I had a 520ST back in the mid 80s. I would have killed for a Mega ST, but I couldn't afford one and realistically needed an IBM-compatible PC, which I eventually got.
Things I remember about about the 520ST:
- Those horrible diagonal function keys. There was no reason for them to be diagonal, rather than normal keys as they were on the IBM. But I've always hated function keys.
- Games like Dungeon Master (really still quite a good game today).
- Not a bad C compiler, but I can't remember who by - LightSomething?
- The GEM GUI was not so bad, but using it with a floppy disk was.
But all-in-all I was quite happy to get my PC-compatible to do serious work with.
Ironically, speaking as an Amiga guy, those diagonal function keys were an aspect of the ST I really liked!
I don't know if they were consistent with the other keys in terms of feel, but they were a striking, unique design feature that instantly identified the machine as being Atari without compromising practicality.
Yeah, I forgot about that. But I suppose you didn't need to replug them very often, and it wasn't much worse than plugging into an IBM PC before USB came along. And at least the Atari had lots of useful ports.
GEM was in ROM on the Atari ST and it was fantastic. It was light years ahead of where Windows was at the time. It was Amiga Workbench that was somewhat limited by being on a floppy disk.
Things I remember about about the 520ST:
- Those horrible diagonal function keys. There was no reason for them to be diagonal, rather than normal keys as they were on the IBM. But I've always hated function keys.
- Games like Dungeon Master (really still quite a good game today).
- Not a bad C compiler, but I can't remember who by - LightSomething?
- The GEM GUI was not so bad, but using it with a floppy disk was.
But all-in-all I was quite happy to get my PC-compatible to do serious work with.