NEXTcube, now what?

From: r. 'bear' stricklin <red_at_bears.org>
Date: Wed Dec 6 18:55:57 2000

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.
Received on Wed Dec 06 2000 - 18:55:57 GMT