AtariCrypt | Atari ST Gaming

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

ST2VGA Enhanced VGA Adapter

Pixel Sharp

Those of you following my ramblings over the years will remember that I originally had a terrible flat-screen TV. I then bought two really old VGA monitors and used a standard cable. It worked, but produced weird lines on the screen. These looked like scratches that worsened whenever disk access was happening. Later, I bought the UBESWITCH, which is a superb product with a sharp display. Sadly, the scratches remained.

So, after that long-winded background, let's get to the point! Okay, I bought SidecarTridge's enhanced VGA adapter, which is a little more expensive than their other adapter. The ST2VGA Enhanced has an active video processing stage that amplifies the analog signal before it reaches the monitor.

This model draws power via a USB port (I use a nifty dongle in the cartridge port or a free USB slot on my Mac). I've tested this on two different VGA monitors, and it's ultra-sharp without those dreaded scratch marks. I'm sharing this to encourage more ST Nutters to buy this superb bit of kit. Excellent work, Diego!

Here are the links, plus some badly taken photos using my phone (which seemed like a good idea at the time!). You might not be able to see how great the display is, but you shall note the scratches are gone...

SidecarTridge web page for their enhanced adapter (always worth paying that bit extra!).
Check out SidecarTridge on X and give Diego a follow.
Listed down the right side of every page is our Hardware section - check it out.

I thought I'd show this boring screen - completely free of scratches!

Again, a black background without scratches. I'm loving this adapter :)

Then I thought a close-up of the sharp display... Ugh... Trust me, it's sharp.

This one captured well, I thought. Look how nice and clear the text is. Niiiiiice!!

Sunday, April 26, 2026

firST year

STuck in the 80s

When I first became an ST user, I was completely unfamiliar with the concept of a demo. Perhaps I might have assumed it meant a game demo, who knows? What I do know is that Grusel and The Union Demo were the first that truly captured my interest in this new world of impressive effects, music, and scrollers.

Grusel was something I stumbled upon while browsing the Page 6 library, along with a bunch of other intriguing things that piqued my curiosity as a new ST guy. Of course, it was The Union Demo that truly ignited this new passion. Weirdly, I discovered it by pure chance through an advert in a magazine. It's an understatement to say I was astounded by the capabilities my Atari ST suddenly possessed overnight.

This marked the beginning of something monumental. I wondered how my 520ST was doing all this, as I walked Charley across the smooth-scrolling landscape to some incredible demos. In fact, to this day, I still regard The Wobbly Screen by the mighty Replicants as one of the best. I couldn’t help but wonder what else was out there, so I began looking! This led to buying disks like Money For Nothing and others. Including the older TEX demos, I had previously not known about. These disks gave birth to my demoscene addiction!

One of the most impressive demos I encountered during this time was the 007 Demo by the ST Squad. It blew me away due to its length and the clarity of the sound. It was incredible what a 512Kb computer with a floppy drive could produce. Since I didn’t have any speakers, I remember it being played through the TV. In fact, I even remember my Dad coming upstairs to ask if I was watching a James Bond movie, haha.

Around this time, many more sample disks were released. It seemed like a popular niche, with artists cramming as much music onto a floppy disk as possible. This could be recorded samples or simply mixing parts to create something longer. Whatever the method, I was hooked and spent hours searching for more.

In short, I’ve been reliving my early days by going through sample disks from around this time. Hearing my ST sing everything from Ghostbusters to Stingray was/is a surreal moment. And it's thanks to The Union boys. Curiously, I wonder how long I might have been unaware of "demos" if it weren’t for them?

Anyway, this is just a small part of my history from my early days when I discovered "demos". What about you guys? Here are links to other 'sample' demos that I remember during those years...