Can anybody sell me a 50-pin SCSI hard drive with NeXTstep pre-installed? My NeXTstation drive failed a few years ago. I'd like to use my NeXTstation again - without the hassles of trying to install the OS. (...to install, I'd need the CDs and external SCSI CD-ROM - which I don't have, aren't common in Canada and shipping from the US is expensive)
A 2Gb or 4Gb drive would be fine, preferably with NeXTstep 3.3 and a few useful programs like a web browser.
Have you tried Black Hole Inc -
http://www.blackholeinc.com/ ?
Rob Blessin is very helpful and has just sold me a 4GB drive with Openstep 4.2 and a bunch of apps preinstalled. Looking forward to getting it (I'm in the UK, so delivery can be slow).
Tony
Quote from: "mr_a500"Can anybody sell me a 50-pin SCSI hard drive with NeXTstep pre-installed? My NeXTstation drive failed a few years ago. I'd like to use my NeXTstation again - without the hassles of trying to install the OS. (...to install, I'd need the CDs and external SCSI CD-ROM - which I don't have, aren't common in Canada and shipping from the US is expensive)
A 2Gb or 4Gb drive would be fine, preferably with NeXTstep 3.3 and a few useful programs like a web browser.
Where are you in Canada?
I recently started resurrecting all my black hardware after many years of it being "banned" to storage. I went a bit nuts looking for SCSI stuff and for RAM. Getting 50 pin SCSI drives in decent shape is a big challenge... I settled down on 68 pin drive with bunch of adapters and an active terminator that I modified to pull-up the high byte. It's a bit of a tight fit into the station with all the adapters, but it works fine...
The other option that I am exploring is SCA to 50 pin adapter from OWC.COM for $10 plus shipping. The computer recycling market seems to be flooded with SCA server drives for cheap.
I do have an extra 2GB Seagate 50 pin drive, and I could throw NS 3.3 onto it for you, but you would have to pay the shipping, unless you are in the Ontario GTA area... You would have to deal with installing other software.
Quote from: "t-rexky"
Where are you in Canada?
I recently started resurrecting all my black hardware after many years of it being "banned" to storage. I went a bit nuts looking for SCSI stuff and for RAM. Getting 50 pin SCSI drives in decent shape is a big challenge... I settled down on 68 pin drive with bunch of adapters and an active terminator that I modified to pull-up the high byte. It's a bit of a tight fit into the station with all the adapters, but it works fine...
The other option that I am exploring is SCA to 50 pin adapter from OWC.COM for $10 plus shipping. The computer recycling market seems to be flooded with SCA server drives for cheap.
I do have an extra 2GB Seagate 50 pin drive, and I could throw NS 3.3 onto it for you, but you would have to pay the shipping, unless you are in the Ontario GTA area... You would have to deal with installing other software.
I'm close to the GTA. That 2GB 50 pin drive with 3.3 sounds good. How much do you want for it? I could also give you a couple 4GB Seagate 68pin SCSI drives if you want them. (Back when I bought them, I thought I could use them in the NeXT. I didn't know that the damn SCSI interface kept changing number of pins. I know I can get adapters, but would still need to find a way to install NeXTstep.)
Quote from: "minty"Have you tried Black Hole Inc - http://www.blackholeinc.com/ ?
Rob Blessin is very helpful and has just sold me a 4GB drive with Openstep 4.2 and a bunch of apps preinstalled. Looking forward to getting it (I'm in the UK, so delivery can be slow).
Tony
Thanks for the link. I'll check that out. The drives listed on his site are only 426MB though. If I'm going to attempt to connect to the internet, I think that would be a bit tight.
Quote from: "mr_a500"I'm close to the GTA. That 2GB 50 pin drive with 3.3 sounds good. How much do you want for it? I could also give you a couple 4GB Seagate 68pin SCSI drives if you want them. (Back when I bought them, I thought I could use them in the NeXT. I didn't know that the damn SCSI interface kept changing number of pins. I know I can get adapters, but would still need to find a way to install NeXTstep.)
My time installing NS3.3 onto it is probably worth much more than the drive itself :-). I'll just give it to you, since it was originally given to me by a store owner who was getting rid of all his SCSI stuff. I did an extensive scan of the drive and a reformat - it looks good with just a few slow-ish sectors, but no bad ones. Don't worry about the 68 pin drives - keep them as backup. In fact you should immediately copy the NS3.3 installation onto one of them...
I just went through a whole bunch of different drives and settled on a 4GB HP branded IBM drive. It has 68pins, but I managed to fit it in well with a custom built cable and short standoffs to lift it up off the slab HD plate. I can tell you what you need to get a 68 pin drive working reliably in a slab.
If you are close to the GTA then we could meet in person somewhere. Did you want me to throw 3.3 Developer onto the drive as well? I can also put in some software packages in the /me directory, but you will have to install them yourself.
Quote from: "t-rexky"
My time installing NS3.3 onto it is probably worth much more than the drive itself :-). I'll just give it to you, since it was originally given to me by a store owner who was getting rid of all his SCSI stuff. I did an extensive scan of the drive and a reformat - it looks good with just a few slow-ish sectors, but no bad ones. Don't worry about the 68 pin drives - keep them as backup. In fact you should immediately copy the NS3.3 installation onto one of them...
I just went through a whole bunch of different drives and settled on a 4GB HP branded IBM drive. It has 68pins, but I managed to fit it in well with a custom built cable and short standoffs to lift it up off the slab HD plate. I can tell you what you need to get a 68 pin drive working reliably in a slab.
If you are close to the GTA then we could meet in person somewhere. Did you want me to throw 3.3 Developer onto the drive as well? I can also put in some software packages in the /me directory, but you will have to install them yourself.
That's very generous of you. Thanks. :D
I'll send you a PM for details.