Mega ST 4 Low: Demo and Games Machine
Bought via eBay as a bargain, this Mega ST 4 is today my LowRes demo and gaming machine. It's the most heavily expanded of the fleet, but tuned for fast disk-image swapping rather than productivity.
History and Repair
I had originally cut out the TOS ROMs to experiment with external solutions, and afterwards it was unclear whether the board had been damaged in the process. Moving the Cloudy/Storm ST combo to this machine via the MegaBus connector brought it back to stable operation. The actual problem turned out to be a poorly and incompletely soldered CPU socket.
Hardware Configuration
- CPU, 68000 with socket, plus the Cloudy/Storm ST combo via the MegaBus adapter.
- TOS/Flash, Cloudy as the TOS switcher/flash solution with EmuTOS and PP's improved iTOS 1.04, plus KAOS TOS installed as well (though rarely used).
- RAM, 4 MB onboard ST-RAM plus 8 MB AltRAM via the Storm ST.
- Mass storage, a Gotek floppy emulator in a 3D-printed case and an UltraSatan ACSI-SD emulator.
- Peripherals, a SidecarTridge Multi-device on the ROM port, a Wi-Fi modem for dialing into BBSs, an original Atari keyboard with a mouSTer and USB mouse, and an MCSWITCH adapter for VGA output.
Role
Focused on LowRes demos and games, with convenient image handling via the Gotek and SidecarTridge. No need for complex productivity software or precise keyboard layouts here.