Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucselx!petunia!csuchico.edu!ekrimen From: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: MegaSTe info Message-ID: <1991Feb03.062924.15318@ecst.csuchico.edu> Date: 3 Feb 91 06:29:24 GMT Sender: news@ecst.csuchico.edu (USENET) Organization: California State University, Chico Lines: 150 Here's some info on the MegaSTe from Gregory (carter@garfield.cs.wisc.edu). --------------------------- For those of you who are curious about the new and rather hard to find Mega STe in the US, here are some performance figures: Quick Index 1.8 --------------- Tos 1.0 Tos 1.4 Tos 1.6 Cpu Memory 165% ---- ----- Reg 205% ---- ----- Divide 204% ---- ----- Shifts 208% 207% ----- Dma 64K Read 5680% ----- ----- Gemdos Files 1583% 1607% ----- Disk RPM 2408 ----- ----- TOS text 121%/536%(Turbo) 386%(Turbo) 342%(Turbo) string 118%/1911%(Turbo) 1288%(Turbo) 1181%(Turbo) scroll 181%/195%(Turbo) 140%(Turbo) 110%(Turbo) GEM Dialog 209%/460%(Turbo) 437%(Turbo) 276%(Turbo) The MEGA STe is really an awesome machine. Its very fast, Atari has mightily improved the hard disk controller, I get three times the thruput than on my old SH204, and the drive itself that came with it is a 157N, a very nice 50 megabyte hard drive. Through the VME slot on the back, I popped out the card, and looked inside too see SIMM's, a nice 90 WATT power supply, and a vacant 68881 socket. I noticed too, that the, (cannoy confirm have to rip the whole machine a part which I may do this weekend), but the floppy drive looks like a 1.4 megabyte drive, sony mechanism. The floppy drive controller chip is socketed so even though its a WD 1772, it may be easily removed in the future for a better flopyy controller. I am a US developer, so I got mine under the wire, ONE LEFT. In fact, there were only 10 MACHINE shipped to thr US, by developer request. The rest went to the European and Canadian community. You cannot not NOBODY CAN get one in the US. If some guy tries to con you, wait till around April/May, when they should be made available in the US. The Spectre GCR works very nice with this machine. You get hard disk performance of something between a IIfx and IIsi. 600-700 kiloBYTES per second. 33ms access time. I am very pleased. The retail value of the machine is $1979.99. TOS 2.05's desktop is REALLY NICE, hell, its even USEFUL. It packs HOT KEYS, item grouping which is MacLIKE, very MAC LIKE and command key equivalents. I think much better than NeoDesk. The copy operations are VERY efficient and quick. You can select your own ICONS for different things on the desktop color them, hell even color your windows individually. Now the desktop looks pretty and functional in color! The Machine has 8Mhz/16Mhz/16Mhz with cache options. YOU should see how SNAPPY this thing is with TURBO ST installed at 16Mhz cache on. You could now use an ST for a very good X Terminal(If youcould find the software). The keyboard feel is very MAClike. The key tops are smaller so you can type faster and quicker. They are no longer MUSHY. Keyboard is very nicely laid out as far as physical form is concerned. It can mold itself to the front of the cpu housing, for a perfect fit or can simply be place in any position you want. (Its also MUCH better built than the MEGA's old flimsy keyboard design). The preliminary documentation for the machine is not complete yet. Many of the examples in the documentation manual is a bit misleading. For example, the back of the Mega STe in the documentation is shown to have two fan ports, and the VME slot is labled wrong. What is also confusing is that the mono mode indicated in the manual says two colors are available on the MEGA STe, from a palette of 4096, at 640x400?! I of course can't test this as I only have the SM124 to work on. I am very satisfied with the layout of the machine, the reset key is in an easily accessable location, along with the keyboard port, which makes positioning the keyboard much more intelligent than on the MEGA ST machines. Now here is the port listing from the DOCS: Processor: 16Mhz 68000 Math CoProcessor 68881/2(Optional) Memory 2 or 4 Depending on Model Graphics 320x200x16 640x200x4 640x400x2 Color 4096 Colors Interfaces Midi IN/OUT VME-compatible Eurocard (Comes filled/Serial Port) Monitor port (RGB) Television port Parallel port 1 Serial Port 2 Modem(RS232C) Floppy disk port LAN Interface ACSI DMA port (10 Megabits per second) ROM Cartridge port (128K) Mouse/Joystick port Stereo RCA ports Sound Generator Pulse Coded Modulated sound (8bit DA Converter) 3 voices from 30Hz to above audiable range Keyboard 95-key intelligent keyboard using its own microprocessor. Power Consumption 95 WATTS MAX. Physical characteristics Hieght: 3.54; Width 19.29 Depth 11.41 --Gregory --------------------------------- -- Ed Krimen ............................................... ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0