The NeXTcube is a high-end workstation computer developed, manufactured, and sold by NeXT from 1990 to 1993. It superseded the original NeXT Computer workstation and is housed in a similar cube-shaped magnesium enclosure, designed by frog design. The workstation runs the NeXTSTEP operating system and was launched with a $7,995 (equivalent to about $19,000 in 2024) list price.
Hardware
The NeXTcube is the successor to the original NeXT Computer, with a 68040 processor, a hard disk in place of the magneto-optical drive, and a floppy disk drive. NeXT offered a 68040 system board upgrade (and NeXTSTEP 2.0) for US$1,495 (equivalent to $3,600 in 2024). A 33 MHz NeXTcube Turbo was later produced.
NeXT released the NeXTdimension for the NeXTcube, a circuit board based on an Intel i860 processor, which offers 32-bit PostScript color display and video-sampling features.
The Pyro accelerator board replaces the standard 25 MHz processor with a 50 MHz one.23
Specifications
- Display: 1120×832 17 in (432 mm) 82 ppi grayscale MegaPixel Display
- Operating system: NeXTSTEP 2.2 Extended or later
- CPU: 25 MHz 68040 with integrated floating-point unit
- Digital signal processor: 25 MHz Motorola DSP56001
- RAM: 8 MB, expandable to 64 MB (Sixteen 30-pin SIMM slots)
- Floppy drive: 2.88 MB
- Hard drive: 105 MB, 340 MB, 400 MB, 660 MB, 1.4 GB or 2.8 GB SCSI drive
- Network interface: 10BASE-T and 10BASE2 Ethernet
- Expansion: four NeXTbus slots (mainboard uses one slot)
- Size (H × W × D): 12 in × 12 in × 12 in (305 mm x 305 mm x 305 mm (±1 mm))4
Legacy
Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web at CERN in Switzerland on the NeXTcube workstation in 1990.5
See also
- NeXT character set
- NeXTcube Turbo
- NeXTstation
- Power Mac G4 Cube, a similar cube computer from Apple
External links
References
Webster, Bruce F. "NeXT on the Agenda". MacWorld. No. January 1991. /wiki/MacWorld ↩
"Spherical Solutions, Pyro Installation & Ordering" (PDF). http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Rare_NeXT_Hardware/pyro_installation.pdf ↩
"Spherical Solutions, Pyro 50 mHz Accelerator Card" (PDF). https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Rare_NeXT_Hardware/pyro_accelerator_card.pdf ↩
"NeXTcube brochure" (PDF). http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Hardware/nextcube.pdf ↩
"Original NeXT computer used by Sir Tim Berners-Lee to design the World Wide Web - NeXT". Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/original-next-computer-used-by-sir-tim-berners-lee-to-design-the-world-wide-web-next/6QHcxbuGnQ4rng ↩