Rubenerd: The Atari ST is my favourite 16-bit machine

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2024-11-09 17:00:12

The Atari ST family of machines are my favourite of the 16-bit era. Introduced between 1985 and 1993, they weren’t the most technically advanced available, nor did they achieve significant marketshare against incumbents like Apple, Commodore, or the ever-expanding PC clone market. But they had so much home computer history soldered into their DNA that I can’t help read and write about them.

In 1982, Jack Tramiel and his team at Commodore were riding high on the success of the legendary Commodore 64; by some metrics still the best selling computer of all time. Barely two years later, Tramiel had resigned from the company he’d founded, and bought the consumer division assets of his former arch-rival Atari. Along with key former C64 engineers like Shiraz Shivji, he staged a comeback to the computer market with a new line of budget-focused machines. These would become the Atari ST.

This photo by Bill Bertram shows the machine with its colour monitor option and mouse. How gorgeous is this mid-1980s design!?