Cleaning up your attic can provide various results, e.g. an old Atari 1024STf. I got this one to run Cubase in the old days (ofcourse) but with my Macbook Pro nowadays, nostalgia has its limits…

I also had a PS2 Compaq keyboard lying around and an Abit iL90 mainboard which I got as a replacement for a non-delivarable mini-its board I actually wanted. Long story short; I didn’t really use the stuff.

Instead of entering the tedious part of selling it on ebay I decided to put things together. It’s not a super fast computer, but It has some nice similarities with the original specs.

MAIN SPECS

This ‘Abitari’ has:

• 1024MB RAM (Instead of 1024KB)
• 1.6GHz Pentium Mobile (Instead of 1.6MHz Motorola)

I did got rid of the floppy drive in order to install a 8GB Lightscribe Slot-in DVD drive. Just pop in those discs on the right side of the computer, just as in the old days!

It was tempting to remap the original keyboard to PC layout, but the Atari keyboard was not functioning 100% anymore and the Atari layout misses quite some keys to accommodate normal PC usage. I took the old Compaq 101-PC keyboard and put it in place of the old keys.

Furthermore there’s an M-AUDIO MIDISport 2×2 MIDI port to be plugged in the USB port to replace the standard MIDI Atari connectors.

INTERNALS

Here are the internals. The embedded power supply comes from a picoPSU hence the low power Pentium Mobile. (I did not want to stress this too much with a Dual Core) Because the MB is made for home theatre fan is low noise and only spins in high stress situations.

I’ve put an USB 54g wireless card inthere on the left, as well as  a bluetooth adapter. I had to remove the casing from these parts on order to fit it into the case. The board also has features for digital audio and HDMI connection which are still accessible from the left side. I’ve made som holes to provide for two USB on the side of the Atari as well as a FireWire connection. The black thing there on the right is the power supply, accompanied by a 2.5″ HD

I made a little adapter so the VGA port got its own connector at the outside of the case and made a mini-jack to dual RCA plug for the audio.

MOUSE

You have to control this thing in style. The Atari mouse is now rebuilt with a Logitech optical core and I cleared out some space for the scrollwheel. You can connect it on the original place below the keyboard.. I changed the gameport to a PS2 connector.

I’m telling you, it feels weird popping in a DVD…

….and play a DVD on your atari ST