

I agree with Peter about the SD cards. 1 gig cards, even 2 gig cards are harder to find these days.

 

From what I've seen, because they are less in demand, they seem to be expensive for their size.

 

As far as 1 gig being enough size, fair argument. If you're an avid game collector, or into the

demoscene, then things can get crowded. Look at Peter's game image for example, isn't it over

1 gig in size now? I know I don't play every game ever made for the ST, just don't have enough

time, but I do *want* them there, for when I can get to them.

 

All just, IMHO. 

 

[Smokeless Joe]

Thanks for all the feedback!  I’ve decided to get an ASCI2SD from masteries, at least for now.  

[djglish]

I'm interested in the ASCI2SD also.  Did you get it already and if so, how do you like it?  Also, where is masteries?  Do you have a web link for them.

I have an ancient Hard drive box that I used for my Atari ST.  It's a 4 bay box that originally came with a 105mb hard drive and an ICD ADSCI board.  Over time I added a Syquest 105mb removable drive, CD-Rom drive and a Tape backup drive.  Needless to say the box is huge and I don't really have the room for it any more.  A small box on the back of the machine would be much better and I won't have to worry about the SCSI drives dying.

[+DarkLord]

Contact him in this message thread at Atari Forum or PM him here at Atari Age:

 

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=40018

 

Hope this helps. 

 

PS Scroll up - he posted a message above.

 

[snarkdluG]

He also got a massive thread going on amibay.

[youxia]

41 minutes ago, djglish said:

I'm interested in the ASCI2SD also.  Did you get it already and if so, how do you like it?

Got one, it's much cheaper than UltraSatan and works just fine. I use RPi 3b+ power supply with it.

[+DarkLord]

Sorry if this was mentioned, but I inquired somewhere else and don't recall getting an answer.

 

Is Masteries version 1 or 2 card slots? I'm only asking for comparison's sake, as the Ultrasatan

has 2 slots.

 

Also, does HDDriver not work with it? Seems like I saw that in a thread somewhere, apologies

if I'm way off base...

 

Thanks.

 

[Smokeless Joe]

On 3/20/2022 at 1:20 PM, djglish said:

I'm interested in the ASCI2SD also.  Did you get it already and if so, how do you like it?  Also, where is masteries?  Do you have a web link for them.

I did get one and I love it!  Full disclosure, I have nothing to compare it to.  But as a novice ST user, the provided instructions were great, it does everything I want, and it’s a huge improvement over what I had, which was nothing.

 

Masteries is in Spain (I think) and I’m in los Estados Unidos, so it took a little while for the package to arrive.  Worth it!

I messaged masteries directly from here: https://atariage.com/forums/profile/73871-masteries/

 

[masteries]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:20 PM, djglish said:

I'm interested in the ASCI2SD also.  Did you get it already and if so, how do you like it?  Also, where is masteries?  Do you have a web link for them.

I have an ancient Hard drive box that I used for my Atari ST.  It's a 4 bay box that originally came with a 105mb hard drive and an ICD ADSCI board.  Over time I added a Syquest 105mb removable drive, CD-Rom drive and a Tape backup drive.  Needless to say the box is huge and I don't really have the room for it any more.  A small box on the back of the machine would be much better and I won't have to worry about the SCSI drives dying.

 

Greetings,

 

I am at Spain, all devices are handcrafted at home

 

You have a private message with the sales thread,