Atari provided a whole host of peripherals for the Atari ST.  From Laser Printers to Co-Processors, the ST range was well supported by its parent company.

The most popular peripherals were the Monochrome monitors, which offered a high-resolution display that was clearer and larger than the Macintosh, and extremely easy to work on.  The first unit available was the SM-124 (with other versions of the same unit differing only cosmetically and by their designation SM-144, SM-146 and SM-147).  Colour monitors ranged from the standard SC-1224 and the SC-1435 to the strange PS-3000 with integrated Floppy Disk Drive.

A luxury in the 80's but common today, was the Atari 19" monitor.  This was another monochrome only offering, but with the respective controller card offered a resolution of 1280 X 960, ideal for DTP and CAD work.  There were two units, firstly by Moniterm (TTM-194) and by Philips (TTM-195) for Atari.

Atari cut the cost of DTP, which was emerging as a strong market segment in the late 80's, with the launch of its low-cost SLM-804 300dpi laser printer.  This unit had a controller unit that utilised the internal memory of the ST.  It was later replaced by the SLM-605, which was a lower-maintenance unit made by Epson for Atari.  Dot-Matrix printers were popular, and Atari provided the SMM-804.

Disk drives and hard drives came in a number of capacities. During the early years of the ST, single-sided 360Kb 3.5" drives were installed and available as external units (SF-354).  Soon, Atari made the larger capacity double-sided 720Kb drives available (SF-314), and also installed them as standard into their systems.  It wasn't until the 90's that Atari began using the more popular 1.44Mb 3.5" drives, but they were not launched as external units.

Hard drives ranged from the first 20Mb SH-204 "slab" type unit, to the Mega styled "Megafile" range available in 20Mb, 30Mb and 60Mb capacities.  Atari also launched a removable drive which was modelled on the SyQuest system.  This unit, designated as the "Megafile 44", offered a removable cartridge of, you guessed it, 44Mb!  Atari offered an internal hard drive in its MegaSTE, TT030 and Falcon030 range.

There were many miscellaneous peripheral products, such as Toner cartridges, general spare parts, maths co-processors and operating system upgrades (ROM chip configurations).  Of course, in keeping with Atari tradition, some peripherals were shelved, available as vapourware only, or just hidden in warehouses in fear somebody might just buy them...   Read about the Atari CDAR-504 below:

The Atari CDAR-504 (Also known as the "Optofile") was in launched in late 1985.  Atari were the first company to utilise the Digital Research CD-ROM drivers commercially (via GEM), and believed that CD-ROM applications had a bright future in the computer market.

Although this has turned out to be true, unfortunately it wasn't the time for CD technology when Atari designed the CDAR-504.  Software was thin on the ground, and many pundits couldn't figure out how you would fill a 650MB CD-ROM with anything that would be useful to them.  Applications being designed ranged from the Boeing 747 parts guide, to various encyclopaedia products, but the cost of CD technology was far too expensive for the consumer market in 1985.  Initially, the unit had a price tag of $799, this soon came down to a more reasonable $499 in 1989.

Atari "launched" the CDAR-504 many times, but it never filtered through to the retail channel in large numbers, and any units in use were mostly sold to developers.  Again in 1988 and in 1989, Atari spoke of the infamous CDAR-504, but hardly anybody got to utilise the device.  You could call Atari direct and purchase the unit from its Sunnyvale HQ, and some dealers got a few, but it still ranks as one of those "rare" Atari products that was mostly written about and photographed at shows.

The unit offered audio left/right out, ASCI in/out and a remote control which could detach from the main housing.  It was based on a single speed Chinon drive mechanism.

In 1990 Atari officially canned the CDAR-504, there were stories of "thousands" of the units sitting in warehouses as far away as Australia! (where did they all go?).  But in true Atari style, the CD-ROM came back, and in 1991 the new CDAR-505 SCSI unit was launched and shown with the Atari TT at computer shows.  The 505 was never seen again...  There was talk of an Atari badged CD-ROM drive for the Atari Falcon, but this was soon dismissed, and Atari said Falcon users could just use "any" SCSI compatible CD-ROM drive instead.

Incidentally, the only Atari CD Player device to actually make it to the end user was the infamous Jaguar CD, produced exclusively for the Atari Jaguar game console. It had a limited production run and unfortunately only a handful of titles.