Atari 260ST
.jpg) | |
| Atari 260ST with SF354 drive, from Atari's Dutch sales leaflet | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Atari Corporation |
| Type | Home computer / personal computer |
| Released | December 1985 (West Germany) |
| Discontinued | January 1987 |
| Intro price | DM 1,298 (December 1985, machine only) |
| CPU | Motorola MC68000 @ 8 MHz |
| Memory | 512 KB fitted |
| Storage | External 3.5-inch floppy drive (SF354 or SF314); external ACSI hard disks |
| Display | 320x200 (16 colours), 640x200 (4 colours), 640x400 mono |
| Sound | Yamaha YM-2149 PSG, three voices plus noise |
| ROM | 16 KB boot ROMs, TOS loaded from floppy disk; 192 KB ROM TOS available as a retrofit |
| Power | External linear supply, +5 V 3 A / +12 V 30 mA / -12 V 30 mA, 7-pin DIN |
| OS / Firmware | Atari TOS 1.00, loaded from disk |
| Predecessor | Atari 520ST |
| Successor | Atari 520STM |
The Atari 260ST is a short-case ST sold in small numbers in West Germany and parts of Scandinavia.[1] It went on sale in December 1985 and uses the same C070243 board as the 520ST.[2] Despite the name, it has 512 KB of RAM.
Name and memory
[edit | edit source]Atari's product plan for 1985 had three models, the 130ST, 260ST and 520ST, with 128, 256 and 512 KB. The 130ST and 520ST were shown at the Winter CES in Las Vegas in January 1985 and the 260ST was announced for June. In April 1985 the 130ST was dropped, because a machine with that little memory could not usefully run with its operating system loaded into RAM, and the 260ST was postponed.[2]
The machine that appeared under the 260ST name in December 1985 has 512 KB fitted; by then memory prices were falling fast.[2] Atari's Dutch leaflet for the 260ST sells it as "Toptechnologie in de 512 kB klasse".[3] A 260ST examined in 2021 had 512 KB on the board, showed 385 KB free when booting from ROM TOS and 209 KB free when TOS was loaded from floppy.[1]
Atari's engineering specification is consistent with that. The ST sizes memory through the Memory Configuration Register, which encodes banks of 128 KB, 512 KB or 2 MB only.[4]
Differences from the 520ST
[edit | edit source]- No ROM TOS. To save cost the 260ST was sold with only the two boot ROMs fitted, so TOS loads from floppy at every power-up. Atari sold a ROM TOS retrofit for DM 98.[2] A 260ST that boots without a disk may have had the retrofit.
- Pin 8 of the monitor connector is fed from +12 V through a 1.2 kΩ resistor, not grounded, so that a television with a SCART socket can be used as a monitor.[2]
- Pin 2 of the monitor connector carries composite sync on this model and on the 520ST+.[2]
The case, chip set, connectors and external power supply are the 520ST's. In West Germany the 260ST and 520ST+ were replaced by the 520ST M from October 1986, and the 260ST was discontinued in January 1987.[2] See Atari ST General Maintenance for the family comparison table and the shared service data.
The 260ST D and 260ST FM
[edit | edit source]Two other planned machines carried "260ST" in their names and neither was sold. The 260ST D, with an integral floppy drive on the left of the case, was announced at the Summer CES in June 1985. A few months later the 260ST FM, with the drive on the right and an RF modulator, was shown in London. Atari dropped the "D" suffix because of the English meaning of "STD".[5] A 260ST with an internal drive is therefore not a production machine.
Servicing
[edit | edit source]The 260ST is serviced as a 520ST:
- Atari ST General Maintenance: disassembly, cleaning, socketed ICs, clock frequencies and supply figures
- Atari ST Troubleshooting Guide
- Atari ST Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Atari 520ST and 1040ST Computer Field Service Manual: Atari's own manual, hosted here
A 260ST still on boot ROMs sits at the boot loader screen when there is no disk in the drive. The screen looks like the GEM desktop, but none of its menu options work.[1] This is normal.
The external supply is linear, delivering +5 V at 3 A, +12 V at 30 mA and −12 V at 30 mA, with a maximum input of 36 W and no adjustments.[6]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rees, Atari 260ST Story: TOS Floppy Boot Process, And How Much RAM?, ctrl.alt.rees, 7 May 2021. Sold in limited numbers in West Germany and parts of Scandinavia; bench measurements on a 260ST (512 KB on the board, 385 KB free under ROM TOS, 209 KB free with TOS loaded from floppy); the boot ROM loader screen. https://ctrl-alt-rees.com/2021-05-07-atari-260st-story-tos-floppy-boot-process-and-how-much-ram.html
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Atari 520ST, 260ST, 520ST+, 520STM, 130ST und ST Junior, atari-computermuseum.de, last revised 26 June 2024. Secondary source, used for the 1985 model plan, the December 1985 launch, the DM 1,298 price, 512 KB fitted, the C070243 board, the DM 98 ROM TOS retrofit, the monitor-connector changes, the October 1986 replacement by the 520ST M and the January 1987 discontinuation. https://www.atari-computermuseum.de/520st.htm
- ↑ Atari, De ATARI 260 ST..., Dutch sales leaflet, four pages, scanned as "Atari ST 260ST Advertisement (Scans)", Internet Archive. Cover text "Toptechnologie in de 512 kB klasse"; the cover photograph shows the 260ST badge.
- ↑ Atari Corporation, Engineering Hardware Specification of the Atari ST Computer System, 7 January 1986, section 2.2. The Memory Configuration Register and its sizing algorithm recognise banks of 128 KB, 512 KB or 2 MB only. Hosted here as Atari ST Engineering Hardware Specification (PDF).
- ↑ Atari 1040ST, atari-computermuseum.de. Secondary source, used for the 260ST D (Summer CES, June 1985) and 260ST FM (London, a few months later), the reason for the change of suffix, and the fact that neither was released. https://www.atari-computermuseum.de/1040st.htm
- ↑ Atari Corporation, 520ST / 1040ST Computer Field Service Manual, part number CO26118-002 Rev B (3.6), January 1987, section 1, "Power Supply". Hosted here as File:Atari 520ST and 1040ST Computer Field Service Manual.pdf.