Atari 520ST

Released 1985: The Atari ST is a line of home computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial ST model, the 520ST, saw limited release in April-June 1985 and was widely available in July. The Atari ST is the first personal computer to come with a bitmapped color GUI, using a version of Digital Research’s GEM released in February 1985.

The Atari ST is part of a mid-1980s generation of home computers that have 16 or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, and mouse-controlled graphical user interfaces. It includes the Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, Apple IIGS, and, in certain markets, the Acorn Archimedes. “ST” officially stands for “Sixteen/Thirty-two”, which refers to the Motorola 68000’s 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals.

My Atari ST520: I got it together with a lot of Commodore 64’s, it was complete with mouse, external floppy drive and a power supply. However, it was really dirty and didn’t worked when power on. I took the ST apart, including all the key caps and gave them a good clean. Inside, it had a 3rd part memory expansion that was “piggy back” type and some clamps for currents. It all had loosened. Once I fitted it correctly, the computer worked.

Repair floppy drive
Next, the floppy drive was just spinning and refused to load any floppies. Once opened, I spotted the drive belt had melted/snapped. I found a rubber band as an replacement to temporary test if that was it. I succeeded loading the game “OutRun”. I then found a proper belt replacement on Internet.