Somewhere along the way, "one Atari ST" turned into three Mega ST 4 machines plus a Mega ST 2. Rather than let them gather dust, each one got a clearly defined purpose, from untouched nostalgia piece to fully upgraded workstation.
The Lineup
- The heirloom machine, kept as close to factory-original as possible, running the stock TOS 1.04 and a classic floppy drive. Its job is to be a baseline reference: if something breaks on a modded machine, this one proves the fault isn't in the software.
- The "Low" machine, a bargain-bin Mega ST 4 rebuilt with a Cloudy/Storm ST combo for TOS switching and extra FastRAM, a Gotek floppy emulator, an UltraSatan hard disk emulator, a SidecarTridge multi-device for ROM, floppy, and Wi-Fi tricks, and a Wi-Fi modem for dialing into BBSs. This is the demo- and game-machine, optimized for fast disk-image swapping rather than serious productivity.
- The "High" machine, the workstation build. A MonSTerBoard adds 8MB of AltRAM, IDE storage, and flashable TOS (currently TOS 2.06), running Geneva for real multitasking. An ET4000 graphics card drives a dedicated monitor for higher resolutions. A NetUSBee adapter and an Eiffel interface for a PS/2 keyboard and mouse round it out, with the original Atari keyboard and mouse now on the "Low" machine.
- The spare Mega ST 2, a reserve and donor machine, kept in largely original condition, used to safely test upgrades before they go into the "real" machines.
Extensions Not Yet Installed
A few upgrades have been bought or built but aren't in a machine yet, either waiting to go in or kept as spares:
- A second Gotek floppy emulator, bought alongside the one fitted to the "Low" machine, still unbuilt and ready for another machine or as a spare.
- An Eiffel Pico USB adapter, bought and configured but not yet installed, so I haven't decided which machine it will go into.
- A new SidecarTridge Multi-device Revision 3, bought as an upgrade over the Revision 0 in use on the "Low" machine, still uninstalled until I decide where to put it.
Fun fact: two of the "problem" machines turned out to have nothing wrong with the boards at all, a badly soldered CPU socket and a leftover blitter patch bridge were the actual culprits. Moral of the story: check your solder joints twice before blaming the silicon.