2 Dec
2000
2 Dec
'00
9:29 a.m.
I saw my first Cube today!
It was in the back of a scarp yard. They had it running but
I couldn't find the mouse pointer.
The owner also said that the fan wasn't working.
There was a laser printer, dot-matrix, 2 monitors, keyboard
and mouse.
Any warnings about these machines?
What OS do they run?
Is it worth $75 cdn?
2 Dec
2 Dec
4:58 a.m.
From: "Mike Kenzie"
<KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Subject: NEXTcube
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 15:29:07 -0500
Reply-to: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
I saw my first Cube today!
It was in the back of a scarp yard. They had it running but
I couldn't find the mouse pointer.
The owner also said that the fan wasn't working.
There was a laser printer, dot-matrix, 2 monitors, keyboard
and mouse.
Any warnings about these machines?
What OS do they run?
Is it worth $75 cdn?
Grab everything including that printers, mouse and keyboard, monitor,
cube. They worth it even at 75 because it's no longer made machine
based on NeXT created by Joes after apple threw him out in late 80's.
1. Power control is through that keyboard power button, NeXT will
complain if there is any of external parts missing like mouse,
printer.
2. NeXT monitors is special to that NeXT.
3. Printer uses standard canon engine, parts from non-next printers
is no worries.
4. If this NeXT has MO drive for main storage, that's original run
and hard to find correct MO media and SLOW! Nearly all converted to
HD, floppy and CD. This adds originality if has MO and you can
convert it to faster storage and can convert back to MO for
originality's sake.
The third-party support and parts is still out on 'net. I know of at
least one people who owns few NeXTs and use them locally.
I think.
Jason
9:55 a.m.
From Mike Kenzie
Hi Mike,
Those Next Cube are cool . I just found my first partial Cube (I got the
Cube, Keyboard, Mouse for $15 one time at an auction and the monitor (it
took $60 to win it) the next time, so your $70 machine sounds real
reasonable to me. They go for alot on Ebay and you'd make money doing that.
But they are awesome machines with a neat objective development os
(Mathematica was included in academic versions) that cost around $10K.
They came with Maxtor 500 or 700 meg harddrives with NextStep on them and
several apps were availalbe too. Also look for the MagnetOptical(I think)
250meg r/w drive and high capacity floppy (all of which were missing in
mine...)
Go for it and good luck with it... Or if you want to send it to a caring
home...;)
Cheers
- Mike: dogas(a)bellsouth.net
12:43 p.m.
New subject: OpenBSD/VAX!
With the most current version (2.8), OpenBSD has added a Vax port which
supports several vaxen including the Vaxstation 4000/60 and the 3100.
Come and Get It!
Regards,
Jeff
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey S. Worley
President
Complete Computer Services, Inc.
30 Greenwood Rd.
Asheville, NC 28803
828-277-5959
Visit our website at HTTP://www.Real-Techs.com
THETechnoid(a)home.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
10:04 a.m.
hoobooy - $75? For a cube! They sell for $1,000's on e-bay somtimes! A
_VERY_ sought after machine.
Natively, they run NeXTStep. They may run Linux and/or BSD varients.
Regardless, GRAB IT :)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Kenzie" <KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 3:29 PM
Subject: NEXTcube
I saw my first Cube today!
It was in the back of a scarp yard. They had it running but
I couldn't find the mouse pointer.
The owner also said that the fan wasn't working.
There was a laser printer, dot-matrix, 2 monitors, keyboard
and mouse.
Any warnings about these machines?
What OS do they run?
Is it worth $75 cdn?
1:41 p.m.
hoobooy - $75? For a cube! They sell for $1,000's
on e-bay somtimes! A
_VERY_ sought after machine.
And $75 CDN at that. That's like, what, US$3? ;-)
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. ----------------------------------
3 Dec
3 Dec
12:12 p.m.
On Sat, Dec 02, 2000 at 04:04:39PM -0500, Billy D'Augustine wrote:
hoobooy - $75? For a cube! They sell for $1,000's
on e-bay somtimes! A
_VERY_ sought after machine.
Well, I don't know about that... I've seen a few fetch > $500, but
they were complete turbo systems with printer, monitor, working OD
drive, and the like. Add like $400 if it has a NeXTDimension board
(which I've always wanted, but I think I'm over it now).
Mostly cubes sell for around $100 to $200, complete with monitor,
keyboard and mouse, even on eBay. They're actually relatively common
(but no less neat for it), I think people had a hard time throwing
them out. Slabs can be had for less.
I'm just waiting for my BeBox to skyrocket in value...
-Seth
2 Dec
2 Dec
10:12 a.m.
almost related... The book "Steve Jobs and The NeXT Big Thing" is a great
read if you can find it.
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)bellsouth.net
10:43 a.m.
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Kenzie wrote:
I saw my first Cube today!
It was in the back of a scarp yard. They had it running but
I couldn't find the mouse pointer.
The owner also said that the fan wasn't working.
There was a laser printer, dot-matrix, 2 monitors, keyboard
and mouse.
Any warnings about these machines?
What OS do they run?
Is it worth $75 cdn?
CDN$75? Yeah, that's a pretty damn good price when you're getting
everything else with it. I assume the laser printer is the black, NeXT
variety? Who made the dot matrix?
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
11:57 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sellam Ismail" <foo(a)siconic.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 4:43 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Kenzie wrote:
CDN$75? Yeah, that's a pretty damn good price when you're
getting
everything else with it. I assume the laser printer
is
the black, NeXT
variety? Who made the dot matrix?
The label says Next, it has 2 SCSI ports on the printer. I
can't find a floppy on the cube and the slot in the front
doesn't look quite right for a CD. It also has the 3.0 3.1
and 3.2 CD's as well as the developer CD's.
I didn't see a sound box.
It cost me an extra $45 to get the second printer and the
second monitor.
And I then found the manuals and CD's in the desk drawer.
1:13 p.m.
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Kenzie wrote:
The label says Next, it has 2 SCSI ports on the
printer. I
can't find a floppy on the cube and the slot in the front
doesn't look quite right for a CD. It also has the 3.0 3.1
and 3.2 CD's as well as the developer CD's.
The printer is NeXT's. It's a four-colour inkjet printer with Canon
mechanics. I'm led to believe that this particular printer really sucks
down the ink. You may have trouble finding ink cartridges to fit the
printer. I don't recall offhand which cartridges it uses, but I believe
you can find this information in the NeXT FAQ.
You got an exceptional deal, especially if one of those cubes has a
connector into which that video cable with the 'big and little pins' fits.
The card sporting that connector often sells for several hundred dollars
on its own.
ok
r.
3 Dec
3 Dec
9:08 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "r. 'bear' stricklin" <red(a)bears.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Kenzie wrote:
I can't find a floppy on the cube and the slot in the
front
doesn't look quite right for a CD. It also has
the 3.0,
3.1
and 3.2 CD's as well as the developer CD's.
The Cdrom seems to have a bigger opening than the PC ones.
Could this be an optical drive or does it require a caddy?
Is it a standard caddy?
And the hex tool is missing :(
9:45 a.m.
Yes, it's a NeXT magneto-optical drive. Worked fairly well, slow access
times though.
The hex key is no big deal; in fact, once you get it open, you'll probably
find that the fan connector has simply fallen off, so that'll be an easy
fix.
-R
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Kenzie" <KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube
----- Original Message -----
From: "r. 'bear' stricklin" <red(a)bears.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Kenzie wrote:
I can't find a floppy on the cube and the slot in the
front
doesn't look quite right for a CD. It also
has the 3.0,
3.1
and 3.2 CD's as well as the developer
CD's.
The Cdrom seems to have a bigger opening than the PC ones.
Could this be an optical drive or does it require a caddy?
Is it a standard caddy?
And the hex tool is missing :(
5 Dec
5 Dec
3:55 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
OK I connected all the pieces and fired it up, I get a nice
clear grey screen then a testing system message appears and
stays there.
Does the CD-ROM need a caddy or it the slot in the front for
a optical drive?
4:14 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
The slot in the front is an MO drive, either you need to have a MO with
the OS, or a SCSI drive (or cd) with the OS on the chain.
Alternatively, you could install a *bsd on it,
Ryan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Kenzie" <KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 8:55 PM
Subject: NEXTcube, now what?
OK I connected all the pieces and fired it up, I get a
nice
clear grey screen then a testing system message appears and
stays there.
Does the CD-ROM need a caddy or it the slot in the front for
a optical drive?
6 Dec
6 Dec
9:51 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
The slot in the front is an MO drive, either you
need to have a MO
with the OS, or a SCSI drive (or cd) with the OS on the chain.
Alternatively, you could install a *bsd on it,
Ryan
Hmm. While I know NextStep uses a BSD shell, and there has
been talk of a Linux port to Next boxes, I haven't heard of using
one of the other flavors of BSD on it. Since NS is pretty well
stalled in development and OSx seems to be Apples plans for it,
*bsd might be a nice way to go, since it has an evergrowing list
of new apps.
Are there any docs for installing it on Next machines ? I have a
color slab which is overwhelmingly my fave box.
ciao larry
Reply to:
lgwalker(a)look.ca
10:19 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/next68k/
-R
Lawrence Walker wrote:
--
-------------------------------------------------------
Ryan K. Brooks V: 414-908-9011
r(a)hack.net F: 707-885-4944
Chief Scientist / Time Warner Telecom N9YBX
The slot in
the front is an MO drive, either you need to have a MO
with the OS, or a SCSI drive (or cd) with the OS on the chain.
Alternatively, you could install a *bsd on it,
Ryan
Hmm. While I know NextStep uses a BSD shell, and there has
been talk of a Linux port to Next boxes, I haven't heard of using
one of the other flavors of BSD on it. Since NS is pretty well
stalled in development and OSx seems to be Apples plans for it,
*bsd might be a nice way to go, since it has an evergrowing list
of new apps.
Are there any docs for installing it on Next machines ? I have a
color slab which is overwhelmingly my fave box.
ciao larry
Reply to:
lgwalker(a)look.ca
12:31 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
> Hmm. While I know NextStep uses a BSD shell, and
there has
> been talk of a Linux port to Next boxes, I haven't heard of using
> one of the other flavors of BSD on it. Since NS is pretty well
> stalled in development and OSx seems to be Apples plans for it,
> *bsd might be a nice way to go, since it has an evergrowing list
> of new apps.
I just got the NetBSD Foundation CDs. I'm going to be installing the
mac68k port on my IIci. I'll let you know if I like it. :-)
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- Mickey Mouse wears a Spiro Agnew watch. ------------------------------------
10:24 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lawrence Walker" <lgwalker(a)look.ca>
To: "Ryan K. Brooks" <ryan(a)hack.net>et>; <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
NetBSD is working on a port to NeXT machines; however I think it only
currently runs on the 68040 Slab systems (cubes too?). I'd rather run
NeXTStep myself (since it is such a good match for the hardware - you
can run BSD almost anywhere, but only NeXT systems [for all practical
purposes] can run NeXTStep) but if you don't have NeXTStep available,
I imagine NetBSD or something along those lines like Linux would be a
good way to go.
* I know there are Intel, SPARC, and HP PA ports of NeXTStep too,
but c'mon.. NeXTStep on NeXT.. it's just sacred! :)
--Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
The slot in the front is an MO drive, either
you need to have a MO
with the OS, or a SCSI drive (or cd) with the OS on the chain.
Alternatively, you could install a *bsd on it,
Ryan
Hmm. While I know NextStep uses a BSD shell, and there has
been talk of a Linux port to Next boxes, I haven't heard of using
one of the other flavors of BSD on it. Since NS is pretty well
stalled in development and OSx seems to be Apples plans for it,
*bsd might be a nice way to go, since it has an evergrowing list
of new apps.
Are there any docs for installing it on Next machines ? I have a
color slab which is overwhelmingly my fave box.
ciao larry
Reply to:
lgwalker(a)look.ca
10:44 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
* I know there are Intel, SPARC, and HP PA ports of NeXTStep too,
but c'mon.. NeXTStep on NeXT.. it's just sacred! :)
Agreed. I think he'll find NeXTstep to be great. The absolutely
perfect Terminal.app is worth it by itself. The only downside IMHO is that
it's a somewhat screwy hybrid 4.2 system that makes compilation a little old
school for my tastes.
--Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
--
-------------------------------------------------------
Ryan K. Brooks V: 414-908-9011
r(a)hack.net F: 707-885-4944
Chief Scientist / Time Warner Telecom N9YBX
6:55 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
* I know there
are Intel, SPARC, and HP PA ports of NeXTStep too,
but c'mon.. NeXTStep on NeXT.. it's just sacred! :)
Agreed. I think he'll find NeXTstep to be great. The absolutely 
7 Dec
7 Dec
4:07 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
On Wed, Dec 06, 2000 at 09:55:11PM -0800, Mike Ford (mikeford(a)socal.rr.com) wrote:
What is the situation now for acquiring NeXTstep? I remember a few months
ago people acting like it was trivial and or free, but now I see copies
selling on eBay for $50 or more.
A few months ago it was trivial or free if you already owned a
license; you'd send your license number to Apple (well, to a company
that Apple contracted with) and they'd send you lots of stuff,
including NEXTSTEP for the three platforms you *didn't* need, EOF, and
even OpenStep in some cases. For folks with black hardware, the
license number was the serial number of the machine.
This was because NEXTSTEP 3.2 and previous had Y2k problems. Rather
than try to fix it all, Apple declared 3.2 and previous unsupported,
and gave out 3.3 to fix things.
You could still buy it on eBay during that time -- there's a sucker
born every minute, after all.
The address to which the license/serial number, mailing address, phone
number, and version of NEXTSTEP/OpenStep wwould have been sent was
<apple(a)logistix.com>om>. The address appears to still exist, but I'm not
sure if the program is still on.
-Rich
--
------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------
* I know there are Intel, SPARC, and HP PA ports of
NeXTStep too,
but c'mon.. NeXTStep on NeXT.. it's just sacred! :)
Agreed. I think he'll find NeXTstep to be great. The absolutely
6:35 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
A few months ago it was trivial or free if you already
owned a
license; you'd send your license number to Apple (well, to a company
The address to which the license/serial number, mailing
address, phone
number, and version of NEXTSTEP/OpenStep wwould have been sent was
<apple(a)logistix.com>om>. The address appears to still exist, but I'm not
sure if the program is still on.
Anybody have a "spare" serial number? I know I will dig up some NeXT
machine eventually to play with, but I don't want to miss out on the
software if I can still get it.
6:39 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
On Thu, Dec 07, 2000 at 09:35:25AM -0800, Mike Ford (mikeford(a)socal.rr.com) wrote:
Before people start jumping in, keep in mind that a serial number can
be used *once*. If you let someone else use your machine's serial
number to obtain NEXTSTEP, that means you won't be able to get it
yourself.
(It's still commercial software, by the way -- you might want to be
careful requesting same on large, public mailing lists. Not that *I*
care, but there's usually someone that does.)
-Rich
--
------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------
A few months
ago it was trivial or free if you already owned a
license; you'd send your license number to Apple (well, to a company
The address to which the license/serial number,
mailing address, phone
number, and version of NEXTSTEP/OpenStep wwould have been sent was
<apple(a)logistix.com>om>. The address appears to still exist, but I'm not
sure if the program is still on.
Anybody have a "spare" serial number? I know I will dig up some NeXT
machine eventually to play with, but I don't want to miss out on the
software if I can still get it.
8:46 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
On Wed, Dec 06, 2000 at 09:55:11PM -0800, Mike Ford wrote:
What is the situation now for acquiring NeXTstep? I remember a few months
ago people acting like it was trivial and or free, but now I see copies
selling on eBay for $50 or more.
I'll publically announce (until such time as I get a cease-and-desist
order) that I'd be happy to make a copy of any of the following CD's
for the cost of shipping and blank CD-R media. I consider them to
be abandonware, and I'm sick of people not being able to get their
hands on fun old non-revenue-producing software.
I have:
* NeXTSTEP 3.3 for Intel/NeXT hardware (1 CD)
* NeXTSTEP DEVELOPER 3.3 for Intel/NeXT hardware (1 CD)
* NeXT Enterprise Object Framework 1.1 for Intel/NeXT hardware (1 CD)
* NeXTTIME 1.0 (the reverse engineered QuickTime for NeXT) (1 CD)
Contact me off-list if you would like any of these. Again, the price
is free + cost of blank media + cost of shipping to your address.
-Seth (sethm(a)loomcom.com)
* I know there are Intel, SPARC, and HP PA ports of
NeXTStep too,
but c'mon.. NeXTStep on NeXT.. it's just sacred! :)
Agreed. I think he'll find NeXTstep to be great. The absolutely 
6 Dec
6 Dec
10:51 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Caron" <sean(a)techcare.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
I'd rather run
NeXTStep myself (since it is such a good match for the hardware - you
can run BSD almost anywhere, but only NeXT systems [for all practical
purposes] can run NeXTStep)
You may still be able to get NeXTStep 3.3 installation media (on CD-ROM)
from Apple. There was a program to provide Y2K updates,
with NS 3.3 thrown
in as a bonus. All you had to do was provide Apple with the
serial number
of your Cube or Slab (black hardware only). NeXT took the very sensible
position that the OS is integral to the machine, so to prove that you have
the right to the OS, you just had to prove you have a Cube of Slab. I
believe the upgrade was free, but you may have had to pay S & H. The
program was still in effect 9 months ago.
The external SCSI connector on NeXTs is an Apple-standard DB-25, so any
external SCSI CD-ROM will do, and NeXTs can be setup to boot from CD-ROM.
Regards,
Mark "Still remorseful about selling my Cube" Gregory
1:30 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Gregory" <gregorym(a)cadvision.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 4:51 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
You may still be able to get NeXTStep 3.3 installation
media (on CD-ROM)
from Apple. There was a program to provide Y2K
updates,
with NS 3.3 thrown
in as a bonus. All you had to do was provide Apple
with
the serial number
of your Cube or Slab (black hardware only). NeXT took
the
very sensible
position that the OS is integral to the machine, so to
prove that you have
the right to the OS, you just had to prove you have a
Cube
of Slab. I
believe the upgrade was free, but you may have had to
pay
S & H. The
program was still in effect 9 months ago.
The external SCSI connector on NeXTs is an Apple-standard
DB-25, so any
external SCSI CD-ROM will do, and NeXTs can be setup
to
boot from CD-ROM.
OK I opened it up. Everything inside has been disconnected.
The main board seems to be missing all the RAM and cache.
Did NEXT put RAM on the MB like Apple did?
The second board is also missing RAM and has a large I860
chip and RAMDAC on it with another connector in the center
with nothing on it.
Any sites showing the internals of a CUBE?
There is a square air filter? Where does this go?
If the drive is a OM then why did I only get CD's ?
There seems to be a cut-out in the grill work above the OM
is this a door for the floppy mentioned in the manual or
just a cut-out for a possible floppy?
1:51 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
OK I opened it up. Everything inside has been disconnected.
The main board seems to be missing all the RAM and cache.
Did NEXT put RAM on the MB like Apple did?
IIRC, the Cubes used 30 pin non-parity SIMMs, either 1M or 4M, in banks of
4. Each bank has to have the same type of RAM. The memory is auto-detected
by the OS; no jumpers to set.
The second board is also missing RAM and has a large
I860
chip and RAMDAC on it with another connector in the center
with nothing on it.
I don't know what this second board is; it's not related to the mainboard.
The Cube has everything on one mainboard. Maybe someone else can recognize
it from the description.
Any sites showing the internals of a CUBE?
There is a square air filter? Where does this go?
Not sure; best guess, either in front of the fan, or behind the MO disk.
The NeXT's drew air from the front of the system (through the vents and the
MO drive aperture), over the mainboard, and out the fan at the back of the
case. Dust drawn into the MO drive by this airflow is a major reason for
those drives to fail. Many just need a good cleaning.
If the drive is a OM then why did I only get CD's ?
In later years, NeXT switched definitively to CDs, and it became very hard
to find software on MO disk. Probably the previous owner got an OS upgrade
kit that came on CD, and lost the MO carts with the earlier OS revs on it.
There seems to be a cut-out in the grill work above
the OM
is this a door for the floppy mentioned in the manual or
just a cut-out for a possible floppy?
Depending on the age of the Cube, it could be a floppy cutout (found on
later Cubes only), but more likely it's a blank for a second MO drive. NeXT
thought these drives were the wave of the future, and assumed that everyone
would want two. Most floppies for Cubes were external SCSI floppies. AFAIK,
there were never any Cubes made with internal CD-ROM drives; only the Slabs
had those, but I might be wrong.
Mark.
7 Dec
7 Dec
9:29 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
I don't recall seeing anyone reply to this on-list, so here goes...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Gregory" <gregorym(a)cadvision.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 7:51 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
Yeah, you can put either non-parity or parity 30 pinn SIMMS in the
Cube (since it doesn't care about parity). I think the maximum is 32 megs.
There
is no onboard RAM AFAIK (at least on the 68030 Cubes; I assume it is the
same for the 68040 series).
the
This could be plausible. Typically what you would do is boot up the system
with
a floppy and then load off of an external CD-ROM. I don't think the OS
CD-ROMs
are bootable (I wish! Then I could install 3.3 on my Cube with no floppy).
If you
have a floppy drive, you'll be set with any old SCSI CD-ROM that you can
hook
up. The NeXT doesn't want anything odd like 512 byte sectors.
NeXT
OK I opened it up. Everything inside has been disconnected.
The main board seems to be missing all the RAM and cache.
Did NEXT put RAM on the MB like Apple did?
IIRC, the Cubes used 30 pin non-parity SIMMs, either 1M or 4M, in banks of
4. Each bank has to have the same type of RAM. The memory is auto-detected
by the OS; no jumpers to set. The second
board is also missing RAM and has a large I860
chip and RAMDAC on it with another connector in the center
with nothing on it.
I don't know what this second board is; it's not related to the mainboard.
The Cube has everything on one mainboard. Maybe someone else can recognize
it from the description. From your description, this is a NeXTDimension
accelerated 24-bit color
board. Nice find! The connector in the center was for a
real-time MPEG
compression board that NeXT never really managed to get quite right
(apparently the chip they were trying to use neve really worked correctly
and there were some heat problems involved as well). I really have no idea
what sort of memory this takes. You'll need a NeXT color monitor and
cable to use this as well.
> Any sites showing the internals of a CUBE?
If you go to http://www.obsolyte.com, there is a page about NeXT equipment
with
some great links on the bottom of it.
There is a
square air filter? Where does this go?
Not sure; best guess, either in front of the fan, or behind the MO disk.
The NeXT's drew air from the front of the system (through the vents and MO drive aperture), over the mainboard, and out the
fan at the back of the
case. Dust drawn into the MO drive by this airflow is a major reason for
those drives to fail. Many just need a good cleaning.
This was a filter that NeXT sold in an attempt to solve optical drive
problems
caused by the fact that dust is sucked in through the optical drive slot and
ends up messing up the optical drive. If yours doesnt work, it may need a
cleaning, as suggested.
If the drive
is a OM then why did I only get CD's ?
In later years, NeXT switched definitively to CDs, and it became very hard
to find software on MO disk. Probably the previous owner got an OS upgrade
kit that came on CD, and lost the MO carts with the earlier OS revs on it. There seems to
be a cut-out in the grill work above the OM
is this a door for the floppy mentioned in the manual or
just a cut-out for a possible floppy?
Depending on the age of the Cube, it could be a floppy cutout (found on
later Cubes only), but more likely it's a blank for a second MO drive. thought these drives were the wave of the future, and
assumed that
everyone
would want two. Most floppies for Cubes were external
SCSI floppies.
AFAIK,
there were never any Cubes made with internal CD-ROM
drives; only the
Slabs
had those, but I might be wrong.
As said above, it depends on vintage. If it is another optical cut-out, you
should be
able to tell since it is the same width and height of the first optical
cut-out. If there
is a floppy in the system, this should be pretty apparent too from looking
at the
outside of the case, since there'll be a floppy slot there! I think NeXT may
have
just used a modified optical drive slot cover with a slot cut in it as a
bezel for
the floppy, but I'm not sure as I don't have a Cube that new.
Mark.
--Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
9:40 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Caron" <sean(a)techcare.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2000 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
Yeah, you can put either non-parity or parity 30 pinn
SIMMS in the
Cube (since it doesn't care about parity). I think the maximum is 32
megs.
There are 16 SIMM slots in the '030 cube, for a maximum of 64 Megs (4M x
16). IMHO, using parity SIMMs when non-parity SIMMs work is a waste; the
non-parity ones are much more common. Save the paritys for boxes that need
them unless you have plenty lying around.
Mark
10:10 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Caron" <sean(a)techcare.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2000 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
Sorry, my mistake (just going from what I can vaguely remember about it at
work).
It seems to me that 30 pin parity SIMMS (mostly of the one meg variety) are
pretty
common, especially out of old 486 type systems. I guess it's just whatever
you've
got available.
--Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
Yeah, you can put either non-parity or parity 30
pinn SIMMS in the
Cube (since it doesn't care about parity). I think the maximum is 32
megs.
There are 16 SIMM slots in the '030 cube, for a maximum of 64 Megs (4M x
16). IMHO, using parity SIMMs when non-parity SIMMs work is a waste; the
non-parity ones are much more common. Save the paritys for boxes that need
them unless you have plenty lying around.
Mark
10 Dec
10 Dec
4:40 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Gregory" <gregorym(a)cadvision.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2000 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Caron" <sean(a)techcare.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2000 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
> Yeah, you can put either non-parity or parity 30 pinn
SIMMS in the
> Cube (since it doesn't care about parity). I
think the
maximum is 32
megs.
There are 16 SIMM slots in the '030 cube, for a maximum of
64 Megs (4M x
16). IMHO, using parity SIMMs when non-parity SIMMs
work
is a waste; the
non-parity ones are much more common. Save the paritys
for
boxes that need
them unless you have plenty lying around.
I put 16 * 4 meg 30 pin on the one board and 8 * 4 meg 72pin
on
the other, and put it all back together.
The fan now works and I can hear the drive spinning up then
I get
exception # 2 (0x8) at 0x100b9dc
next>
Does someone have a list of these exceptions?
It seems that www.next.com has been taken over by apple and
hidden.
11:13 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
next>
Does someone have a list of these exceptions?
It seems that www.next.com has been taken over by apple and
hidden.
There's a lot of sites and info out there on the net. I don't have all of
them handy but the main repository is Peak IIRC and an excellent
source with links is
http://www.channelu.com/NeXT/NeXTStep/3.3/
There are also about 5 newsgroups devoted to Next.
For an obsolete computer it's pretty current. We should only be so
lucky on some of the other boxes C-Compers come up with. It
becomes an art digging up info not to mention programs.
ciao larry
Reply to:
lgwalker(a)look.ca
6 Dec
6 Dec
1:55 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
On Wed, 6 Dec 2000, Mike Kenzie wrote:
> The external SCSI connector on NeXTs is an
Apple-standard DB-25, so
> any external SCSI CD-ROM will do, and NeXTs can be setup to boot
> from CD-ROM.
This is actually only true of the '030 cubes. Later machines use a
standard mini-50 (what the heck is the official name for this
connector?) like the sun4m machines do.
OK I opened it up. Everything inside has been
disconnected.
The main board seems to be missing all the RAM and cache.
I'm not sure it had any removable cache. The RAM (if it's an '030
cube) will be standard non-parity 30-pin SIMMs. You can use parity RAM but
the system will not derive any benefit from doing so.
If you're looking at the empty 72-pin SIMM slot, that was a connector into
which the proprietary DSP RAM expansion daughtercard fit into. Not very
many of thsee were sold. You'll probably never find anything to fit
this. I know I haven't.
Did NEXT put RAM on the MB like Apple did?
Yep.
The second board is also missing RAM and has a large
I860
chip and RAMDAC on it with another connector in the center
with nothing on it.
That's the NeXTdimension board, which gives your cube a colour framebuffer
and the ability to throw NTSC video around. These are highly sought-after
and still fetch several hundred dollars by themselves on eBay. I'd like to
find one myself.
The card needs RAM (officially up to 64 MB, unofficially up to 128 MB) as
it's essentially a postscript engine. It needs at least 16 MB, I believe,
to function.
I'm nearly certain that you'll find the empty connector in the centre is
for the JPEG co-processor daughtercard, which wasn't ever released.
There is a square air filter? Where does this go?
Over the back of the optical disk drive. A properly configured cube pulls
air through the rear vent and exhausts it out the front. Some early cubes
got this backward and sucked dust into the OD. Oops. NeXT offered a kit to
correct this.
If the drive is a OM then why did I only get CD's
?
Because sometimes stuff happens. It's possible but highly unlikely that
somebody retrofitted a standard SCSI CD-ROM drive in behind the slot. NeXT
never offered such a thing.
There seems to be a cut-out in the grill work above
the OM
is this a door for the floppy mentioned in the manual or
just a cut-out for a possible floppy?
Possible floppy, if it's floppy-sized. If it's the same size as the OD
opening, it's for a possible second OD. If you've got the back off, look
in and see what's there. Sheesh!
r.
7 Dec
7 Dec
9:34 a.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Gregory" <gregorym(a)cadvision.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 4:51 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Caron" <sean(a)techcare.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: NEXTcube, now what?
I love this program! I was able to get NeXTStep v3.3 with all manuals for
all platforms with documentation shipped like second-day for free! Talk
about
support! I don't know if it's still in operation, as the Apple web site that
referenced it doesn't seem to exist anymore. It was definitely a BIG help to
me in getting my Slab running nicely.
I'd rather run
NeXTStep myself (since it is such a good match for the hardware - you
can run BSD almost anywhere, but only NeXT systems [for all practical
purposes] can run NeXTStep)
You may still be able to get NeXTStep 3.3 installation media (on CD-ROM)
from Apple. There was a program to provide Y2K updates, with NS 3.3 thrown
in as a bonus. All you had to do was provide Apple with the serial number
of your Cube or Slab (black hardware only). NeXT took the very sensible
position that the OS is integral to the machine, so to prove that you have
the right to the OS, you just had to prove you have a Cube of Slab. I
believe the upgrade was free, but you may have had to pay S & H. The
program was still in effect 9 months ago. The external SCSI connector on NeXTs is an
Apple-standard DB-25, so any
external SCSI CD-ROM will do, and NeXTs can be setup to boot from CD-ROM.
Regards,
Mark "Still remorseful about selling my Cube" Gregory
--Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
6 Dec
6 Dec
12:49 p.m.
New subject: NEXTcube, now what?
Lawrence Walker skrev:
> Alternatively, you could install a *bsd on it,
Are there any docs for installing it on Next machines
? I have a
color slab which is overwhelmingly my fave box.
NetBSD/next68k is a port of NetBSD to the 'black' 68k NeXT hardware.
It currently only runs on 68040 non-turbo (25 MHz) NeXT boxes. There is some
code in locore that uses 68040 instructions to turn on the MMU, although it
shouldn't be too hard to make the '030 work. Turbo NeXT machines (33Mhz) are
not yet supported.
Currently only netbooting is supported. The scsi device driver is in
development, but is not yet ready for use.
Supported computer systems
25 Mhz 68040 Mono cube (NeXT_X15)
25 Mhz 68040 Mono slab (NeXT_WARP9)
25 Mhz 68040 Color slab (NeXT_WARP9C)
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
Eccovi una delle sigle francesi dedicate a questo shojo... come, non e' uno
shojo? Andate a spiegarlo ai francesi... questa e' una canzone da shojo,
quindi per me Goldrake e' uno shojo :p
Tacchan om den franska signaturmelodin till Goldorak (Grendizer)
2 Dec
2 Dec
11:13 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Kenzie" <KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 3:29 PM
Subject: NEXTcube
I saw my first Cube today!
It was in the back of a scarp yard. They had it running
but
I couldn't find the mouse pointer.
The owner also said that the fan wasn't working.
There was a laser printer, dot-matrix, 2 monitors,
keyboard
and mouse.
And the manuals , 2 CD's and floppy disk
One monitor looks like VGA and the other has the big pins
and the little ones.
It was all on a black desk and looked cool. It came from
the local Science and Technology Museum. I left the
scanner behind because I was out of cash and it didn't have
a NEXT logo on it.
12:09 p.m.
It was in the back of a scarp yard. They had it
running but
I couldn't find the mouse pointer.
There was a laser printer, dot-matrix, 2 monitors,
keyboard
and mouse.
Is it worth $75 cdn?
A place near me just scrapped about 20 of these systems (cubes and slabs),
before I found out of course, but even if I was there in time I would not
have wanted more than "maybe" one complete system and some parts, and would
not have paid US $50. Maybe I would have paid $50, but half that is more
like it unless it was REALLY clean and had some software and documents.
Sure it LOOKS great, but functionally it isn't much different from any 10
year old mac, EXCEPT everything is proprietary so its a PITA to find parts,
software, etc. With NextStep available for MUCH newer and faster hardware,
ownership has to be one of those "collector" things. The question I try to
seriously ask myself is; "Do I really want it?", or "Would anybody else
really want it", or the final "How much of a total ass will I feel like if
I let this get scrapped, dumped, etc."
BTW I did just look on the almighty eBay, and a bunch of Next stuff is
selling/sold with the last couple of complete Cube systems going for $500
and $200, and new in the box printers about $280. Given the size, weight,
and variation on sales prices I don't know if I would bring one home just
to sell and pack for a profit. Most likely yes, but I know I would grumble
all the way to the bank.
Is anyone on the list an ACTIVE Next user or collector?
1:20 p.m.
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Ford wrote:
Is anyone on the list an ACTIVE Next user or
collector?
Yes.
I have seven boxes here running NEXTSTEP.
Four HP 715 systems, providing internet services.
An '040 Cube.
A NeXTstation.
and my daily-driver, a 133 MHz Pentium.
It is by far the least offensive system I have ever worked with, though by
now it's fairly long in the tooth. It does everything I need it to. I hope
MacOS X offers enough that I can finally feel good about moving to a
'current' platform.
I think I know how longtime CP/M users felt during the late '80s.
ok
r.
4:31 p.m.
r. 'bear' stricklin skrev:
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Mike Ford wrote:
> Is anyone on the list an ACTIVE Next user or
collector?
Yes.
I have seven boxes here running NEXTSTEP.
It is by far the least offensive system I have ever
worked with, though by
now it's fairly long in the tooth. It does everything I need it to. I hope
MacOS X offers enough that I can finally feel good about moving to a
'current' platform.
What's it like, working with NeXT as your main OS?
I think I know how longtime CP/M users felt during the
late '80s.
BTW, does anyone know of any CP/M installations still in use? The accounting
bureau which my father employed finally moved off their CP/M system two years
ago or so, but if they could do it, perhaps is there still hope.
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
Life begins at '030. Fun begins at '040. Impotence begins at '86.
9:36 p.m.
On 3 Dec 2000, Iggy Drougge wrote:
What's it like, working with NeXT as your main OS?
Like working with any other system, I suppose. There are times when I'm
disappointed at not having access to certain niceties of modern computing,
but the system is very stable and stays out of my way. It is perhaps the
most well-conceived OS to ever have been on the market. It seems to
attract a certain class of developer, too, which translates for the most
part into applications which do their job well, and work in predictable
ways.
I can't view quicktime movies or listen to real audio streams or play the
latest games or crash my browser with crappy javascript, but for the most
part I don't feel like I'm missing anything (except the quicktime
bit).
NEXTSTEP is the one system that, despite heavy use of, I have yet to be
frustrated by. That says a lot.
ok
r.
3 Dec
3 Dec
11:53 a.m.
r. 'bear' stricklin skrev:
On 3 Dec 2000, Iggy Drougge wrote:
> What's it like, working with NeXT as your main
OS?
Like working with any other system, I suppose. There
are times when I'm
disappointed at not having access to certain niceties of modern computing,
but the system is very stable and stays out of my way. It is perhaps the
most well-conceived OS to ever have been on the market. It seems to
attract a certain class of developer, too, which translates for the most
part into applications which do their job well, and work in predictable
ways.
I can't view quicktime movies or listen to real
audio streams or play the
latest games or crash my browser with crappy javascript, but for the most
part I don't feel like I'm missing anything (except the quicktime
bit).
You can't crash your browser with Javascript? I'm slowly finding it necessary.
Mostly for commerce, though. What web browser is available?
NEXTSTEP is the one system that, despite heavy use of,
I have yet to be
frustrated by. That says a lot.
I see what you mean. =)
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
Amiga: (noun) The most technologically advanced computer that hardly anyone
cares about.
Use in sentence: "I wanted to buy an Amiga for its low price and great color
graphics, but everyone else seems to be using IBMs or Macintoshes. So, to
remain compatible with the rest of the world, I spent three times as much on a
Macintosh and got only half the graphics capability of an Amiga."
2 Dec
2 Dec
2:59 p.m.
At 03:09 PM 12/2/00 -0800, you wrote:
Is anyone on the list an ACTIVE Next user or collector?
Over the years I've had two nearly identical color 'slabs', both with the
17" color monitors. The OS itself is quite different than the current Mac
OS, so I don't believe the comparison between the NeXT and any 10 year old
Mac is a valid one. It's VERY VERY stable and I love the high resolution
of the Megapixel displays. Not to mention, the whole system just looks
cool as heck!
Jeff
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Power Computing PowerCurve, 288mhz G3, Mac OS 9
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
Home Of The TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ
4:07 p.m.
New subject: Web site hosting
Well, now that I have my 11x17 sheetfed scanner up and working, and
a legal copy of Acrobat on order, I don't really have any excuses
not to scan the piles of VAX documentation I have cluttering my house...
(Okay, so they're small piles)
Anybody here have any experience with tzo.com? For $100/2yr they will
attach your domain name (with DNS service if I understand correctly)
to a Dynamic IP address. Since uswest.net wants to charge several
limbs to host my domain name+static IP, this seems like a smoking
deal...
Comments? Alternate solutions? I'd prefer to NOT pay someone to
store multi-megabyte documents of questionable copyright status...
Especially since 80GB ATA drives are available for <$300.
clint
PS I promised someone a scan of the 780 FPU T.M... Contact OL for an
early copy...
PPS At some point I will be offering scanning (or re-scanning)
services of DEC documentation, with the intent of capturing them
at 600 DPI, and making available several different resolutions
from a website (or FTP for those people who
can't/won't run
a browser on their old plastic)...
3 Dec
3 Dec
7:27 a.m.
New subject: Web site hosting
My hosting offer to anyone on the list still stands....
I'll host any classicmp related website on my ISP business at no charge.
Just email me if interested.
Jay West
jlwest(a)tseinc.com or west(a)tseinc.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Clint Wolff (VAX collector) <vaxman(a)uswest.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 9:07 PM
Subject: Web site hosting
Well, now that I have my 11x17 sheetfed scanner up and working, and
a legal copy of Acrobat on order, I don't really have any excuses
not to scan the piles of VAX documentation I have cluttering my house...
(Okay, so they're small piles)
Anybody here have any experience with tzo.com? For $100/2yr they will
attach your domain name (with DNS service if I understand correctly)
to a Dynamic IP address. Since uswest.net wants to charge several
limbs to host my domain name+static IP, this seems like a smoking
deal...
Comments? Alternate solutions? I'd prefer to NOT pay someone to
store multi-megabyte documents of questionable copyright status...
Especially since 80GB ATA drives are available for <$300.
clint
PS I promised someone a scan of the 780 FPU T.M... Contact OL for an
early copy...
PPS At some point I will be offering scanning (or re-scanning)
services of DEC documentation, with the intent of capturing them
at 600 DPI, and making available several different resolutions
from a website (or FTP for those people who can't/won't run
a browser on their old plastic)...
8621
days inactive
8629
days old
44 comments
20 participants
participants (20)
-
azog＠azog.org -
dogas＠bellsouth.net -
foo＠siconic.com -
gregorym＠cadvision.com -
jhellige＠earthlink.net -
jpero＠sympatico.ca -
KenzieM＠sympatico.ca -
lgwalker＠look.ca -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
optimus＠canit.se -
red＠bears.org -
rich＠alcor.concordia.ca -
ryan＠hack.net -
ryan＠inc.net -
sean＠techcare.com -
sethm＠loomcom.com -
spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu -
THETechnoid＠home.com -
vaxman＠uswest.net -
west＠tseinc.com