pouët.net

I asked this elsewhere, but the topic I posted in was not the right one, so heres a fresh one. Anyway....

BeachParty2009 is coming up and we would like to have an Atari among our party machines...

...so I have an Unexpanded Atart ST 520 , and I'm pretty sure it has TOS roms, because the last time I used it properly in 2001/02 I could load the Master tracks Jr. Software without booting from any system disks.

Now I want answers to the following questions.

1-What demos are the best for this platform? Now I have a couple of GM keyboards and a Yamaha DX-27, so anything which requires these for sound is favourable. Remember my system is UNEXPANDED (512kb, 14Mhz 68000)

2-What games which are not also available for Amiga are worth more than 30mins. playtime?

3-What reputable dealers are selling expansions/peripherals for the ST series? I guess I'm going to need at least a total of of 1024Kb to get much joy out of this system.

Cheers.

Best Atari demo is Silkcut. :D But that's on the Falcon, so you'd need to upgrade.

"Atart ST 520, 14 MHz 68000"

Yeah, sure...

Yeah silkcut is great But it needs a CT6x Falcon. Anyway, most newer demos would need a 1MB machine. So you should go for the older ones but since I never had a 512 KB machine I can't tell you what to choose. Virtual escape is great. http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=109
I don't think there are (m)any demos that use the MIDI ports.

Oh, I mean 8Mhz 68k!

Anyway, what to do with it!

Are there any reputable dealers selling expansions?

Get Virtual Escape demo.

It's not price worthy to buy memory expansions to an ST(f/m/fm).

It'd be cheaper to by a 520 STe and put some SIMM modules in it, and you can run some more demos then as well.

Dude, you are tiresome. You could find this out for yourself within a couple of days.

Anyways, you should really get an STe if you want some interesting demos. Then put 4MB SIMM RAM inside and be happy.
Nothing else will be needed for any demo.

Good demos presents you pouet via search, although this wouldn't show you limitations to 512kB Memory: http://pouet.net/prodlist.php?platform[]=Atari%20ST&type[]=demo&order=views

I guess the best way to expand your Atari is to go to the known auctionplatformbeaches or to get a 1040STe from there. Even buying an expanded Atari would probably be cheaper than to buy just a Memoryexpansion. If you like your own hardware you can rip the expansion from the other one.

I guess, Atari-Users always needed a memoryupgrade to get their productions running ;) http://pouet.net/topic.php?which=4963

vscd: Don't mix up XL and ST that's totally different! The 8bit guys have selfmade expansions but the 1040 Ste is a standard machine.

Yes, the 1040STe is a Standardmachine, a C128 is also Standard but no one ever made Software running only on the bigger machine. Got the matching point? It always was able to run on the poorest hardware available. But this is the wrong thread ;)

vscd,

completely different "paar schuhe". You mix up the fact, that the STE can be upgradeed by industrial "SIMM" standard ram. Nobody ever tried to work seriously with an A500 and 512kb, except the fact that it could not be so easily upgraded as with standard components. You see how ridiculous this becomes again? Stop whining man!!

@THW: Ok, back to the facts. He owns a 512ST, which is not capable of SIMM-RAM. On the other Hand a STE *is* a totally different computer. With more new chips (blitter f.e.), a standard-RAM-Expansion, DMA-Sound and a lot more differences than a C128 differs to a C64. So what's left on your sentence? If you want to upgrade his computer you have the same pain in the ass like a XL800-User would have. But you're right this is ridiculous and I mentioned this on my last sentence before you answered. Whining? Who apeared for whining on a sentence with Atari? ;)

Edited for pedantry, sorry.

To give my 2 Euro's worth. a 520 STF/FM, 1/2 meg ram will be fine with most classic stuff up to, say, 1992-3. After that the base level rises slightly to 1 meg for the majority of productions after then. With an STe (1989 onward) you do gain some enhancements which some demos use, but it tends to have faulty backwards compatibility with some of the older stuff. Ideal solution, get both :-)

I remember buying another Atari ST for Cubase (only) arround 95, there were SIPP memory inside but I could remove them. I'd some 30 pins SIMM (9 bit, two modules of 1Mox3) I found 2 connectors "SIPP to SIMM" or SIPP socket at Comelec in Paris (I think) for few money.

http://www.homestead-products.com/simtree.htm

Actually, even most demos that require only half a meg, really benefit from having a one meg machine, if only because it keeps the loader and menu in memory, which kind of shorten the loading times.

Also some demos (like the TCB screen in the Union Demo), will use digi-sound if the machine has more than 512 k - will default to sound chip music if the memory is not present -.

My own Atari 520 STF was upgraded to 2.5 meg back in 1988, and this required something like about 20 something soldered wires connected to the shifter and various locations on the motherboard, including cutting tracks, etc...

Trust me: You do not want to upgrade a 520 ST/STF/STF. Get a STE on ebay (just make sure it's a SIMM model, not a SIPP) it will work better, cost less, and will run a lot more software. What will not work on the STE will work fine on the non upgrade ST, don't bother extending it :)

Guys, I'm looking for a downloadable HDD image with Atari Falcon demoscene collection. Any suggestions, please?

not aware of any downloadable hdd image but you can easily make your own with:
http://falcdemos.atari.org/
ftp://fujiology.untergrund.net/users/ltk_tscc/fujiology/FALCON/

I have even no idea how to transfer that large demos from PC to Falcon's HDD. Could anybody rip his HDD/CF using USB Image Tool, please?

Have you tried imaging your own disk with that tool? Looking at it's description it doesn't sound like it would be suitable to image an Atari boot drive (because it relies on MSD compatibility).

Most common solution to transfer files easy without expensive parts is to have a dual SD/CF setup. First card is to be configured as boot device, second as regular FAT32. Then you can just pop the secondary SD or CF in your pc and write files to it directly. With the correct driver (HDDriver) it'll even let you hotswap on Atari side.

Another way for transferring the data over would be to get a NetUSBee from Lotharek (if the OP doesn't already have one of these), download all the demos from Falcdemos as archives, unpack them all and then repack them all in one huge ZIP file that can be read by STZIP or one of the other unpackers. I used to find that I would have to unzip and then rezip archives so they'd unzip perfectly on the Falcon later. From what I recall, STZIP 2.4 seems to be the best one to use - later versions had bugs in which meant that the archives weren't unpacked properly, giving errors once run on the Falcon.