GL1zdA wrote:

* Is it possible to read Atari floppies on anything else than an Atari? (Even if I decide to go for emulation, I would still like to buy boxed Atari games).

That depends on the floppy. The Atari used ostensibly the same on-disk format as DOS did. This means some floppies can be read in an ordinary PC. However... not all Atari floppies are formatted correctly. Many, especially those formatted with older software, are formatted out of spec. These will be unreadable or appear corrupt to PCs. Check out this link, for instance.

GL1zdA wrote:

I would like to add some home computers to my collection. I definitely want an Amiga 1000 and 1200 and Commoder 64 (C64C with 25 […]
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I would like to add some home computers to my collection. I definitely want an Amiga 1000 and 1200 and Commoder 64 (C64C with 250466 motherboard for the genuine SID). The computer I'm not sure I want is anything from the Atari ST series.
The questions are:
* What games looked/sounded best on the Atari ST (I mean better than on the Amiga/PC)? I know Atari ST was good at 3D games (like F-19 Stealth Fighter) because of its speed, but how would it compare to running these games on faster Amigas?
* Which Atari model would you recommend for best compatibility?
* How accurate are Atari emulators? Any recommendation?
* Is it possible to read Atari floppies on anything else than an Atari? (Even if I decide to go for emulation, I would still like to buy boxed Atari games).

For best compatibility you have to go with the lowest common denominator which in this case would be a 520ST with single sided floppy drive. Very little ST software requires more than this. If you plan to use it mainly for gaming, then a color monitor is what you will need. The monochrome monitor was mainly for apps though there were a few monochrome compatible games published.

As for later models like the STe, TT030, the Mega's and the Falcon030, there wasn't a lot written to take advantage of the extra features of those machines. That's the problem when major hardware upgrades are made to a line of computers. Software publishers want to appeal to as broad a base of users as possible so they won't take advantage of new features so users of the older models can still buy their software. I'd try to find a 1040ST and a double sided floppy drive, though. It eliminates a lot of disk swapping when transferring files between floppies.

Keep in mind that the Atari ST uses 360 and 720k floppies which can be hard to find now. Formatting 1.44mb floppies to those densities is not recommended as data loss almost always occurs a short time later.

Sorry for hijacking this thread but does anyone know what an Atari Falcon 030 is worth these days? I happen to own one I plan to sell

I can't think of any Atari games that look or sound better than the Amiga versions. There will of course be exclusive Atari games not available on the Amiga or PC and vice-versa 😀

PowerPie5000 wrote:

I can't think of any Atari games that look or sound better than the Amiga versions. There will of course be exclusive Atari games not available on the Amiga or PC and vice-versa 😀

The Atari sounds more like a C64 on stereoids

GL1zdA wrote:

I would like to add some home computers to my collection. I definitely want an Amiga 1000 and 1200 and Commoder 64 (C64C with 250466 motherboard for the genuine SID).

Some notes to the SID. The 8580 have all similar filter characteristics. For the 6581 though each single SID will sound different. The revision has nothing to do with a certain filter characteristics. This seems to be a well distributed urban legend.
Here are some measured curves: http://www.bel.fi/~alankila/c64-sw/fc-curves/curves.png
To get an impression of the SID in your C64, you can either hear against recordings of SIDs that had their filter curves measured or measure your own SIDs filter curve. This requires a bit of data analysis knowledge.

Oh and don't miss the latest inventions in SID mastery:

New method of sample playing in Vicious SID, realtime mod player:
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=72678
(if you try in emulator use at least Vice 2.2 with fp emulation)

Echofied 6581 (using a real 6581 highly recommended)
http://c64.ch/demos/realdetail.php?id=7529

And maybe not too SID related but 2:30 min digital playback in 48 kB, C64 MP3: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=87985

So how could a Atari sound even more on steroids?

So I will probably get a 1040 ST(FM).

Amigaz wrote:

Sorry for hijacking this thread but does anyone know what an Atari Falcon 030 is worth these days? I happen to own one I plan to sell

Depends on how well preserved it is. I saw a boxed one here, in Poland, going for about 675 EUR: http://allegro.pl/item1103423099_atari_falcon_030_box.html . Another was sold for around 400 EUR: http://allegro.pl/item1067770747_atari_falcon … 30_sprawny.html

Amigaz wrote:

Sorry for hijacking this thread but does anyone know what an Atari Falcon 030 is worth these days? I happen to own one I plan to sell

I have one, too, but they come up for sale so infrequently these days it's hard to establish a price for them. I've seen them sell for anywhere from $400-$800 USD depending on memory and hard drive configuration but your buyers will also play a big role in determining the price. If you have one or more bidders determined to have it at any cost then the sky is the limit as to what you could get for it. If you have only a few half hearted bidders who are willing to let it go if the price gets too high, then you won't get as much.

Hey guys, what's up? Is there a way to run the atari st roms via project lunar + retro arch on mega drive mini (hatari core doesn't work)?
Thanks!