Atari ST Indoctrination

[cloverskull]

I have an STFM and don't really know where to begin with it. I bought a TF card that allegedly works in it, anyone know how to do this?

[dreadnought]

TF card? Not sure. For HDD I've got this SD interface, works really well: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...ighlight=atari

You can also just connect a Gotek to it.

[Cobe]

I got Falcon few years ago. And after few months fiddling with it, all I felt was sadness cause such a great machine lived the destiny worse than any Amiga...

[BigD]

Originally Posted by Cobe

I got Falcon few years ago. And after few months fiddling with it, all I felt was sadness cause such a great machine lived the destiny worse than any Amiga...

I never got over how bad the sound was on the ST version of Lemmings 2. The Amiga has issues with having only four channels but the music stops on the ST version every time it has to play a sound effect! Actually stops! Horrendous! I got an AGA Amiga a couple of years after that. I completed Lemming 2 on the ST first though ;-)

[RichL]

The sound effects on the ST version of Cannon Fodder too are laughable.

But hey ho, I’m not 15 again arguing with Amiga owners in the playground. Hopefully.

First 16 bit computer I got was the ST, wanted the Amiga but that’s life!

[Tigerskunk]

I know the sound chip of the Atari ST from coding on the Vectrex, and I think it's quite decent when you were used to other chip tune machines. The C64 was a bit better in that regard, off course.

Lemmings stopping the music when a sound effect was played sounds more like bad coding to me than anything else.

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by Tigerskunk

I know the sound chip of the Atari ST from coding on the Vectrex, and I think it's quite decent when you were used to other chip tune machines.

The YM2149 is almost identical to the AY-3-8910, which was introduced in 1978. I agree that it was 'quite decent' compared to other popular sound chips of the time. It was a good choice for an 'off-the-shelf' sound chip.

The C64 was a bit better in that regard, off course.

Better in some ways, worse in others.

Lemmings stopping the music when a sound effect was played sounds more like bad coding to me than anything else.

Not necessarily 'bad' coding, just not optimized when ported from the Amiga.

[turrican3]

If it wasn't for paula i would have perhaps stay on the atari st... But when i heard the amiga sound !!! whoooaaa ! It changes everything.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by turrican3

If it wasn't for paula i would have perhaps stay on the atari st... But when i heard the amiga sound !!! whoooaaa ! It changes everything.

I do miss Blue War III which was my favourite ST exclusive (maybe it could be ported to the 'miggy?) but anything with music and horizontal scrolling was so sub par. I don't actually regret letting my Dad take my family's 1040STFM with broken mouse port to the tip! Nice case though ;-)

[BigD]

Originally Posted by BigD

I do miss Blue War III which was my favourite ST exclusive (maybe it could be ported to the 'miggy?) but anything with music and horizontal scrolling was so sub par. I don't actually regret letting my Dad take my family's 1040STFM with broken mouse port to the tip! Nice case though ;-)

... recently got Blue War working under emulation on the Mac so win win!

[turrican9]

Lately I have been messing with Atari ST games and a few demos. Reason is we got the Mist Atari ST core ported to Turbo Chameleon 64. I have two TC64V2s.

Back in the day and now I am an Amiga/C64 man. I remember even back in the day the talk was that Atari ST was inferior to Amiga for graphics and sound. That is 100% correct. After trying many of the same games between Atari ST and Amiga the Amiga version is superior 99% of the time.

But one have to remember there was quite the price difference between an Amiga 500 and an Atari ST back in the day. A500 was quite a bit more expensive. And for kids saving up to afford these computers that could be the deciding factor in many cases.

In my area everyone first had C64 and then moved on to Amiga. I didn't know anyone that had an Atari ST. So sharing software would have been impossible. So for me the only right choice was an A500 after coming from C64.

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by RichL

The sound effects on the ST version of Cannon Fodder too are laughable.

That’s nothing compared to the graphics. It’s a flip-screen game on the ST!

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

The YM2149 is almost identical to the AY-3-8910, which was introduced in 1978. I agree that it was 'quite decent' compared to other popular sound chips of the time. It was a good choice for an 'off-the-shelf' sound chip.

Yes, for 1978. Not for 1985, when the ST was released.

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

Better in some ways, worse in others.

In what ways was the YM2149 better than the SID?

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

Not necessarily 'bad' coding, just not optimized when ported from the Amiga.

Let’s say »lazy« coding then.

[cloverskull]

Is there an equivalent game launcher to WHDLoad on the ST?

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by cloverskull

Is there an equivalent game launcher to WHDLoad on the ST?

From what I gather this is the only option. This guy makes HDD game adaptations. There are some single downloads on his page, and some collections before as well, but recently he has started charging money for them (I think 10E per one).


There's also a 1GB HDD image for MiSTer which you could maybe adpat for real ST. Look for "htgdb packs" on archive.org.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by idrougge

That’s nothing compared to the graphics. It’s a flip-screen game on the ST!

That is horrendous, I've just watched the link below! No horizontal scrolling despite their Great Giana Sisters port showing it was possible! And no enhanced STE version either which would definitely have coped with hardware scrolling! It really was a case of living off handouts from developers being an ST user in 1993! Why would you have bought a Jaguar after Atari let their computer line die to death?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...spkpoeJIvweUWQ

[RichL]

Originally Posted by idrougge

That’s nothing compared to the graphics. It’s a flip-screen game on the ST!

Wow! That is pretty poor considering you need to keep your eye on the enemy soldiers and gun placements and not knowing and it flip screening into sudden death.

Well...

[cloverskull]

@BigD ha! I have a Jaguar, Jaguar CD, as well as a Lynx. I'm not really a big fan of any of them. Collecting is an addiction...

[Tigerskunk]

Yep, they could have done much better with the sound chip, but like Bruce said, it was decent enough for the time.
It's just that that Paula was so much better. Putting a sampler into a computer was an extremely futuristic idea for 1985.

[masteries]

Originally Posted by SuperFuryAnimal

When I was in my late teens having a lovely A1200, it almost felt like I had to hate the Atari ST by default. I had a couple of friends with ST's and I vaguely remember maybe once having a play.

Now due to having a Mister FPGA I have had a chance to play with the ST, watch some demos and generally have a good look at the machine.

Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong about the ST, what an awesome little machine, when you find a game or demo by someone who really understands the machine then it shines.

Found this out late but thankfully not too late!!

Now, its time to test STE specific demoscene and games,


As some mates talked about; STE is a great machine, but arrived late.




Nowadays, with heavily customized libraries a STE can do these sort of things (4 MB of chip RAM provides great assistance, there are plenty of performance tricks that require many memory):



[ Show youtube player ]



Currently I am adding more levels to the port,