website/content/museum/next-computers-next-cube.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	params
Next Computers NeXT Cube	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1988	name image company company_name specs tabs photos links comments related oc_id source NeXT Cube /media/museum/photos/next_cube_1.jpg /companies/next-computers Next Computers label value NAME NeXT Cube label value MANUFACTURER Next Computers label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1988 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1993 label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard, 85 keys, 2 buttons opto-mechanical mouse label value CPU NeXTcube 030 : Motorola MC 68030 @ 25 Mhz\ NeXTcube 040 : Motorola MC 68040 @ 25 Mhz\ NeXTcube Turbo : Motorola MC 68040 @ 33 Mhz label value CO-PROCESSOR FPU Motorola 68882 (math co-processor) @ 25 Mhz label value RAM 8 Mb upgradable to 16 Mb (Cube 030) or to 64 Mb (Cube 040) label value GRAPHIC MODES 1120 x 832 label value COLORS 4 (black, white and two shades of grey) label value SOUND DSP Motorola 56001 @ 25 Mhz (16 bits, 44.1 Khz, stereo, 24k RAM upgradable to 576 kb)\ Speaker built-in the monitor label value SIZE / WEIGHT 31.8 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm label value I/O PORTS 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 value BUILT IN MEDIA Magneto-Optical Drive (256 MB)\ SCSI hard-disk, FDD (2.88 Mb) and CD-ROM were optional label value OS MACH 4.3 + NextStep label value POWER SUPPLY PSU built-in label value PERIPHERALS Modem label value PRICE $6500 (USA, october 88) photos links title subtitle text image THE CUBE This innovative design (by FrogDesign) is said to have inspired the later Apple Cube and Nintendo GameCube... /media/museum/photos/next_cube_2.jpg title url text Black Hole, Incorporated http://WWW.BLACKHOLEINC.COM/ Retailer of NeXT computers and related title url text Channel U NeXT page http://www.channelu.com/NeXT/index.html Site with a lot of information about NeXT title url text Computers Forever 1970..80..90 http://perso.wanadoo.fr/fabrice.montupet/ Fabrice has a nice page about NeXT computers title url text NeXT Forum http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php NeXT forum title url text NeXT Step information page http://www120.pair.com/mccarthy/nextstep/ A good introduction to the NeXT operating system title url text www.NeXTComputers.org http://www.nextcomputers.org/ Website dedicated to NeXT computers, NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP author date text JimWorm Tuesday 21st April 2015 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 date text matthew (Texas United States) Tuesday 31st March 2015 did you know the 040 nextcube was actually used for graphics design at id software at the time doom was made author date text Nate (Ohio) Tuesday 4th March 2014 Fun fact: A NextCUBE was the world''s first World Wide Web server.., author date text bluekatt (netherlands) Sunday 17th September 2006 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 date text Renzin (USA) Wednesday 3rd August 2005 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 date text yaro (us) Friday 19th November 2004 Actually NS stood for Next/Sun. The NS prefix was only introduced with OpenStep (not NextStep which used a NX prefix.) author date text Nick Daisley (USA) Monday 28th June 2004 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 date text Jeremiah (USA) Friday 25th January 2002 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 date text Douro (USA) Friday 25th January 2002 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. /museum/next-computers-next-station 277 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230430210346/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=277 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 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 which was presented (a bit late) in 1992!

Thanks to Computers Forever1970..80..90 for most of the info.