Today I find myself sitting in front of another fine example of a home computer. Once again state-of-the-art, the Atari 1040 STfm boasts an enormous 1 megabyte of memory, along with the 68000 powerhouse processor.

So, I decided to test the system's graphics capabilities by drawing a self-portrait. Using the low resolution mode (320x200 pixels), this machine can display an enormous 16 colours simultaneously on the screen, chosen from a palette of 512 colours. A force to be reckoned with, indeed.

The software used was, of course, Degas Elite, by Tom Hudson. This is the 1986 version, so no worries about slipping behind. With the exception of the background, the drawing was performed using the mouse, one pixel at a time. For the background, the powerful stipple tool was employed simultaneously with the colour cycling feature to produce a startling display of colour.

The result was saved to a 720K double-sided double-density 3.5" diskette. This particular computer is blessed with a double-sided drive unlike the previous models of the series, hence the enormous capacity.

I can't wait to explore this new technology deeper and deeper!