Newly acquired 520 STe questions

[rubber_jonnie]

These may help:

Going Gotek


Gotek Q&A

[HigashiJun]

Nice and exhaustive threads !

[Steve]

Is it mentioned what brand RAM he's using?

[rubber_jonnie]

Nice and exhaustive threads !

Thanks

[Jobbo]

Is it mentioned what brand RAM he's using?

For now I've reverted to the old 512k of RAM until I can get the computer working 100%.

But the 4meg upgrade I bought was from Exxos.

I'll post pictures of the old and new, the new kind is definitely a tight squeeze for my board on the sides especially.

both-ram.jpg (371.07 KiB) Viewed 1169 times

[Jobbo]

These may help:

Going Gotek

Gotek Q&A

Thanks, a Gotek is one option.

But I do like the idea of keeping it as a floppy. Are there replacement drives? I have an external Amiga drive that I could potentially dismantle and use if that would actually fit the Atari and be compatible?

[jedidiah]

Hi there

I'm new to the forum and have some questions I hope to answer about the 520 STe I recently rescued.

The machine seems to boot to GEM, I can't tell if the drive works because maybe the disks I have are bad. Some files did show up in GEM so hopefully it was just bad discs or the heads need cleaning. Figuring out the drive will be a question for later.

My goal for this machine is to use it for viewing demos and games, both old and new. I'm no ST expert so I'm hoping to find answers to some questions, or pointed in the direction of the answers.

- Does the STe have capacitors that must be replaced? I can't see any signs of damage but would pay to get it recapped if that's wise.
- I see this site sells a modern power supply, is that recommended?
- It's a Pal machine but I'm in the US, is it fine to use with a typical UK converter?
- This STe has 512k, for games and demos is it better to have 4meg or just 1meg?
- What's the latest and best way to make floppies from a modern windows PC?

Thanks for any and all help!

I am running a newly acquired UK 520STE in the US and have had no problem running it on US power.

Randomly acquired Dell monitors don't seem to have any problems with 50hz. The whole 15hz business is another matter.

Trying to display any kind of analog TV signal is probably not worth the bother.

I tried to mess around with floppy drives on my PC but that ended up being a total waste of time & I ended up just getting a Gotek floppy emulator. Hatari is good for helping you create floppy images. There are plenty you can just download from the web.

[rubber_jonnie]

Is it mentioned what brand RAM he's using?

For now I've reverted to the old 512k of RAM until I can get the computer working 100%.

But the 4meg upgrade I bought was from Exxos.

I'll post pictures of the old and new, the new kind is definitely a tight squeeze for my board on the sides especially.

I think I have a an idea why your new SIMMs are a problem. Looking at your contacts they have solder on the contact pads that make them too thick to fit in the particular SIMM sockets you have.

I'd suggest cleaning the solder off the contacts with a soldering iron and some solder wick to reduce the thickness, once they are clean I think they'll work just fine.

[Steve]

Yes this is why I asked... It's been noted that Exxos simms don't work in BLACK sim slots with that extra solder. You have to remove the solder then it's ok.

[Jobbo]

That's very odd. The simms I ordered in the picture in the store don't have blobs of solder.

The description even warns against replacing old simms that were thicker because they can have damaged the slots.

I'll have to find a friend who can help remove the solder and cross my finders that my attempts haven't already damaged the slots and that removing the solder doesn't do any hard.

Definitely isn't as simple as I'd hoped!