NeXTcube

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 It superseded the original NeXT Computer workstation and is housed in a similar cube-shaped magnesium enclosure, designed by frog design.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 2023) 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 $3,490 in 2023). 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.

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))

Legacy

Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web at CERN in Switzerland on the NeXTcube workstation in 1990.

See also

• NeXT character set
• NeXT Computer
• NeXTcube Turbo
• NeXTstation
• Power Mac G4 Cube, a similar cube computer from Apple

References

External links