model, because the PAL library utterly dwarfs the number of
NTSC titles.
>> The gaming market was strong during its first years.
Classics include 1987’s first-person RPG Dungeon Master; Peter
Molyneux’s pioneering god game, Populous (1990); and 1993’s
tactical shooter, Cannon Fodder. However, support began to
wane when Commodore introduced the cost-reduced Amiga
500, which had better graphics and sound than the ST, ultimately
swallowing its gaming market.
>> Over the years, it released better machines to rival the
Amiga, but neither company could compete with the PC market,
which was growing cheaper by the day. Atari produced some 32-
bit machines in the early ’90s, but stopped making computers in
1993 in favor of a shift to consoles, and the ill-fated Atari Jaguar.3
HOW DO I EMULATE IT?
The first thing you should know about is EmuTOS (https://
emutos.sourceforge.io/en). Most ST emulators require a
system ROM (TOS) to function. EmuTOS is a free, open-source
re-implementation of TOS that can run on original hardware
(even some Amigas), or be used by emulators as a replacement
system. It will suffice for most uses, but programs requiring
obscure functionality may need an original system ROM.
>> The two most popular emulators are Hatari and Steem
SSE. Hatari is probably the best choice, and it offers versions forWindows, Mac, and Linux. (Note that on the PC you may
need to run it as administrator.) Once loaded, you should
hit F12 to configure a few settings, including where the
two floppy drives point to, which will be any disk images
you download.
The Linux version in system repositories will
probably start with an error about the TOS file—licensing
restrictions mean that a system ROM is unlikely to be
included. You therefore need to specify a TOS file in
the application’s ROM menu, whether it be EmuTOS
or a proprietary ROM image. Windows builds from the
website come pre-loaded with EmuTOS, although you
can use a proprietary ROM if you prefer (https://hatari.
tuxfamily.org).
Steem (now Steem SSE) used to support Windows
and Linux (https://sourceforge.net/projects/steemsse);
newer versions only support Windows, but it runs well
under Wine. Steem SSE requires a ROM image. We
prefer Hatari to Steem, but if something doesn’t work
under one emulator, it’s worth trying the other.
For lazy gamers RetroArch has a core based on
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The obvious place to find games is via general
ROM sites, but they are fraught with legal issues.
These sites can also be a great source for system
ROMs (TOS images in the ST’s case), and switching
between system ROMs can help get pesky
programs running, but copyright issues still apply.
For visual demos and non-gaming apps, you
usually need to look elsewhere. Archive.org has a
few gems you can play with, and you don’t have to
sort through legally suspect ROM sites. However,
the easiest way to find legal software of any sort
is through magazine coverdisk archives, which
usually mix gaming and utilities. We had most luck
with Exxos’s archive (www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari),
which has a collection of disks from ST Format (a
Future Publishing magazine that ran from 1989 to
1996). The collection is archived in .MSA format,
which is easy to load, and compatible with Hatari.WHERE CAN I
FIND SOFTWARE?
>> Atari’s TOS interface may look horrible now, but there’s a clean
and simple elegance to these old operating systems.>> Hatari running EmuTOS: Not everything is going to work with this
setup, but simpler apps should be good.maximumpc.com JAN 2020 MAXIMUMPC 63