The next member of my collection is an Atari Mega ST2, ideal for upgrading to 4MB.
The Mega ST series was available in three RAM sizes (1, 2, and 4MB). The common feature was the new housing with separate keyboard. This provided the series with a more professional look. In contrast to the 260/520/1040 series, where the keyboard and computer were in a common housing (the typical home computer form).
The rectangular, flat case houses the actual computer, incl. power supply and floppy disk drive. The high-quality, separate keyboard (connected via a coiled cable with Western plug to the main unit) could be directly connected to the mouse.
Additional available hard drives came in the same housing design and could be stacked. The monitor is then usually placed on the main unit, or the main unit / disk stack.
Technical Data
| Type | Mega ST2 |
| RAM | 2MB (1 Bank 2MB, 16 Chips, 2nd bank free ) |
| Board | C100167-001 Rev.5.0 |
| Serial Number | A1794005395 |
| Floppy | TDK T41V |
| TOS | 1.02 (original) |
| State | Very yellowed and dirty, internal shielding with ots of rust. But no other damages. |
| Remarks | TOS in 1M Chips (2 pcs), other 4 places with socket. Without Blitter, but socket existing. Ideal for upgrading to 4MB, because motherboard prepared. |
The Mega ST2, which I could get hold of, came with a memory of 2MB. This variant is ideal for upgrading to 4MB. This of course requires sufficient knowledge in electronics and skills in dealing with the soldering iron. The motherboard of the ST2 is identical to the 4MB version. However, only the necessary components for 2MB RAM are equipped. The remaining 2MB could therefore be "relatively easily" added. But I will describe this upgrade in a later article.
The present device had to undergo a thorough cleaning first. Because it arrived in a rather poor condition (yellowed, dirty and in some places even a little bit rusty).
From the inner values, it was more of a standard device. Although Atari introduced the so-called Blitter with the Mega ST (accelerated certain graphic operations, in particular the shifting of image areas), this one was not equipped with the present Mega ST. It was probably one of the earlier devices.
