johne@rocksvax.UUCP (Dan Fleysher) (04/19/85)
The attached comes from ARPAnet's INFO-ATARI - sorry if this is a
duplicate of something you've already seen.
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Date: 18 Apr 85 21:02 PST
From: John McLean <JOHN@SRI-CSL.ARPA>
Subject: Comments on the ST
To: info-atari@SU-SCORE.ARPA
cc: john@SRI-CSL.ARPA
You may find the following article (which I downloaded from CompuServe)
interesting......
-------------------------
Permission to reprint or
excerpt is granted only if the
following line appears at the
top of the article:
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC.,
COPYRIGHT 1985. REPRINTED BY
PERMISSION.
HANDS-ON WITH ANTIC'S
DEVELOPMENT 520ST
by JACK POWELL ANTIC TECHNICAL EDITOR
Our Atari 520ST just arrived in the Antic offices. This is the $5,500
development package, and it includes the computer, two 3 1/2" disk drives, one
medium-resolution (640 X 200) RGB analog monitor, and one mouse.
The software in the package is the "C" compiler, machine language assembler
and debugger by Digital Research, the Mince screen editor by Mark of the
Unicorn, Kermit -- a modem protocol program for file transfer, CP/M-68, and, of
course, GEM -- which is in ROM in the machine.
On back order -- but expected soon -- is a high-resolution (640 X 400)
monochrome monitor and a ten-megabyte hard disk.
Along with all this came 1000 pages of documentation and since it will take
some time to digest all of this, we thought you might like a first impression of
this new, high-level Atari computer.
The development 520ST is a preliminary model and there will be some changes
between now and the time you see it in the stores, but all parts of this machine
were factory made in the same manufacturing plants as the final product will be.
The only real difference -- besides the price -- is that these machines were
hand assembled.
The first thing you notice when taking the ST out of its box, is that it's
very light. Although somewhat larger in size than the 800XL, it feels lighter.
This may be because the shielding has not yet been added.
It looks exactly like the ST on our May cover, but there are some details you
can't see from the photograph. On the right edge of the machine, to the rear,
are two joystick ports identical in appearance to current Atari joystick ports,
except they are also used for the mouse.
On the left edge, rear -- opposite the joystick ports, is the cartridge slot.
This will accept a 40-pin board -- 20 upper and 20 lower.
In back of the computer are various switches and ports, each labelled beneath
and with an indicating icon etched in the plastic above. From left to right
they are:
Reset - a small, square button.
Power - identical to previous Atari power switches.
Power In - 7-pin, male DIN.
MIDI Out - 5-pin, female DIN.
MIDI In - same as above.
Television - RCA, female.
Channel - mini-switch, labelled "L" "H".
Monitor - 13-pin, female DIN.
Printer - female D-25, IBM-PC/Centronics compatible.
Modem - male D-25, IBM compatible.
Floppy Disk - 14-pin, female DIN.
Hard Disk - female D-19.
Besides the standard keyboard and ten-key pad, are ten function keys,
labelled F1 to F10. The isolated cursor section is particularly well designed
with the lower three keys representing Left, Down and Right, and the Up arrow
centered above them. On either side of the Up key are Insert and Clr/Home. The
top two keys in the cluster -- which are enlarged -- are Help and Undo. The Undo
key may become particularly useful.
The drives accept Sony 3 1/2" disks. To boot the machine, first turn on the
drives and insert both disks before turning on the computer. A disk must be in a
drive for the computer to later access that drive.
When booted, the GEM desktop appears as a light green background with pale
blue border and black-outlined icons. In the upper right corner of the screen
are two disk icons, one over the other, that look like file cabinet drawers. In
the lower right corner of the screen is a trash can.
In the border area, above the upper left section of the green background, are
the words, "DESK FILE VIEW OPTIONS." In the middle of the screen is a thin,
black arrow-cursor which is moved by the mouse.
We'll save details on GEM for later articles. Suffice it to say, it is fast!
It can redraw an entire screen of icons in the blink of an eye.
This is just a surface description of an exciting new machine. Antic wants
to get the information out to you as soon as possible and we plan to share our
ST experiences as they happen. Stay tuned for further details.
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