Here's a pretty picture from NeXT advertising: http://www.deepspacetech.com/Info/NeXT_Brochures/n extcube.jpg
And here's another classic picture of a cube: http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~alexios/MACHINE-ROOM/i mages/pics/NeXT_Cube.jpg
The slabs are slightly different. There are two generations. The first generation slabs are just like the cube, but they have a much shorter tether, and the cpu sits under the screen.
Oh, the screen is pretty cool. It is a beautiful greyscale fixed frequency monitor with a keyboard connector on the back. It also handles all of the audio for the system with stereo miniplug and RCA jacks.
The color slabs have an external sound box that serves as the connector for the keyboard, mouse and monitor. They also use traditional fixed-frequency workstation monitors.
They're magnificent machines that were way ahead of their time. I used my NeXT cube every day. I still use NEXTSTEP on an HP Apollo. For an operating system that has not been modified since 1996, it is surprisingly functional. The UI is a delight.
I was thinking the exact same thing when I started reading this thread, but as I went on, I began to think about all of the issues that I have seen older and otherwise inexperienced people have with MacOS and Windows.
Some of the suggestions (Afterstep, WMaker, etc, with simple setups) really are a great idea. Now I think that I would much rather expose people to a minamilist linux setup.
I am actually facing something similar to that. My grandmother has been bugging me for a computer, but the only option that i have for her right now is a NeXT slab. How amusing would it be if the only computer that she has ever touched in her life is a NeXT machine? I find that tickling.
Uhhh...It was designed by a few ubergeeks. They were NeXT employess.
Has anyone noticed the similarities between the Aptiva and the NeXT cube? One of my floormates has it, and it looks a whole lot like my cube. There is a main unit that has no parts that the user would touch (at least on mine. Some have floppies and optical disks). The keyboard, mouse, monitor, and sound connect to the console which is connected to the base unit by a long tether.
In my mind, the stealth Aptiva is the consumer incarnation of the design of the NeXT cube. And they sure do look cool, don't they?
Bah, I don't think there would be any DOJ issue with a code name like 'Athlon Killer.'
Inted and the DOJ are in close nowadays. And the fact that Adobe's new page layout program (InDesign) was called 'Quark Killer' not-so-secretly for a very long time seems to set a precedent. Many people consider Adobe to be the MS of the imaging world.
But I'll keep on using my K6 and my copy of Quark XPress.
What ever happened to the rumors about an "iPalm" device? (you know, the colorful, translucent palm devices) The fusion of Newton technology and the Pilot's slickness would be pretty darned neat. Or has it been Steved? That would be a shame. I love Steve, and I understand the murder of the Newton, but it would be a shame for all of that combined R&D cash to simply sit on a shelf.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's a pretty picture from NeXT advertising: http://www.deepspacetech.com/Info/NeXT_Brochures/n extcube.jpg
i mages/pics/NeXT_Cube.jpg
And here's another classic picture of a cube: http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~alexios/MACHINE-ROOM/
The slabs are slightly different. There are two generations. The first generation slabs are just like the cube, but they have a much shorter tether, and the cpu sits under the screen.
Oh, the screen is pretty cool. It is a beautiful greyscale fixed frequency monitor with a keyboard connector on the back. It also handles all of the audio for the system with stereo miniplug and RCA jacks.
The color slabs have an external sound box that serves as the connector for the keyboard, mouse and monitor. They also use traditional fixed-frequency workstation monitors.
They're magnificent machines that were way ahead of their time. I used my NeXT cube every day. I still use NEXTSTEP on an HP Apollo. For an operating system that has not been modified since 1996, it is surprisingly functional. The UI is a delight.
--
Max V.
Not as much as you would think.
I was thinking the exact same thing when I started reading this thread, but as I went on, I began to think about all of the issues that I have seen older and otherwise inexperienced people have with MacOS and Windows.
Some of the suggestions (Afterstep, WMaker, etc, with simple setups) really are a great idea. Now I think that I would much rather expose people to a minamilist linux setup.
I am actually facing something similar to that. My grandmother has been bugging me for a computer, but the only option that i have for her right now is a NeXT slab. How amusing would it be if the only computer that she has ever touched in her life is a NeXT machine? I find that tickling.
--
Max V.
Uhhh...It was designed by a few ubergeeks. They were NeXT employess.
Has anyone noticed the similarities between the Aptiva and the NeXT cube? One of my floormates has it, and it looks a whole lot like my cube. There is a main unit that has no parts that the user would touch (at least on mine. Some have floppies and optical disks). The keyboard, mouse, monitor, and sound connect to the console which is connected to the base unit by a long tether.
In my mind, the stealth Aptiva is the consumer incarnation of the design of the NeXT cube. And they sure do look cool, don't they?
--
Max V.
Bah, I don't think there would be any DOJ issue with a code name like 'Athlon Killer.'
Inted and the DOJ are in close nowadays. And the fact that Adobe's new page layout program (InDesign) was called 'Quark Killer' not-so-secretly for a very long time seems to set a precedent. Many people consider Adobe to be the MS of the imaging world.
But I'll keep on using my K6 and my copy of Quark XPress.
--
Max V.
He means the magically translucent Palm IIIe with the ugly i-wanna-be-an-iMac case.
--
Max V.
What ever happened to the rumors about an "iPalm" device? (you know, the colorful, translucent palm devices) The fusion of Newton technology and the Pilot's slickness would be pretty darned neat. Or has it been Steved? That would be a shame. I love Steve, and I understand the murder of the Newton, but it would be a shame for all of that combined R&D cash to simply sit on a shelf.
--
Max V.
My mac has five screens. I have another video card, but nowhere for the monitor.
It's actually a pretty cool setup. I use all of the screen real estate to display my X apps from my Linux box via MacX.
The Linux box has an old IBM PS/2 VGA (literally--640x480, 16 levels of grey) screen connected that it uses as a tv-out in fullscreen mode.
Kindof ironic, but very effective.
--
Max V.
DECstations, when in console mode, initially, make little chirping sounds every time a key is pressed.
It's a good incentive to use X. =)
--
Max V.
You mean your machine doesn't do that?
I have exim set up to start a spinning emergency light and blink my room lights every time a message comes through.
Then the giant rotating, 3-d 'E' dances its way across my screen accompanied by the "Haleiujah" chorus from Handel's Messiah.
If anything, I have been disappointed by the sedate email apps in the movies.
Don't even ask me about my muttrc.
--
Max V.
Uhhh...I don't really remember computers being portrayed in Clerks. Unless there was a cash register. But I don't really remember.
--
Max V.