Just looking for some advice. I'll be picking up a Mega ST4 and a Megafile sometime within the next couple of weeks. I have no experience with the Mega ST's since I've only owned regular ST's / STE's in the past. Is there a particular version of TOS that I should be looking at getting if the Mega ST comes with an older one? Or does it matter? The reason I ask is that I've heard the Megafiles sometimes have issues with older version of TOS. I don't know what the most 'recent' version of TOS is for the Mega's, so I suppose that would be another question I have. Any other advice regarding the Mega ST's is also appreciated. It also comes with some Eiffel thing to allow connecting of a PS/2 keyboard and mouse since the Mega keyboard is not included; and also has a Viking video card in it, which is probably useless since you can't find the monitor anywhere for it. So I'll probably just use my SM124 here. Thanks.
Jason
First of all, congratulations on a Mega ST and a Megafile! These are awesome versions of the ST line.
Once you get it, and assuring that everything boots up okay, determine which TOS version is in it. Generally speaking, older Mega's had TOS v1.2. It will either be the 2 chip set or the 6 chip set of TOS ROMs. If it's a newer Mega or someone has already upgraded it, it could be TOS v1.4. If it's TOS v1.4, you're good to go unless you want to use a TOS decoder board (such as the STorm ST/combo) and go to TOS v2.06. If it is TOS v1.2 - then I recommend that you upgrade to at least TOS v1.4. Changing from v1.2 to v1.4 is usually pretty painless.
(Download Sysinfo to get a system report)
As far as memory goes, most Mega's are 2 or 4 megs but some really early versions only had 1 meg of RAM.
That's too bad about the missing Mega keyboard. They are considered by many to be the best ST keyboard out there, complete with cherry switches.
The Megafiles came in 20, 30 and 60 meg versions, IIRC. Maybe you'll be lucky and have the 60 meg one! :)
There are several upgrades available, like the already mentioned STorm-ST. The Cloudy board, the Lightning ST board, a NetUSBee, or WiModem232 for communications, etc,...
https://wiki.newtosworld.de/index.php?title=Storm_ST
https://wiki.newtosworld.de/index.php?title=Cloudy
https://wiki.newtosworld.de/index.php?title=Lightning_ST
https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=59?
The Mega ST has an onboard RTC, powered by 2 AA batteries in a small compartment on the back left top corner of the main unit. Make sure and check those for corrosion/cleaning/replacement.
If you are going to be using the Mega ST a lot and/or leaving it running continuously, there is a small "hack" recommended by Best Electronics that I did to my Mega ST4 (of course, it runs 24/7!). They recommend removing the protective bars in the case over the fan because they are so close together that they actually restrict airflow.
If it comes with the original Atari mouse, you might want to consider upgrading. I recommend either a Best Electronics True Mouse or the "MouSTer".
https://www.best-electronics-ca.com/accesori.htm
For audio, you can easily bring the ST's mono signal out so that you can deliver it to a pair of powered speakers. I did this with my Mega ST4 and the difference in sound is pretty amazing.
Well, that's about all I can think of for now, right off the top of my head.
HTH's - and if you have any questions at all, just ask - somebody will step in to help!
:)