Atari 1040STF

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The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals.

The Atari ST was part of the 16/32 bit generation of home computers, based on the Motorola 68000 CPU, with 512 KB of RAM or more, and 3½" double-sided double-density floppy disks as storage (nominally 720 KB). It was similar to other contemporary machines which used the Motorola 68000, the Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga. Although the Macintosh was the first widely available computer with a graphical user interface (GUI), it was limited to a monochromatic display on a smaller built-in monitor. Preceding the Amiga's commercial release by almost two months, the Atari ST was the first computer to come with a fully bit-mapped color GUI, using a version of Digital Research's GEM released that February.[5] It was also the first home computer with integrated MIDI support.

Atari later upgraded in 1989 the basic design in 1986 with the 1040STF (also written STF). The machine was generally similar to the earlier 520ST, but moved the power supply and a double-sided floppy drive into the rear of the housing of the computer, as opposed to being external. This added to the size of the machine, but reduced cable clutter in the back. The 1040 shipped with 1 MB of RAM, and the same design was also used for the new 512 KB 520STFM, which replaced the earlier models in the market. The early 'STF' machines lacked the 'M' modulator that allowed a TV to be used and would only work with a monitor.

The 1040ST was the first personal computer shipped with a base RAM configuration of 1 MB, and when the list price was reduced to $999 in the U.S. it became the first computer to break the $1000/megabyte price barrier, and was featured on the cover of BYTE. However, the ST remained generally the same internally over the majority of its several-year lifespan. The choice of model numbers was inherited from the model numbers of the XE series of the Atari 8-bit family of computers. A limited number of 1040STFs shipped with a single-sided floppy drive.

Our 1040ST was kindly donated by Alan Hunter.

Manufacturer: Atari
Date: 1989



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Atari 1040STF Manuals:

Item Manufacturer Date
Atari ST Computer Owners Manual Atari 1986
Atari ST BASIC Sourcebook & Tutorial Atari 1986
Atari ST Engineering Hardware Specification & GemDOS BIOS Specification MTL Microtechnology Limited 7 Jan 1986
User Manual for the Atari ST Atari 15 Jun 1987
Atari ST BASIC Sourcebook and Tutorial (Revised Edition) Atari Nov 1988
AMOS 3D User Guide Mandarin Software 1990
AMOS Compiler User Guide Mandarin Software 1991

Magazines RELATED to Atari 1040STF in our Library

Item Manufacturer Date
Practical Computing - June 1988 Unknown
Practical Computing - September 1988 Unknown
MAG183 St Action Unknown
Computer Shopper April 1986 Apr 1986
Personal Computer World - September 1986 1 Sep 1986
Your Computer - November 1986 Nov 1986
Personal Computer World - January 1987 1 Jan 1987
Personal Computer World - February 1987 1 Feb 1987
Personal Computer World - June 1987 1 Jun 1987
Practical Computing - August 1987 Aug 1987
Personal Computer World - October 1987 1 Oct 1987
Personal Computer World - November 1987 Nov 1987
PC World Focus March 1989 Number 1 Personal Computer World Mar 1989
Personal Computer World - May 1989 1 May 1989
Personal Computer World - June 1989 1 Jun 1989
Personal Computer World - July 1989 Jul 1989
Personal Computer World - August 1989 1 Aug 1989
Personal Computer World - October 1989 Oct 1989
Personal Computer World - November 1989 1 Nov 1989
Personal Computer World - December 1989 1 Dec 1989
Personal Computer World - February 1990 1 Feb 1990
Personal Computer World - January 1995 Jan 1995
Edge - Issue 200 - April 2009 Future Publishing Apr 2009
Acorn User - November 1988 27 May 2009
Acorn User - February 1989 27 May 2009

Catalogues RELATED to Atari 1040STF in our Library

Item Manufacturer Date
Seven Disk - Atari ST Public Domain Software Catalogue - Autumn/Winter 1991 Seven Disk 1 Dec 1991

Other Systems Related To Atari 1040STF:

Item Manufacturer Date
Atari 800 with Programmer Kit Atari Inc 1st January 1979
Atari 400 with Aftermarket Keyboard Atari November 1979
Atari 800 Atari November 1979
Atari 400 Atari November 1979
Centipede Arcade Cabinet Atari 1980
Atari 1200XL Atari 1982
Atari 800XL Atari 1983
Atari 600XL Atari June 1983
Atari 520 STFM Atari 1985
Atari 65XE Atari 1985
Atari 520ST (boxed) + External hard drive + software Atari 1985
Atari 520 STM Atari 1st January 1985
Atari 1040 STE Atari 1986
Atari 520 STM Atari 12th September 1986
Atari Mega ST 2 Atari 1987
Atari ST Mega 1040 Tower Power Atari 1988
Atari 1040STFM Atari 1989
Atari 1040STFM (David Arnold) Atari 1989
Atari 520 STE Atari 1989
Atari Portfolio Atari 1989
Atari Stacy 2 Atari 9th December 1989
Atari Mega 4 Atari 1990
Atari TT030 Atari 1990
Atari Falcon Atari 1990
Atari Mega/STE Atari 1991

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH11983. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

 

Atari 1040STF

  Book Archive   [32]
  Games Archive   [296]
  Software Archive   [131]
  Peripherals   [32]

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David Arnold and the Atari ST Computer
David Arnold and the Atari ST Computer

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