Atari provided a whole host of peripherals
for the Atari ST. From Laser Printers to Co-Processors, the ST
range was well supported by its parent company.
The most popular peripherals were the
Monochrome monitors, which offered a high-resolution display that was
clearer and larger than the Macintosh, and extremely easy to work on.
The first unit available was the SM-124 (with other versions of the same
unit differing only cosmetically and by their designation SM-144, SM-146
and SM-147). Colour monitors ranged from the standard SC-1224 and
the SC-1435 to the strange PS-3000 with integrated Floppy Disk Drive.
A luxury in the 80's but common today, was
the Atari 19" monitor. This was another monochrome only offering,
but with the respective controller card offered a resolution of 1280 X
960, ideal for DTP and CAD work. There were two units, firstly by
Moniterm (TTM-194) and by Philips (TTM-195) for Atari.
![](../images/TT195.gif)
Atari cut the cost of DTP, which was
emerging as a strong market segment in the late 80's, with the launch of
its low-cost SLM-804 300dpi laser printer. This unit had a
controller unit that utilised the internal memory of the ST. It
was later replaced by the SLM-605, which was a lower-maintenance unit
made by Epson for Atari. Dot-Matrix printers were popular, and
Atari provided the SMM-804.
![](../images/MegaST-DTP1.gif)
Disk drives and hard drives came in a number
of capacities. During the early years of the ST, single-sided 360Kb 3.5"
drives were installed and available as external units (SF-354).
Soon, Atari made the larger capacity double-sided 720Kb drives available
(SF-314), and also installed them as standard into their systems.
It wasn't until the 90's that Atari began using the more popular 1.44Mb
3.5" drives, but they were not launched as external units.
Hard drives ranged from the first 20Mb
SH-204 "slab" type unit, to the Mega styled "Megafile" range available
in 20Mb, 30Mb and 60Mb capacities. Atari also launched a removable
drive which was modelled on the SyQuest system. This unit,
designated as the "Megafile 44", offered a removable cartridge of, you
guessed it, 44Mb! Atari offered an internal hard drive in its
MegaSTE, TT030 and Falcon030 range.
There were many miscellaneous peripheral
products, such as Toner cartridges, general spare parts, maths
co-processors and operating system upgrades (ROM chip configurations).
Of course, in keeping with Atari tradition, some peripherals were
shelved, available as vapourware only, or just hidden in warehouses in
fear somebody might just buy them...
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