Atari ST

(computer)A personal computer released by Atari in 1985.The "ST" stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", from the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit processor. Theoriginal 520ST model had an external floppy drive and powersupply whereas the 1040ST had them built-in. The 520 andlater 520STFM came with 512 KB of RAM, the 1040 had 1 MB.Several upgraded models followed, up to the 1993 Motorola 68030 based Falcon.

The ST was the first home computer with built-in MIDI portsand plenty of MIDI software. A wide range of other softwarefrom office to games was also available.

Atari ST

An early personal computer series from Atari. Introduced in 1985 to compete with Apple's Macintosh, the ST was the first home computer to include MIDI ports. Popular with musicians due to its MIDI support as well as desktop publishing, especially in Europe, the ST line was discontinued in the early 1990s.

The ST along with the subsequent STF, STM and STE models used Motorola 68K CPUs and ran under the TOS operating system and GEM user interface. Certain models were given the MEGA moniker (MEGA ST, MEGA STE), and STacy and ST BOOK were portable versions. ST machines supported 640x480 monochrome and 640x200 color displays. See Atari.

A Lot of Praise

Joe Sugarman, the marketer famously known for his astute product descriptions, praised the ST in this full-page ad for his JS&A mail order company in 1986.