Hello !
Being a macuser for three years I'm currently very interested by
Next history. I've read tens of pages of documentation but I still
have a few questions.
First I wonder how users of the first NextComputer/NextCube 030
managed to update NextStep since they only had these infamous
magneto-optical drives. Was it available on floppies or did they
have to install it through network or buy a CD drive?
And by the way, how much space did NextStep required without
any software ?
Secondly, I've been unable to find any advanced informations about
NextCube/Nexstation/NS Color video cards. The only interesting thing
I've read is that NC/NS had 256kb vram but NStations supported 8-bit video with
2 MB VRAM upgrade (why only 8-bit since NSColor had
exactly as much vram?).
So, were NStations really unable to display 4096 colors+4-bit alpha with this
2Mb VRAM upgrade or was it just prevented by Next to push users
into buying a NSC ?
I wonder about that because I've read that NextStep used NC/NS(c)
videos cards only as Frame-buffers without any
GUI hardware-acceleration (btw is that true?).
Thanks :)
Quote from: "guguy"Hello !
I've read tens of pages of documentation but I still
have a few questions.
Oh, no! I hope that isn't 'a lot' in the web 2.0 era. :-)
I'll answer what I can but I may not be 100% correct.
Quote
Secondly, I've been unable to find any advanced informations about
NextCube/Nexstation/NS Color video cards. The only interesting thing
I've read is that NC/NS had 256kb vram but NStations supported 8-bit video with
2 MB VRAM upgrade (why only 8-bit since NSColor had
exactly as much vram?).
You can find the TurboCube and ColorStation schematics on the net. They should be in the file archives of this forum. (I haven't checked.) But they will help you.
There was no 'video card,' per se, other than the NeXTDimension. All graphics were integrated onto the system motherboard. The two-bit greyscale framebuffer was built into a multi-function chip that did other things. There was little, if any, acceleration performed here. Mostly memory dual-porting, I believe.
The ColorStations and the NeXTDimension both used the Brooktree BT463 ramdac. (A nice chip for its day with only a few quirks.) The ND ran it in 24-bit mode but the CS ran in either 12- or 4-bit modes. My stations are put away so I don't know if the 4-bit mode was monochrome or 16-level lookup (don't trust the schematics). If there was any hardware acceleration or alpha support on the CS, it was well-hidden.
QuoteSo, were NStations really unable to display 4096 colors+4-bit alpha with this
2Mb VRAM upgrade or was it just prevented by Next to push users
into buying a NSC ?
I've never had a plain NeXTStation but it should not have any color support of any kind (though I could be wrong). NSColor and Turbo Color could do 12-bit with no hardware alpha or acceleration. NeXTDimension was accelerated and supported 24-bits.
Quote
I wonder about that because I've read that NextStep used NC/NS(c)
videos cards only as Frame-buffers without any
GUI hardware-acceleration (btw is that true?).
Mostly true. Only the ND was accelerated.
Thanks for this answer :)
So, if the only difference between Color and Mono stations is VRAM and
ramdac, isn't it quite easy to upgrade a Mono station into a color one ?
And by the way, I don't understand why Next didn't make the NextCube
at least 12-bit color capable, it wouldn't have added much to the final price,
probably less than the price difference between an alu case and a
magnesium one :p
QuoteIf there was any hardware acceleration or alpha support on the CS, it was well-hidden.
Well, that's what I've read on wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTstation), but maybe they are wrong.
Quote from: "guguy"So, if the only difference between Color and Mono stations is VRAM and
ramdac, isn't it quite easy to upgrade a Mono station into a color one ?
If by 'quite easy' you mean replace motherboard and power supply and maybe modify the connector panel, then yes.
Quote
And by the way, I don't understand why Next didn't make the NextCube
at least 12-bit color capable, it wouldn't have added much to the final price,
probably less than the price difference between an alu case and a
magnesium one :p
You might want to check prices in 1989/90/91. Megapixel color was expensive then. And there isn't that much room on the cube motherboard. But perhaps someone with the later 88000 prototype can chime in. What was the video design on that?
Quote
QuoteIf there was any hardware acceleration or alpha support on the CS, it was well-hidden.
Well, that's what I've read on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTstation), but maybe they are wrong.
Alpha exists in the APIs, not in the CS hardware. RGB and that is it. There's likely some kind of blitter in the custom asic but I'd doubt there's too much more in the hardware.
QuoteIf by 'quite easy' you mean replace motherboard and power supply and maybe modify the connector panel, then yes.
Well, I was rather considering a Nubus card or something like that.
QuoteYou might want to check prices in 1989/90/91. Megapixel color was expensive then.
Right but that'd have allowed customers to have a choice. However
maybe Next had plans for a Nubus 12-bit video card but didn't release
it since the market for such an upgrade was too small.
And one more thing, I've read that the PostScript layer of the NextDimension board was never completed and that it only used
the i860 chip to draw basic pixels, is that true?
Anyway, I wonder what would have happened if Next had released NextStep/Intel
in 1989 at a decent price (considering windows 3.0 was available
only one year later and windows 2.1 wasn't widespread so people
weren't windows-habituated yet), but well, we'll never know... :)
Quote from: "guguy"
Well, I was rather considering a Nubus card or something like that.
There's no Nubus in any NeXT. There's a NeXTbus in the Cube which vaguely looks like a Nubus but is mechanically and electrically (25MHz) distinct.
Quote from: "cubist"Quote from: "guguy"
Well, I was rather considering a Nubus card or something like that.
There's no Nubus in any NeXT. There's a NeXTbus in the Cube which vaguely looks like a Nubus but is mechanically and electrically (25MHz) distinct.
I thought NeXTbus was not so different to Nubus-90 in the 840av?
Quote from: "brams"I thought NeXTbus was not so different to Nubus-90 in the 840av?
I don't really follow Mac designs so I can't say. Nubus-90 looks like a 20MHz bus whereas the NeXTbus is a mixed 12.5/25MHz bus. Mechanicals still look different from what I can find.