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SGI also had a few mighty fine designs for their desktops, but looking at their product range now it seems like the gave up on the desktop. Some links: http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=SGI&ie=utf-8&o e=utf-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Another old design which still looks good comes from what was NeXT: http://www.channelu.com/Turbo/NeXT/i/cube1a.jpg

NeXT only had a two-button mouse (both the original, and the ADB version were only two-buttons).

http://www.channelu.com/Turbo/NeXT/mousekeysound.h tml

Moreover, it configures by default that the right mouse button functionality (popping up the main menu) was disabled.

William

And actually drivers on the NeXT were written in Objective-C ;-)

Then when NeXTSTEP migrated from the NeXT boxen to Intel boxen, a new Intel-only kit framework arose called DriverKit. DriverKit had an Objective-C top-end, but much of the lower-end code was still in C. DriverKit didn't run on NeXT (68000) architectures.

When Apple built Darwin, they did so on top of a new driver architecture, replacing DriverKit and the various C drivers. This architecture, called IOKit, is written in, get ready... C++

the scroll wheel mouse was shipped right before they stopped shipping hardware.

No, NeXT never shipped a scroll mouse. The last mouse they produced was an ADB mouse affectionately referred to by some as the Bat Mouse, which was a pretty cool design, IMHO, but not a scroller.

Depending on when this video was made, perhaps it was a pre-production "Nitro" NeXTStation Color, one running at 40Mhz. Word about them got out around October 1992.

"How many Nitros exist?

Personal e-mail from someone who for now shall remain nameless "there was more than 5". He had one, the release control guys had at least one for builds, there was one around that was used by the NRW group and later for porting cross builds, Steve Jobs had one in his NeXT for a long time, and there were various versions around in hardware. He also says he thinks a few were given to important customers as part of trials."

Anyway, despite the impressive hardware specs of the i860, what Jobs is doing doesn't appear to be remarkably fast, compared to more typical NeXT hardware. It could have been a stock 33Mhz Color Turbo.

The performance you see in that video certainly didn't require super-high-end hardware or special co-processors.

NeXTstep has had recordability since 1988.

So where is it?

Examples of macro languages and applications which used NXJournaler:

• Puppeteer
• COWS was a fun project.
• Simon Says

You might also be interested in TickleServices, which was an early example of macro languages applied to a GUI. TickleServices worked via the Services menu in all NeXTSTEP applications (and now all MacOS X apps). I believe someone has more or less reinvented TickleServices in an Applescript guise now. Don't remember the name.

i think the likelier explanation is that you're full of s---

From the stuff above, it appears the most likely explanation is that you don't know how to Google.

NeXT was an early pioneer in a lot of stuff. My experience is that when the OS-9'ers say "Feature Foo was thrown out by the NeXT people who didn't get it", usually about 90% of the time NeXTSTEP had that feature as well, and the NeXTers are mad about it getting tossed out as well.

Color NeXTStation Turbo (which was the fastest unit they ever made).

That is not true. It is the fastest unit NeXT ever *sold*. They had prototypes running with dual 68k and single PPC cpus.
Also there were Nitro and Pyro boards that could accellerate stock NeXTs.

Color NeXTStation Turbo (which was the fastest unit they ever made).

That is not true. It is the fastest unit NeXT ever *sold*. They had prototypes running with dual 68k and single PPC cpus.
Also there were Nitro and Pyro boards that could accellerate stock NeXTs.

NeXT
used a sealed magnesium case with an internal stirrer.

Although venting into the wall is pretty stupid, there were a fair number of Perqs connected
to the outside by flexible dryer vent ca. 1981. Perq used a special "high-volume" fan,
and I mean high volume!

I don't know why the article doesn't mention it, but it seems obvious that the post 9/11 fashion craze is that working for the spook shops is cool and that therefore we're all going black with NeXT Cube Retro. It's sort of like McCarthyesque 50's Retro but with that "Think Different" counter-culture 'tude.

This reminded me of something I found a while back, a scan of the NeXT Network and System Administration Manual. Good one to add to your collection.

Is it just me, or does anyone expect this thing to jump around the desk trying to find a ball?

Ok. I wouldn't say sexy. How about "non-off-putting" computers. I like the idea of a decent looking computer in about the same way that I like the idea of visiting the real world for entertainment, and cracking jokes that don't involve references to decade old obscure console games. Maybe that doesn't make me a real geek.

My NeXT Cube at home has a NeXT Dimension color board. This thing does 32-bit graphics (yeah, w/ alpha chanel), has 3 video (1 s-video, 2 composite) INPUT ports and 2 S-Video and composite ports. Has a RISC processor on-bard and it's own memory.

When that came out, simply nothing on the market was as good. And if it wouldn't have been from their closure, they would have brought the NeXT Dimension JPEG daughterboard. Only one prototype is known to exist today.

Info available here

Karma karma karma karma karmeleon: it comes and goes, it comes and goes.

This has nothing to do with ADC, which is based on a 3 year old IBM technology and was introduced only 6 months ago

Close, but not entirely true.

Actually, ADC is simply Apple's use of prior "technology" (as much as cables can be considered technology) borrowed from NeXT Computer, which we all know has been absorbed by Apple (and Apple by Steve, but that's another story).

My 040 color slab (aka, "NeXT Station Color) has that kind of cable (diffeent pinouts etc, but the end result is the same) that goes from the machine to the sound box (external speaker) where the keyboard monitor etc are connected.

If I had an NeXT Mono monitor (the cool-looking one), then that cable would connect to the monitor, and the keyboard, sound box etc would connect to the monitor, like the current ADC connector.

My black 040 NeXT Cube at home also has the same kind of connector. but for my color (Fimi) monitor to work, it has to be connected onto the NeXT Dimension board. So, one cable goes to my monitor, the other to the sound box where keyboard is connected.

Get black hardware info at this address.

Karma karma karma karma karmeleon: it comes and goes, it comes and goes.

When Apple bought NeXT in december 1996 (actually, when NeXT let itself being bought by Apple), I knew it was for OpenStep, and had a fait idea of what was to take place. Being a Mac developer, I knew I had to start learning the inside-outs of this OS, so I searched on the web, and found orb.com (dont botter looking it up, the site is gone now) from which I bought my NeXT machine (literally).

It's what's refered to as a "color slab". The actual model name os a "Color Station". The 25Mghz one, not the Turbo Station.

It came with NeXTSTEP 3.3 pre-installed on a 400Megs HD w/ 16Megs of RAM. This machine actually could rival my PowerMac 8600/200 the Mac OS of the time (I can't remember what version it was... 7.5.5 maybe).

When Apple introduced NeXTSTEP to the Mac community, it actually simply released OpenStep 4.2 for Intel to developers. It turns out that the CDs were fat-binaries that would also work on my color slab. I downloaded the installer floppy image to boot my machine with, and was able to install OpenStep 4.2 on there--for free. The machine has been running superbly ever since.

I eventually bought a N2000 NeXT Laser Printer. The best 400DPI I have ever seen. Never has that printer, actually controled by the NeXT itself for PostScript rastering, ever failed to print anything I threw at it, regardless of the complexity of the image. By having installed CAPer on it, I can use this printer on my network like any regular Mac networked printer.

I have just bought a first-generation NeXT Cube (N1000A) for the coolness factor. I'm picking it up tomorow, and am eager to spin it up. It should look pretty dandy on my desk, next to my color slab, original Mac II (rev A), PowerMac 8600/200, iMac DV/SE, Mac SE+20" mobius display and my (yes) Apple //c.

Now, I just need another hub ...

If you want to learn a bit more on the machines NeXT produced, check out this link.

There's a picture in Hal Layer's collection, or check out Deep Space Tech if you want to buy one.

And of course, we have to have the obligatory Linux on NeXT link.

PDO is a shortcut for Portable Distributed Objects. In the near future PDO will become CORBA 2.0 compliant. It is the industry's first product to provide a heterogeneous client/server framework on objects. With PDO it is possible to deploy objects on non-NEXTSTEP server Machines and therefore deployed anywhere in a network, wherever they are most appropriate for a task.