Thread
How to unbox a NeXT Cube 25 years later
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?
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.
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.
Serial number 2049
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
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
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.
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.
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
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]"
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
Very nice setup, haplain. Definitely keep us posted on what you do with it.
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.)
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.)
Ooooooooohboy. 
8-o
8-o 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.
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.
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.