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How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later

68kMLA Networking 44 posts Jul 8, 2013 to Jul 25, 2013

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#1 Mon, 8 Jul 2013 - 23:16 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #1

The title says it all

#2 Mon, 8 Jul 2013 - 23:18 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #2

#3 Mon, 8 Jul 2013 - 23:19 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #3

#4 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 02:09 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #4

. . . and I shall open a big box of jealousy

#5 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 04:57 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #5

MEH! No Laser Printer? [

)] ]'>

#6 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 05:24 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #6

and i thought mcdermd was hard-core.

#7 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 05:31 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #7

I'm hard core, I'm just not that rich

#8 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 06:21 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #8

Mostly a cleaver trade, nothing too crazy

#9 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 07:25 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #9

MEH! No Laser Printer? [)] ]'>

I have the laser printer, but I didn't get any boxes. So haplain wins. (Also, mine's a slab, not a cube. Specifically a NeXTstation Turbo.)

#10 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 08:33 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #10

We're twins!

#11 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 20:20 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #11

Mostly a cleaver trade

Huh. I had no idea that the Beav was into that sort of thing.

#12 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 21:04 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #12

Mostly a cleaver trade, nothing too crazy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaver

Cleaver_(PSF).jpg.8816aa11ec5b4b575ab917838685e35f.jpg

lol

#13 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 21:05 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #13

When HAP does his craigslist transactions, He means business !!!

#14 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 22:54 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #14

Having some boot issues right now. It starts but doesn't recognize the hard drive. It tries to load from the internal CD drive but takes FOREVER so I don't think it's working in the sense there's a MOBO issue. The CD-Drive and HD spin up so I know it's something silly

I have EVERY version of NeXT and NeXT step on disks and CD-ROM so whatever OS I install once I get her working. I just send the board out for a recap (an extra board) and think it's having a keyboard input issue. The fact I cannot use the COMMAND buttons on startup to force it into programmers mode lead me to think it just needs a servicing. I've seen an article discussing that issue and it seems to be a simple fix. Thanks Uniserver! The fact it boots, loads, HD seems to spin, CD-Drive takes a disc leads me to believe it's something silly. Good thing I've got 2 mobo's.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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#15 Tue, 9 Jul 2013 - 23:59 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #15

I have 2x 68040 25Mhz boards. They both have the aluminum caps. They didn't appear to be bad but what do I know. Obviously something isn't working and some is so a recaps a great place to start. I figure worst case I'll reach out to rob at blackhole and get a working board but really want the original one to work.

I'll probably get a laser printer in box for keepsake too ;-) why not right

#16 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 00:55 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #16

I sold my color slab last year. Had a brand new laser printer that I never used.

#17 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 01:22 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #17

Did you try using a SCSI terminator?

I've got one on my Cube's external SCSI port (mini 50 pin).

#18 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 01:58 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #18

That I recall, both NeXTSTEP 2 and 3 will not directly boot off the CD unlike NeXTSTEP 1 did on MO.

You need to bootstrap the system with the included boot floppy which according to your dual MO bezel you do not have. Neither do you have a floppy drive (and NO they are not Apple's floppy drives). There are hacks however to dump the CD to a hard drive and then install to the same drive.

Go ask the forum at nextcomputers.org for additional info on this.

Also, are you trying COMMAND + ~ to get to the PROM?

#19 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 02:24 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #19

That I recall, both NeXTSTEP 2 and 3 will not directly boot off the CD unlike NeXTSTEP 1 did on MO.according to your dual MO bezel you do not have. Neither do you have a floppy drive (and NO they are not Apple's floppy drives).

Sorry to disappoint but I said I had EVERYTHING

I'll try that little trick and thanks for the suggestion

#20 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 08:07 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #20

Nice. Okay, so you DO have the floppy drive. Hang it out the back and fudge in the back cover and you should be ready to reinstall.

#21 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 12:38 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #21

Congratulations, and I am jealous.

#22 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 17:05 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #22

Also, are you trying COMMAND + ~ to get to the PROM?

CalGen, mad thanks for your help. I got it working last night. She wasn't looking to boot from the SCSI Drive or "sd" drive for those familiar with NeXT. It's running NextStep 3.1 I have root access and have another user I created last night.

It even has the working NeXT branded SCSI HD 380MB

#23 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 17:57 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #23

I bet you are feeling really good about this.

Heck you've wanted a NeXT Cube for, what like 5 or 6 weeks?

Charles

#24 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 19:36 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #24

I bet you are feeling really good about this.
Heck you've wanted a NeXT Cube for, what like 5 or 6 weeks?

Charles

I was jumping up and down in my living room freaking out. I knew I'd get it sorted out, thanks again CalGen. Just a another lesson in delayed gratification.

#25 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 20:34 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #25

If you're going to do a recap, open the MO drive (a pictorial disassembly guide exists) and replace the small radial caps on all the boards. They're all leaking and we're starting to suspect they are responsible for all the drives being dead.

#26 Wed, 10 Jul 2013 - 22:00 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #26

I'll do that once I've got the recapped board back. Got some more work for you Uniserver

I want to take my time with this one. I'm not in a rush and have essentially completed my collection so now it's just about polishing.

#27 Thu, 11 Jul 2013 - 21:39 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #27

Man... I miss my NeXTs so much

#28 Thu, 11 Jul 2013 - 21:40 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #28

This is fantastic. I have a NeXTstation with all of these accessories (minus CD-ROM drive), but no Cube.

#29 Thu, 11 Jul 2013 - 23:40 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #29

Things just keep getting more interesting and I need some input. Has anyone seen a NeXT Cube board with this kind of chip in it? Mine is NOT soldered into place and says "Sample-A". It also does NOT have any other markings like the other photos I've seen. Can anyone shed some light on this... I have a preproduction board?

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#30 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 00:22 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #30

NeXT saved money by stuffing engineering samples onto their boards as well. Nothing new there and there's been a few 040 boards with a socketed 040. Nobody really knows why but they don't seem any different.

#31 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 00:25 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #31

NeXT saved money by stuffing engineering samples onto their boards as well. Nothing new there and there's been a few 040 boards with a socketed 040. Nobody really knows why but they don't seem any different.

So then, in theory couldn't someone such as myself with the socketed chip purchase a 68040 33Mhz or 35Mhz and just stick that bad boy in?

#32 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 00:55 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #32

Just stuffing in a higher rated CPU won't make it faster. During this era of computers the rating on the CPU was just an indication of what speed the manufacture was guaranteeing it would operate at under "reasonable" conditions. A 33Mhz CPU will run at 25Mhz unless you change the clock speed fed into it, and that may or may not be trivial on a NeXT Cube. (Seriously, no idea, never owned one.)

These days, of course, different speed-grade CPUs usually operate at some common bus speed while a (usually-)fixed multiplier inside the CPU dictates the core speed so your confusion is probably forgivable.

#33 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 05:14 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #33

Serial number 2049

#34 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 08:08 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #34

NeXT's do not handle the 68040 the same as a mac would which also means that all the socket accelerators available for the 68040 (EG: the Sonnet QuadDoubler) will not work. There were two different accelerators designed exclusively for NeXT called the Pyro and Nitro. Both are extremely rare and sell for upwards of $5000 when they go up for sale.

On the other hand, It's possible to use the QuadDoubler's MC 88916DW80, a 40mhz 040 and some serious hacks to speed boost the color turbo's to 50mhz. 8-o

#35 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 14:33 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #35

Very cool. Congrats on getting it up and running, hap. Out of curiosity about what these thing were used to do, what apps are on the HDD?

#36 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 - 17:12 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #36

Very cool. Congrats on getting it up and running, hap. Out of curiosity about what these thing were used to do, what apps are on the HDD?

Thanks very much. I'm not exactly sure what they were used for, I'd image whatever a serious computer nerd would have dreamed. It allowed internet access via ethernet and programmers to write code. There isn't much on the large 380MB HD I have in there now but the other HD's I had out on my floor are supposedly loaded with nearly every piece of NeXT software and programs. The guy I picked it up from was super into NeXT OS but just doesn't have the time for it anyone.

Both are extremely rare and sell for upwards of $5000 when they go up for sale. [/url] 8-o

Looks like I have a new project to attempt to find. I would NEVER pay that considering 5k. That would be over 8 times what I paid for the whole thing but if anyone has any leads, let me know

#37 Sat, 13 Jul 2013 - 02:11 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #37

Looks like I have a new project to attempt to find. I would NEVER pay that considering 5k. That would be over 8 times what I paid for the whole thing but if anyone has any leads, let me know

Trust me. You'll never find one in the wild in this day and age and anyone who DOES own one will be more than well aware that they own one. In all honesty there is really no point to upgrade the CPU in a NeXT system anyways considering how well optimized everything is.

#38 Sat, 13 Jul 2013 - 03:08 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #38

considering how well optimized everything is.

heck yeah.

Just like back with the MAC, that is why they got such a long haul out of the 8mhz 680 nothing, the programmers wrote some good code.

If there was not already some great applications readily available.

I bet the Macintosh Classic would have never been manufactured.

Release date October 15, 1990[1]

Introductory price US$999

Discontinued September 14, 1992

Macintosh Classic - 8mhz / 4mb ram --->

I mean heck it ran almost all the way to 1993

3aebbe688bb9da482a4aa4520c8d9eb1.jpeg.12c30fe88da1f5f5a86b6f96e39fee3c.jpeg

Around the release of the Classic, they had already figured out how to put an entire OS into ROM.

"The Mac Classic could be booted into System 6.0.3 by holding down the Command + Option + X + O keys during boot.[17]"

#39 Sat, 13 Jul 2013 - 03:12 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #39

Trust me. You'll never find one in the wild

Your forgetting you are talking about the guy that owns Steve Jobs Apple IIe.

Generally when Hap wants something, he gets it

) that I know so far... lol

#40 Sun, 14 Jul 2013 - 05:22 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #40

Very nice setup, haplain. Definitely keep us posted on what you do with it.

what these thing were used to do

Almost anything. They were aimed at higher education and design/graphics markets, so there are a few one-off apps in each of those markets for it. Mathematica(1) came of age on the NeXT (and for a while was included on every one), Frame(2) was available for it, which for as nice as Quark/InDesign and PageMaker are, Frame/Framemaker are the kings of the structured document layout world, or at least were in their time.

NeXTWorld Magazine and some other information I've seen on the web talked a lot about NeXT on government systems, and there used to be a really great web site with NeXT sales/marketing material talking about how to talk about it with various types of customers. Most of these materials talk about NeXT as being the "One True Computing Platform" where the same OS and hardware was suitable for your infrastructure (e-mail/directory/dhcp/dns/files/printing), your apps (database/middleware servers), your developers and technical users, as well as your receptionists and administrative assistants who might have been entering data or creating documents in WordPerfect (which was available on NeXT as well) or another app (there were several.)

Judging from the documentation, this was probably not impossible or unrealistic, either. NeXTSTEP (at least 3.x and OpenSTEP 4.x) had things like directory services for network logons, network-resident home directories (Steve Jobs talked about this in a presentation or two), an internal e-mail system which could accommodate formatted text and attached images and sounds, as well as things like directory replication and purportedly very simple resource sharing.

Woefully, I've never gotten two NeXT systems with networking both working next to one-another to test out some of this stuff. It would be very cool to see some of this stuff in action.

I have a Sun Voyager running NeXTSTEP 3.3, though I would like to get it reinstalled with OpenSTEP 4.2. I may have to drum up some OS4.2 virtual machines at some point in the future, to play with the infrastructure therein.

(1) It looks like Mathematica 1.0 first shipped on the Mac, but because of reasons, became a more capable product on NeXT. It's said that for a while, NeXT was the platform where Mathematica was most fully capable, from end to end. Although this was in marketing materials and I suppose the thing to be aware of is that choosing an appropriate computer is sometimes better than choosing the best one.

(2) The Internet is fairly coy about exactly when Frame was available for NeXT, the best information I've been able to find is here: http://daube.ch/docu/fmhist00.html which says Frame was founded in 1986 and the first release was in 1987. It looks like the NeXT version was discontinued by 1992. Frame competed with a product from a company called Interleaf, which is said to have releases as far back as 1982 (or maybe that's just when they were founded.)

#41 Sun, 14 Jul 2013 - 21:05 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #41

Ooooooooohboy.

8-o

#42 Sun, 21 Jul 2013 - 09:23 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #42

NeXT saved money by stuffing engineering samples onto their boards as well. Nothing new there and there's been a few 040 boards with a socketed 040. Nobody really knows why but they don't seem any different.

if i bought a NeXT cube new, and there was " SAMPLE A " cpu in my machine...

I think i'd be pissed.

AS much as those cost? and they threw in a engineering sample in there¿

Jobs that cheap ahole... is what i might say under my breath.

#43 Thu, 25 Jul 2013 - 01:15 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #43

On the other hand, various documentation says that NeXT systems were actually a pretty great deal for their price and at the time. In 1990, you could buy a Mac Classic for $999, but that was far less than a fifth of the amount of computer you were getting when you spent your $5000 on a NeXT, and if you were in the workstation market, NeXT systems were a lot of computer for the money, and I'm made to believe that they were basically the least amount of money you could spend on a "workstation" at the time.

#44 Thu, 25 Jul 2013 - 18:23 How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later — #44

The educational market and public offerings were too expensive for the public to afford (and same for the educational markets who would buy in bulk) and in the scientific and workstation market they were too slow when compared to other major workstations at the time. They system may of been crammed full of fantastic options but it had the worst possible price point.