The online community for MiSTer FPGA enthusiasts
https://misterfpga.org/
Visiting a friend for the next couple of weeks, and she just pointed out that she had an Atari ST as a kid.
Went to have a look at archive org, and I see lots of games there, but nothing in VHD format. Wondering what the most straightforward way to get going with this might be.
I am not an Atari ST user, but this thread has some hints as to what to search for to find pre-made VHDs: viewtopic.php?p=71926#p71926
There is still at least one page with the "1000 games" vhds on archive.org. A simple "atari st hhd image" in a search engine* should take you there.
Apart from that, running games from floppies is pretty straightforward too. Just mount one in the OSD then click on Floppy Disk A in the OS (though sometimes it takes multiple clicks to open anything on this goshdarned machine). It should open a directory and show some files - usually gamename.PRG will start the game. Sometimes you will have to do a reset with mounted floppy and it will boot like on Amiga. Your friend should remember these operations though.
In any case (vhd or floppy) you'll need to source and put some TOS roms in the /media/fat/games/AtariST directory on your MiSTer SD card.
I mostly use TOS v1.62 (1990), earlier games might need different one.
Also change Chipset to STE in the OSD config if you want to use HDD, and Memory to 1 (or more) MB.
*search engine that is not google or its offshot like startpage, funnily enough. Try DDG.
numbski wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 1:39 pmVisiting a friend for the next couple of weeks, and she just pointed out that she had an Atari ST as a kid.
Went to have a look at archive org, and I see lots of games there, but nothing in VHD format. Wondering what the most straightforward way to get going with this might be.
In case you open the disc and see nothing or a folder called "AUTO" press CTRL+ALT+DEL to do a warmstart, the disc will boot. In many cases running the program from the AUTO folder by clicking on the .PRG file won't work.
If you use premade HDD-images with lots of games make sure that you have at least 2MB enabled and run on TOS 2.06 or higher. Most HDD will work with this TOS version, but you can also give EMU TOS a try it is a free TOS Rom that has good compability.
Only a few games out there need an STe so stick to the ST chipset as this is the most compatible with games.
Always use the low resolution.
numbski wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 1:39 pmVisiting a friend for the next couple of weeks, and she just pointed out that she had an Atari ST as a kid.
Went to have a look at archive org, and I see lots of games there, but nothing in VHD format. Wondering what the most straightforward way to get going with this might be.
Friends dont let friends use an ST. Amiga forever !
Hard disks were very uncommon for the ST. The desktop is on ROM, games were released on floppy, only a handful supported installation on harddisk.
So floppy images is the way to go!
Most games were converted over the years to run from HDD. There is a 3GB image filled with games and demos that is not complete but has about 90% of all games released.
Thank you so much for all of this. This explains why I can't seem to find what I need. Last question, if the OS runs from ROM, does that get pulled in using update_all?
you need a TOS image separately (i think its under hardware in the osd gimme 5 to check ...)
okay you go to "modify config" after open OSD (press F12 or whatever you use, perhaps a button on the mister box or board itself)
your best bet for ST games is the lowest stock machine, that would be 512kb , TOS 1.0 , chipset ST , use .st images b/c it wont read .stx
(planetemu or the archive or "your usual channels" whatever they are)
i find least problems with this setting tho 1024kb is probably better b/c some games will need that OR simply run better with it ,occasionally you bump into a game thats actually STE enhanced, most "neo-retro" (post 2020 or post 2000 even) might be , so then you use STe, to use a HD its probably better to use higher TOS, otherwise tos 1.0 (or max 1.04 ... "rainbow tos" or something i think) would be your choice, using floppies will get you most but theres probably a ton of converted hd files out there too , i actually like the original floppy time tho it would be nice if it had a drive sound like VICE emulator has ... you can also create your own using Hatari ( https://hatari.tuxfamily.org/ ) but if you do a bit of google you probably wont have to
also, in theory you would have to use emutos ( https://emutos.sourceforge.io/ ) for the bios / OS / romset , i think it goes like : emutos256 for st , 512 for STE and or mega and 1024 for TT or falcon (which you wont have to worry about on a mister)
s'kashi ... 
personally i find emutos to clash with lots of older floppies and games (it wont ofcourse with new stuff that has most of the time been written in emulators completely) so id really suggest tos 1.0 (or up to 1.02 or 1.04) if its just for retrogaming
i have a "mistercompatlist" on the site under the retrofans section but its just in the babystage as i just add games i play and most of them are neo-retro era since there's just too much releases every month still for about all main platforms
but for all retro stuff you would find on emuplanet which i checked so far id say tos 1.0, stock st (with 1024kb setting just to make sure ... games like populous et all would use or benefit from that) anything more was basically not used in games except very rarely , you got droid enhanced and lotus esprit STE and theres others like wings of death (you can youtube i suppose look for "ste enhanced" or "ste specific" or something
i wont link the TOS roms but you will probably find them in the same usual places anyway ,
i hope this chaotic collection of incoherent sentences piled up was of any use.
(also , if yo wanna see what an ST can do, load metal slug STE from itch.io (its free but you'll have to prep a HD image) then you'll never go amiga again
hah
hah
haaa
(o i THINK theres a tos.rom included in updateall but i dont know what that one stands to, id go for the real thing if you want a pleasant experience, i mean the real images ... the real thing is obviously still best)
Links on that page don't work for me
http://www.homecomputerworld.com/automationsite1.html
At least the first 150. I would look for a certain 3GB HDD image, as this is much more pleasant to use.