--- title: Next Computers NeXT Cube categories: - Computers types: - Professional Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1988' params: name: NeXT Cube company: /companies/next-computers company_name: Next Computers specs: - label: NAME value: NeXT Cube - label: MANUFACTURER value: Next Computers - label: TYPE value: Professional Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1988' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: '1993' - label: KEYBOARD value: Full-stroke keyboard, 85 keys, 2 buttons opto-mechanical mouse - label: CPU value: |- NeXTcube 030 : Motorola MC 68030 @ 25 Mhz\ NeXTcube 040 : Motorola MC 68040 @ 25 Mhz\ NeXTcube Turbo : Motorola MC 68040 @ 33 Mhz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: FPU Motorola 68882 (math co-processor) @ 25 Mhz - label: RAM value: 8 Mb upgradable to 16 Mb (Cube 030) or to 64 Mb (Cube 040) - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 1120 x 832 - label: COLORS value: 4 (black, white and two shades of grey) - label: SOUND value: |- DSP Motorola 56001 @ 25 Mhz (16 bits, 44.1 Khz, stereo, 24k RAM upgradable to 576 kb)\ Speaker built-in the monitor - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 31.8 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm - label: I/O PORTS value: 4 (3 free) NeXTbus connectors, internal SCSI connector, SCSI2 external connector, DSP, video output, proprietary port for NeXT laser printer, 2 RS232 ports, Ethernet, - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: |- Magneto-Optical Drive (256 MB)\ SCSI hard-disk, FDD (2.88 Mb) and CD-ROM were optional - label: OS value: MACH 4.3 + NextStep - label: POWER SUPPLY value: PSU built-in - label: PERIPHERALS value: Modem - label: PRICE value: $6500 (USA, october 88) tabs: - photos - links photos: - title: THE CUBE subtitle: '' text: This innovative design (by FrogDesign) is said to have inspired the later Apple Cube and Nintendo GameCube... image: null links: - title: Black Hole, Incorporated url: http://WWW.BLACKHOLEINC.COM/ text: Retailer of NeXT computers and related - title: Channel U NeXT page url: http://www.channelu.com/NeXT/index.html text: Site with a lot of information about NeXT - title: Computers Forever 1970..80..90 url: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fabrice.montupet/ text: Fabrice has a nice page about NeXT computers - title: NeXT Forum url: http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php text: NeXT forum - title: NeXT Step information page url: http://www120.pair.com/mccarthy/nextstep/ text: A good introduction to the NeXT operating system - title: www.NeXTComputers.org url: http://www.nextcomputers.org/ text: Website dedicated to NeXT computers, NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP comments: - author: JimWorm date: Tuesday 21st April 2015 text: When the NeXT Cube computer was released, The price was an astronomical $6800.00. I remember at the press release, Jobs mentioned that it would only be sold to academic institutions and college students, and not to the general public. When a reporter asked how he could get one, a very cocky Jobs replied "Enroll". - author: matthew (Texas United States) date: Tuesday 31st March 2015 text: did you know the 040 nextcube was actually used for graphics design at id software at the time doom was made - author: Nate (Ohio) date: Tuesday 4th March 2014 text: 'Fun fact: A NextCUBE was the world''''s first World Wide Web server..,' - author: bluekatt (netherlands) date: Sunday 17th September 2006 text: |- the core of next is the mach kernel with scource code from bsd unix\ it displays postscript and has a windowing engine\ and a object orientated application layer\ it has a terminal ( its a nix after all ) - author: Renzin (USA) date: Wednesday 3rd August 2005 text: Steve Jobs really loved the cube. Just look at the Mac G4 cube. NeXTstep, as everyone says, is greatly related to OS X, but what is the core name? The core of OS X is Darwin. Also, does it have a terminal like X and what is it like? - author: yaro (us) date: Friday 19th November 2004 text: Actually NS stood for Next/Sun. The NS prefix was only introduced with OpenStep (not NextStep which used a NX prefix.) - author: Nick Daisley (USA) date: Monday 28th June 2004 text: |- Just for your information - you speak of the NeXT machines in the past tense but as of 1 year ago (probably still now) one of the Physics labs at Oxford University was entirely equipped with NeXT stations, with a Cube as a server. Quite simply, they had not come across anything which could replace them (although they were exploring Mac OS-X to that end) in terms of the network integration, messaging and programming facilities which they offer.\ Meanwhile, my monitor stands on top of a 'color station' which just awaits a proprietory keyboard in order to switch it on for the first time in many years! - author: Jeremiah (USA) date: Friday 25th January 2002 text: |- MacOS X is indeed an heir to NeXTstep, though the MACH-BSD kernal in NeXTstep was replaced my something much more modern in OS X. OS X inherits it's structure, notions of services, application bundles, GUI and display postscript (Called Quartz under OS X), use of "NetInfo" for most things from NeXTstep, but most of the "UNIX" is actually freeBSD. it's interesting from a developers perspective to see all of the NeXTstep headers still in use, and NeXT-derived functions. For example, many header files and prototypes begin with the letters "NS", meaning "NextStep". :-) - author: Douro (USA) date: Friday 25th January 2002 text: MacOS 10 uses much the same kernel as NeXTStep. With the port of the Mac kernel to the PC, Intel-based machines can now run NeXTStep. Apple's updated release included a color(!) GUI and could be run on Macintosh computers. related: - /museum/next-computers-next-station oc_id: 277 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230430210346/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=277 date: '2023-04-30' --- What a mythical and powerful computer!! When Steve Jobs left Apple, he decided to create the best computer possible ! The result is the NeXT. This prodigious computer impressed a lot of people when it was presented! Its technical features, its object oriented operating system and its graphical interface, even its black case were very far from the standards (remember how many black-cased computers there were in 1988: not many)! And NeXTStep is always considered as a reference. It was sold with a lot of great programs and a very powerful 400 dpi laser printer. Some technical features were a bit strange (grayscale display, no floppy drive, no hard disk), but were modified in the next generation with the [NeXT Station](/museum/next-computers-next-station/) and the NeXT Cube 040. NeXT also released later the **NeXTdimension** for the Cube. It is a board based on an intel860, wich offers a true 32bit Postcript color display and video sampling features. You could buy the NeXTdimension board alone or a NeXTcube upgraded with it, sometimes refered as "color Cube". Unfortunately, this computer was too expensive and had little commercial success, few years later, it was abandoned, but the later successors of this computer are still in use in some places, as servers! The NeXT was used as the world's first web server, and was also the platform for the first web browser! Notice that the architecture of this computer (68030, 68882 & DSP 56001) is the same setup used in the [Atari Falcon](/museum/atari-falcon-030/) which was presented (a bit late) in 1992! Thanks to [Computers Forever1970..80..90](http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fabrice.montupet/) for most of the info.