Manufacturer: Atari, USA, 1985

Control unit: Motorola MC 68000 (clock signal 8 MHz) RAM 1 Megabyte, ROM  192 Kilobyte Graphic display resolution 320 * 200 pixel. Maximum resolution 640 * 400 pixel. Text mode 40 * 25 or 80 * 25 characters

One of the early members of the 16-bit home computer family of Atari - presented by Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore. Further early models are the 260s, the 520ST (512 Kilobytes of RAM), the 520STm (with built-in TV modulator), 520STfm (with built-in TV modulator and built-in 3.5 “, DD floppy disk set).

Cursor positioning device: two-button mouse. This model comes with an external floppy unit (capacity of 720 Kilobytes), and a SM-124 monochromatic monitor.

The Atari ST computers can be used exceptionally well for desktop publishing, graphic works as well as for synthesizer music editing due to its three-channel tone generator and MIDI driver. It gained an especially enduring popularity among musicians and people working in music studios.

By virtue of its novel, icon based interface (GEM) in its operating system (TOS), it could become the competitor of the pretty expensive Apple Macintosh introduced in 1984 (as suggested by its humorous nickname: Jackintosh).  Also, it was a cheap alternative for the IBM PC clones with the 1985 icon based Windows operating system.

During its 8 years of history, its closest competitor was the AMIGA family by Commodore.

In Hungary, it was distributed by Novotrade and HAT Cent Kft. (Hungarian Atari Trading Center) at the end of the 90s. The distributor also sold other popular Atari models (consoles; Atari Portfolio pocket computer) in Hungary. Games developed in Hungary and magazines (e.g. the ‘Bomba’ magazine) were also published for the Atari ST family. The magazine called ‘Guru’ also launched an Atari column.

The Atari ST-family’s last “shot” was the Atari Falcon series in the 1990’s. After 1993, the IBM PC clones had practically driven out of the market of home computers the Atari and Amiga families. By this, the age of the classic home computer came to an end.

Source:
Atari ST Total, Markt&Technik Verlag AG, 1991,
Wikipédia
oldcomputers.net
old-computers.com