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.