The Atari ST was born from the rivalry between home computer makers Atari, Inc. The ST was superseded by the Atari STE, Atari TT, Atari MEGA STE, and Falcon computers. With built-in MIDI ports, it was popular for music sequencing and as a controller of musical instruments among amateurs and well-known musicians alike. In some markets, particularly Germany, the ST gained a foothold for CAD and desktop publishing. Some later models could display the color modes on a TV. Color graphics modes are only available on the former while the highest-resolution mode needs the monochrome monitor. The ST was sold with either Atari's color monitor or less expensive monochrome monitor. The system was designed by a small team led by Shiraz Shivji. 'ST' officially stands for 'Sixteen/Thirty-two', which refers to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals. This includes the Macintosh, Amiga, Apple IIGS, and Acorn Archimedes. The Atari ST is part of a mid-1980s generation of computers with 16 or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, and mouse-controlled graphical user interfaces. The 1040ST, released in 1986 with 1 MB of RAM, was the first with a cost-per-kilobyte of less than US$1. It was the first personal computer to come with a bitmapped color GUI, using a version of Digital Research's GEM from February 1985. The initial model, the 520ST, saw limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family.

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