Introduction to Atari Programming
— CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION TO ATARI PROGRAMMING T HE ATARI COMPENDIUM Atari Computer Hardware – 1.3 Atari Computer Hardware The 260/520/1040 ST The first Atari ST computers became available to the public in 1985. The new Atari models were the first 16-bit computers well-suited for use in the home. The availability of these computers signaled the end of the Atari 8-bit era of computers such as the 400, 800, 800XL, 1200XL, 1450XLD, 65XE, and 130XE computers. The name ‘ST’ is derived from the capabilities of the Motorola 68000 processor upon which the original Atari line was based. The 68000 uses a Sixteen-bit data bus with a Thirty-two bit address bus. 16-bit computers introduced a new concept in computer technology called the operating system (OS). Atari’s operating system, The Operating System (TOS), was loaded from a boot disk originally, but is now almost always installed in ROM. A primary subsystem of TOS is GEM (‘Graphics Environment Manager’), the graphical user interface used by Atari computers. GEM, which was developed by Digital Research, Inc., manages the graphic interface to applications and provides access to popular computing features with buzzwords such as windows, the mouse, menus, and the desktop. GEM was originally designed for PC-compatible computers. PC-based GEM, however, is no longer completely compatible with Atari GEM. Only components of GEM relative to its use on the Atari will be covered in this guide. Some functions which were originally documented for Atari GEM yet never implemented have been included for completeness. Other TOS subsystems include GEMDOS, the BIOS, and the XBIOS.
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