Can't say that I've ever put much thought into this aspect of NeXT machines but while looking through the post about setting up the flat panel on a NeXT I noticed the image of the non-ADB Station and it dawned on mine looked slightly different (the keyboard and mouse) because I have an ADB system. My mono station is non-ADB but I haven't had that running sinced I moved into my new house.
The question really is: why did NeXT bother making both an ADB and non-ADB version of their hardware? It seems odd that Steve Jobs would have spent the extra money to offer both of these options without a decent reason. Anyone out there know?
I think the non-ADB was for the old hardware 68030 (first generation) then the new Turbos came out and they used the ADB which is mac compatible, so I suppose they would automatically open themselves to a new market of hardware the owner could buy if necessary... This is why you can use a Mac mouse on ADB enabled computers.. (not that a beige mouse would look OK hooked to an elegant black system :wink: )
Remember that ADB Slabs/Cubes-enabled are backwards compatible with non-ADB hardware... so there was nothing to loose when the new hardware was released..
I think Sun and/or HP is (or was) at some point ADB compatible...
Bye
Gaspar
The NeXTWORLD archives have some info on a few of the reasons NeXT went to the ADB input devices.
http://www.simson.net/nextworld/92.4/92.4.Winter.New.Products.html
I always suspected that it was so NeXT customers could use Wacom tablets and the like for use with Adobe Illustrator.
However IMHO the ADB stuff is crap, it feels plasticy & horrible to use, I want to convert my NeXTstation Turbo to Non-ADB, however I'm finding it very difficult to find Soundbox.
Apparently Apple ADB mice don't work properly unless the mouse button is pressed duing boot up.