Digging into DeskCart! for the Atari ST

One of the few Atari ST cartridges

When I ordered my Atari 1040ST in late 1988, one of the first things I purchased for it was DeskCart, the “Atari ST Desk Accessory Cartridge” which was first released in 1987. This cute little cartridge cost around $99 at the time, although I probably paid a little less. It has these highlights from the box:

• Battery-operated Clock/Calendar sets the system date and time automatically.

• Adds 14 convenient desk accessories with over 20 powerful functions.

• Plugs into the computer’s built-in cartridge port.

• Loads quickly, using 64K of ROM inside the cartridge.

• Works together with all GEM applications.

• The perfect companion for you Atari ST!

Frankly, it is astonishing to me that Atari did not include a battery-backed clock in the 1040ST. In 1989, the only computer that had one was the Mega ST. For programming, having properly timestamped files was a must and I didn’t want to be manually typing the date/time in each time I booted. There were also other clock carts around at the time, but they did not have the extra accessories.

Of course, I have absolutely no need for it now since my Mega STE gets the date/time from the UltraSatan HD emulator. And even if it didn’t, the Mega STE has its own built-in battery-backed clock. Unfortunately, that battery is dead¹.

But I saw a DeskCart! with box and manual show up on eBay and I just could not resist grabbing it. The box is in pretty good shape and is exactly how I remember it from 1989. Unfortunately there was no floppy with the actual software and I’ve had no luck finding the software anywhere on the internet. If anyone knows where I can find it or has a copy they can get me, please let me know!

The box had an unusual design that showcased the manual and the cartridge itself for easy viewing.