I was watching
this thread (
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=393) and it brought a question to mind. What's the best deal that you've had when purchasing Black Hardware?
From the other thread, it appears to me that brams is leading the pack. It is hard to say though, as blackcube has probably found some gems in the skids of stuff he has bought.
Chef
That's a tough question! I've had quite a few good and bad deals, IMHO. I guess my best deal would be a complete mono Cube and mono Slab workstation. Purchase price, $0. The person who had them wanted to get them out of the house. I offered to pay for them but the owner just wanted me to cover the shipping, which ended up being just over $200.00 USD. The Cube and Slab showed up with hard drives intact, and plenty of original data. They belonged to an original NeXT employee. His NeXT business card is attached to the bottom of the keyboards and the Slab as well. Both the Cube and Slab have the difficult to find NeXT property sticker. I also received a huge amount of software, can't even begin to list it all. The cube paint and logo are perfect. Anyway, that my experience. :)
My best deal was a whole van load of NeXT stations, printers, a 030 cube and other parts and software for free. Or the mint condition turbo slab, monitor, printer still in the original boxes complete with all paperwork and reciepts back to day 1 for the price of shipping from Austin to Dallas. It's still has the original toner cart in the printer but the scaper blade has hardened and has scratched the drum all to pieces. I still have the PO he used to order the NeXT through his school. The PO was a genetics researcher.
Probably my favorite deal was my first NeXT, a Turbo Color slab with laser printer and N4006 Sony monitor for $100. This was in January 1997 when it was still fairly current hardware. I found it at a surplus dealer in Dallas. He didn't know how to get around the root password reset problem and wanted to get it off his shelf. I should have taken him up on the second complete system that I left on the shelf. Mine was complete except for the missing ADB mouse but I substituted a Mac mouse until I bought one from Sperical Solutions or Deepspace Tech - I can't remember who sold it to me for the bargain price of $50. The second system was missing all of it's cables. Tim Loumat (of Peak) told me how to unlock the password and I was off to the races.
It's hard to realize I've been using this system for almost 10 years. It's been a fun ride.
Great stories! Mine was around 2000 or so. I noticed in the comp.sys.next.xxx newsgroups someone was selling NeXT hardware so I hooked up with him. He was in Washington state US. I traveled there and purchased 4 NeXT cubes, three mono monitors, 1 21" color, two laser printers, three sets of keyboard/mice/soundboxes, and several NS .8, .9 etc on OD, the NeXT cube brochure, three sets of NeXT publications, a NeXT CD ROM drive, and some other stuff I forgot about. Well I paid 500 USD for all of it and lugged it home. Low and behold one of the cubes had a dimension card in it. Got that machine running as a double-headed system. Played around with it for about a year and a half and sold the double-headed dimension cube for $1,500 on Ebay. Was a good deal. Still putting together the other cubes...
I got my first NeXT non Turbo colour slab with Fimi from Nottingham University in 1997 or something. I kept it for a while and decided I wanted a Turbo and a better monitor than the crappy Fimi which I took apart and got better focus out of it but it was still fuzzy as hell. So I order a Turbo slab complete from Randy Recksock in 2000 for 300 bucks (no HD or RAM or monitor). I bought an SGI GDM 4011P which I was gonna paint black.
Whilst I was waiting for it to come from the US, I saw another one in comp.sys.next.market place located in the UK (London). The seller luckily had relatives near where I live which is 250 miles out of London, I arranged a meet with him and bought it for 250 pounds, all in mint condition. I got an N2000 Laser, Turbo Colour slab, Sony 17" megapixel plus keyboard etc. When my lot arrived from the US I mixed and matched all the best stuff and put the other lot on eBay UK with the Fimi. I got a silly high price for it (I got about 700 pounds from memory). So basically from the profit I made I got to keep my slab inc Sony 17" for free.
I bought my first slab over the summer of 2001. It came from a guy in the mid-west USA who had bought it from his business, but they cleaned the HD off and he never got around to buying NS for it. It is a nice turbo ADB color system that he shipped for almost free (and I paid very little on eBay due to the lack of OS). Well, I was off to look for a copy of NS on eBay... and a CD drive. A posting for a turbo mono with IBM external CD and a copy of NS 3.3 showed up a few weeks later. I won the lot for less than a copy of NS was going for at the time. A buddy of mine picked up the lot for me (to save the cost of shipping), mailed me the CD and copy of NS 3.3 and I was off. I later collected the mono station when I moved to Florida for a while (which was already planned and why he held onto the mono for me). So, no NeXT to two beautiful slabs in a summer... and all for under $300 :D
Hearing these stories i feel so ripped of with my purchases :cry: - Joining the NeXT Fans as late as 2005 and having to buy my stuff completley over "ePay" :evil:
Had to pay 160 € for my pre ADB Station (Configuration was the "normal" Station @25 mhz, Grayscalegraphics Monitor Mouse and Keyboard, 16 mb ram - NeXtStep 3.3 installed to HD, 700)
So this was my "worst" purchase - but I got the NeXT Laserprinter for 20 €, the CDROM for 50 €, as well as my ADB Station, sadly without peripherals (and still have to replace the HD in that one)
So I 've concluded: First of all prices for NeXT Stuff are rising, second to that - I had no luck :? and finally: eBay Germany is a bad Place for purchasing NeXT Stuff, compared to offerings and prices in UK or US - so you guys should realy help me out :D
I forgot to include me NeXT Laser printer... not a bad pick up but I have yet to get it working. I don't quite have the time to work on it.. and I'm not totally sure that I have the ability to do it either. I hope so, but none the less... I picked it up for under $50. Now if I could only find some one that's kind of local to refit it for a decent price...
Can't tell if that was a good one but I got my 040 Cube with orginal floppy drive, 17" MegaPixeldisplay and original input devices for about 35 bucks, the NeXTstation (040, 25 MHz) with 17" Display, original HD and everything else for 60 bucks.
I'm just lacking the original OS installation media.
But I'm very happy anyway to got in posession of NeXT hardware over here in Switzerland. It isn't as easy as it might be in the U.S. ;-)
J
Quote from: "Jenne"Can't tell if that was a good one but I got my 040 Cube with orginal floppy drive, 17" MegaPixeldisplay and original input devices for about 35 bucks, the NeXTstation (040, 25 MHz) with 17" Display, original HD and everything else for 60 bucks.
I'd say lucky you :) Congratulations on that one (Regardless of "bucks" being € or Swiss Francs), at least from my point of view.
It was Franks converted to US "bucks" ;-)
J
So I just purchased (on ePay :( ) an original NeXTStep 3.3 OS. Okay thats actually not hardware but anyway i would like your opinion. I agreed to pay 56,66 € for: Nextstep 3.3 ; Third Party Products for Nextstep 3.3;
Nextstep Developer Rel. 3.2; Enterprise Objects Framework 1.1; Nextstep Developer 3.3.
Thats the CDs & some Disks for the NeXTStep all in their original packing including installation guides and everything (according to description and photographs)
Shippingcosts have yet to be determined but what do you think? Is the pricing appropriate?
Quote from: "PowerPC"So I just purchased (on ePay :( ) an original NeXTStep 3.3 OS. Okay thats actually not hardware but anyway i would like your opinion. I agreed to pay 56,66 € for: Nextstep 3.3 ; Third Party Products for Nextstep 3.3;
Nextstep Developer Rel. 3.2; Enterprise Objects Framework 1.1; Nextstep Developer 3.3.
Thats the CDs & some Disks for the NeXTStep all in their original packing including installation guides and everything (according to description and photographs)
Shippingcosts have yet to be determined but what do you think? Is the pricing appropriate?
Was that this auction, or the one at the end of last month.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEXTSTEP-3-3-for-Intel-Complete-Retail-Box-RARE_W0QQitemZ180034122702QQihZ008QQcategoryZ51046QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemChef
No it was that one, a few minutes ago
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270034392425&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:DE:11 (hope thats the right one) - important stuff was translated by me before and € is 1.2 $ apparently :)
Yep I think that's OK, iirc I think you got it quite cheap compared to what I sold NS 3.3 Risc CD ROM on it's own to a guy in Germany for 45 pounds.
It's been a while but I also seem to think I got a decent price for OS 4.2 developer about 50 pounds when I sold it.
Quote from: "PowerPC"No it was that one, a few minutes ago http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270034392425&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:DE:11 (hope thats the right one) - important stuff was translated by me before and € is 1.2 $ apparently :)
Are you in the USA? How much would the shipping be to get it here. I have never tried to get things from ebay in european countries because the shipping can be excessive.
Chef
Quote from: "nextchef"Quote from: "PowerPC"No it was that one, a few minutes ago http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270034392425&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:DE:11 (hope thats the right one) - important stuff was translated by me before and € is 1.2 $ apparently :)
Are you in the USA? How much would the shipping be to get it here. I have never tried to get things from ebay in european countries because the shipping can be excessive.
Chef
I'd not think it was expensive to ship CD's, I buy RAM from the USA and it costs peanuts to get it shipped to the UK.
I guess if it is just a few pounds or less, it would be more affordable than a heavy system such as an Indy2.
Chef
No i'm in Germany and buy most of my stuff there also since i've no creditcard or don't use paypal for now - so paying for overseas stuff would be kind of a problem :D - but what i've seen in ebay.com before would sugest shipping costs to THE :D continent being an issue fore sure.
I bought my BeBox with loads of other stuff from the USA, iirc it cost about 140 bucks shipping via USPS which I didn't think was too bad.
Getting your hands on a bebox is a totally different issue. :D
;-), yup I know, my point is that re the SGI Indy, shipping is not a expensive as people think as long as you are prepared to wait a few weeks. If you want is sent via air freight within a few days then it gets expensive.
Wanted to buy an Indy myself a few days ago but it got too expensive (and had to buy NS today) so i'm stuck with my indigo2 :cry: - slightly OT i think but anyway... :D
Quote from: "PowerPC"Wanted to buy an Indy myself a few days ago but it got too expensive (and had to buy NS today) so i'm stuck with my indigo2 :cry: - slightly OT i think but anyway... :D
I just won an auction this week for an Indigo 2 to compliment my O2. Got it for $25, and it contains hard disk with IRIX 5.3, CD and floppy disk. Need to pick it up tomorrow, along with a few other things I got from the same seller. Now that is a heavy system, which seems to keep a lot of people from bidding when you are looking at $30-50 in shipping just across the us by ups.
Chef
Quote from: "PowerPC"Getting your hands on a bebox is a totally different issue. :D
Aint that the truth. I have been looking for one of them longer than the NeXT stuff. I was bidding on another indigo 2, and I saw the blue front top of a BeBox in the background on the floor. I asked what he wanted for it, and he said it had taken him 2 years to find it, and that he was not willing to even entertain an offer for it. The kicker is that he is about 45min away from me, so the normal shipping cost could be added to the offer. Hopefully he will have a change of heart in the future, and I can get a chance on it.
Chef
Quote from: "nextchef"won an auction this week for an Indigo 2 to compliment my O2. Got it for $25
Chef
Got my Indigo2 (great machine) for 10 €, so that was really a good catch. But also only for picking it up myself - saw Indigos with shipping option sold for more than € 120. (Btw. anyone knows what a 13w3 to vga konverter to use on such a system - my sgi monitor aint that good and i would like to use maybe a flatscreen)
On Be Stuff i got only a System 4 & 4.5 Release Box but none of my Machines are really compatible with it :(
I shipped a NeXT Cube to Warsaw a few years ago. I sold it on ebay and the buy paid me around $300 for the Cube. Then shipping to Warsaw ran another $245 for USPS. UPS and FedEx were totally out of the question with quotes running over $700.
Quote from: "PowerPC"Quote from: "nextchef"won an auction this week for an Indigo 2 to compliment my O2. Got it for $25
Chef
Got my Indigo2 (great machine) for 10 €, so that was really a good catch. But also only for picking it up myself - saw Indigos with shipping option sold for more than € 120. (Btw. anyone knows what a 13w3 to vga konverter to use on such a system - my sgi monitor aint that good and i would like to use maybe a flatscreen)
On Be Stuff i got only a System 4 & 4.5 Release Box but none of my Machines are really compatible with it :(
I've been looking for some time for an Indy R5K 180, Indy is just the definative SGI for me along with the R10K I2 Max Impact. Seems to be a few of us on here now with SGI's.
BeBoxe's are really very cool, you'd have to pry mine from my cold dying hands as I have no intention to part with it ever. I hope you find one, as they are rather cool. However it seems you have to pay dearly for them, mine cost about 680 US plus shipping, from what I can tell you need to add 200 US to that price now and they'll keep going up.
There is somebody on the Vintage Computer forums who used to work for Be, he's got one and keeps making noises about selling it rev 8 133. Everytime I try to buy it he says he needs to find shipping costs then he forgets. You might have better luck.
13w3 is the same one you want for a NeXT I think, SOG 13w3, you might be able to use a Sun one if you rip some/all of the the small non Co-Ax pins out.
I have dreamed of owning a BeBox longer than NeXT in all honesty. I love me NeXT systems, but there's just something about the BeBoxen and BeOS. One day I'll have the money to get one... although I have been fortunate enough to aquire a set of SGI Indigo's for no cost at all. The first was almost thrown in to a dumpster. Thankfully I got a call just prior asking if I wanted it. The second one was from someone who had lost the power supply and didn't have the time to replace it. He gave me a stacked Indigo, a 21" SGI monitor, external hard disk and CD drive plus some odds and ends for the cost of shipping (the monitor was a bonus, he shipped it free of charge just because he wanted someone to love it and not dumpster it). None the less, I have a really nice SGI Indigo system that needs 5.2 reinstalled... I need to find room to set it up again.
Quote from: "dravier"I have dreamed of owning a BeBox longer than NeXT in all honesty. I love me NeXT systems, but there's just something about the BeBoxen and BeOS. One day I'll have the money to get one... although I have been fortunate enough to aquire a set of SGI Indigo's for no cost at all. The first was almost thrown in to a dumpster. Thankfully I got a call just prior asking if I wanted it. The second one was from someone who had lost the power supply and didn't have the time to replace it. He gave me a stacked Indigo, a 21" SGI monitor, external hard disk and CD drive plus some odds and ends for the cost of shipping (the monitor was a bonus, he shipped it free of charge just because he wanted someone to love it and not dumpster it). None the less, I have a really nice SGI Indigo system that needs 5.2 reinstalled... I need to find room to set it up again.
It's quite staggering just how disposabe SGI's are considering what they cost in the pre Octane days. I recall either an Indy or an Indigo II in PCW Mag over here (same issue as the Pentium 1 launch) and they reviewed the machine, they reckoned at the time that the graphics board in the machine was 40 grand US!!!!!!, mind you this was at a time when SGI was the only thing that had 3d, before 3dfx and the Voodoo 1/rush era. iirc it wasn't even an purple Impact system. I think the Maximum Impact board in my Octane probably ran to many thousands of pounds.
The time is about right to buy a BeBox, they kind of dried up for ages but as they are getting pretty good money for them, people are selling, but they will dry up again.
Quote from: "brams"Quote from: "dravier"I have dreamed of owning a BeBox longer than NeXT in all honesty. I love me NeXT systems, but there's just something about the BeBoxen and BeOS. One day I'll have the money to get one... although I have been fortunate enough to aquire a set of SGI Indigo's for no cost at all. The first was almost thrown in to a dumpster. Thankfully I got a call just prior asking if I wanted it. The second one was from someone who had lost the power supply and didn't have the time to replace it. He gave me a stacked Indigo, a 21" SGI monitor, external hard disk and CD drive plus some odds and ends for the cost of shipping (the monitor was a bonus, he shipped it free of charge just because he wanted someone to love it and not dumpster it). None the less, I have a really nice SGI Indigo system that needs 5.2 reinstalled... I need to find room to set it up again.
It's quite staggering just how disposabe SGI's are considering what they cost in the pre Octane days. I recall either an Indy or an Indigo II in PCW Mag over here (same issue as the Pentium 1 launch) and they reviewed the machine, they reckoned at the time that the graphics board in the machine was 40 grand US!!!!!!, mind you this was at a time when SGI was the only thing that had 3d, before 3dfx and the Voodoo 1/rush era. iirc it wasn't even an purple Impact system. I think the Maximum Impact board in my Octane probably ran to many thousands of pounds.
The time is about right to buy a BeBox, they kind of dried up for ages but as they are getting pretty good money for them, people are selling, but they will dry up again.
I bought my BeBox in 2000 during the big dot-com money fueled buying craze so I over paid by the standards of that time but it was worth it to me. Now I'd be hard pressed to find another close to that price.
Quote from: "blackcube"I bought my BeBox in 2000 during the big dot-com money fueled buying craze so I over paid by the standards of that time but it was worth it to me. Now I'd be hard pressed to find another close to that price.
If you don't mind me asking James, how much did you pay, I got mine for 685 US + 140 shipping and then about 140 US duty at this side, I did however get everything with the BeBox, loads of BeOS releases (most in fact) most books, packing, boxes and even invoices!. I those terms it's probably my most complete system. I reckon I'd get more than a 1000 pounds if I sold it here in the UK as they are ultra rare here, only Computer Warehouse ever imported them, and I only ever saw one on eBay UK.
If I had to, I'm not sure which I'd part with the Turbo Cube or BeBox, the cube is worth more but the BeBox is much more rare.
On the cool 'o meter I reckon they rate at about the same at 8 which is one point above an Amiga 4000T and a TAM. Not found anything I'd rate for 9 and 10 yet, and yes an IBM PC XT rates at number 1.
I'd swap the BeBox for a Nitro though....
Quote from: "brams"Quote from: "blackcube"I bought my BeBox in 2000 during the big dot-com money fueled buying craze so I over paid by the standards of that time but it was worth it to me. Now I'd be hard pressed to find another close to that price.
If you don't mind me asking James, how much did you pay, I got mine for 685 US + 140 shipping and then about 140 US duty at this side, I did however get everything with the BeBox, loads of BeOS releases (most in fact) most books, packing, boxes and even invoices!. I those terms it's probably my most complete system. I reckon I'd get more than a 1000 pounds if I sold it here in the UK as they are ultra rare here, only Computer Warehouse ever imported them, and I only ever saw one on eBay UK.
If I had to, I'm not sure which I'd part with the Turbo Cube or BeBox, the cube is worth more but the BeBox is much more rare.
On the cool 'o meter I reckon they rate at about the same at 8 which is one point above an Amiga 4000T and a TAM. Not found anything I'd rate for 9 and 10 yet, and yes an IBM PC XT rates at number 1.
I'd swap the BeBox for a Nitro though....
I paid $1085 for mine. It's in mint condition and came with a ton of Be developer software disks and documentation.
Quote from: "blackcube"
I paid $1085 for mine. It's in mint condition and came with a ton of Be developer software disks and documentation.
I payed for mine 351 EUR on eBay, but unfortunatly its a slow 66MHz machine. Its now equipped with a Matrox Mill. for 32Bit color (no boot logo anymore) and a DEC PCI network card.
...and i'm now leaching something from you :-). BTW, is the DANO thing x86 only or is it the PPC port?
Quote from: "Andreas"Quote from: "blackcube"
I paid $1085 for mine. It's in mint condition and came with a ton of Be developer software disks and documentation.
I payed for mine 351 EUR on eBay, but unfortunatly its a slow 66MHz machine. Its now equipped with a Matrox Mill. for 32Bit color (no boot logo anymore) and a DEC PCI network card.
...and i'm now leaching something from you :-). BTW, is the DANO thing x86 only or is it the PPC port?
I put a Millenium II in mine and lost the boot logo. I then flashed the card with a Mac BIOS (in a Mac) and hey presto the boot menu came back along with the disolving Be logo. I don't think the PC Millenium can be flashed with the Mac BIOS as the flash chip is too small, on the Mil II both cards used the same sized flash chip.
Quote from: "brams"I don't think the PC Millenium can be flashed with the Mac BIOS as the flash chip is too small, on the Mil II both cards used the same sized flash chip.
Oh, i'm shure i have the Mill. 2, do you have the BIOS aval?
http://idisk.mac.com/brams-Public/Matrox/Flasher1.31.sitI tried to flash mine on my G4 and it didn't like it, not sure if it was OS 9.2.2 it did'nt like or the G4 so I did it in a 7500 using Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5.
Let me know if it works OK for you.
Quote from: "brams"http://idisk.mac.com/brams-Public/Matrox/Flasher1.31.sit
I tried to flash mine on my G4 and it didn't like it, not sure if it was OS 9.2.2 it did'nt like or the G4 so I did it in a 7500 using Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5.
Let me know if it works OK for you.
Damn, you are right, my G4 also won't work and i have no old machine here. So it has to wait but thanx for the Tip.
Just in case anyone in the UK is looking for a BeBox... here one is, ready for a new home...
http://www.bebox.nu/forums/viewtopic.php?t=248A post from the BeBox Forums marketplace area. Was bummed that this wasn't state side.
Quote from: "dravier"Just in case anyone in the UK is looking for a BeBox... here one is, ready for a new home...
http://www.bebox.nu/forums/viewtopic.php?t=248
A post from the BeBox Forums marketplace area. Was bummed that this wasn't state side.
Wierd, I got an email from Matt last night and he didn't tell me about that, he is a memeber here as well.
Quote from: "Andreas"Quote from: "brams"http://idisk.mac.com/brams-Public/Matrox/Flasher1.31.sit
I tried to flash mine on my G4 and it didn't like it, not sure if it was OS 9.2.2 it did'nt like or the G4 so I did it in a 7500 using Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5.
Let me know if it works OK for you.
Damn, you are right, my G4 also won't work and i have no old machine here. So it has to wait but thanx for the Tip.
Having read the post on BeBox forums about the UK 66 for sale, I just recalled, my BeBox though it runs R5.0.3 might not have the latest boot rom. I'm not sure about this as I've never flashed it (I dare not!). But I recall reading that various boot roms had different nubs and things to initialise PCI devices, this changed quite a bit as things developed.
Technically speaking a BeBox is PREP or CHRP based with a few things different (I can't recall what). It was able to read certain PC PCI card BIOS info (from the PCI card) and get a grip on how to deal with it (the nub could translate x86 code on the fly I think). This was done by the boot rom. In cases where it could not deal with it, it would load BeOS and hope that could deal with it by having a driver. Thus in this case you got no boot menu.
My logic and I never read this anywhere but as the Mac & BeBox are both PPC then it should/would logically know how to deal with the openfirmware loader on Mac PCI cards. When I tried this it worked on the Millenium II. I seem to recall though, some later versions of the boot rom/nub changed sufficiently that some cards which had the boot menu now did'nt.
What I'm saying is. My Millenium II did'nt have to boot menu till I flashed it with the PPC BIOS. That might change the other way if I changed the BeBox bootrom to an earlier or later version. I seem to recall my Box has got a DR boot rom flashed into it no idea which one. You might also flash yours with an earlier or later boot rom and it would work with the PC BIOS on the card.
Matt Emson is the best source of info on what boot roms do what.
Be aware though these flash chips are getting on a bit now, and you can kill them the older they get. So it might be best to leave it well alone and concentrate on the card which is easy to replace.
memson in on these forums and BeBox nu.
Excuse me if I ramble slightly, as my mind is half on writing some code at the same tiime as posting this.
Right... first port of call:
BeBoxen and Matrox Mil 2 cards....
There is a bug in the Matrox NUB driver that sits in the BeBox ROM. Be Inc killed off the BeBox, and Be obviously never fixed it. The rule of thumb is, if your video card is supported - or if it can be initialised as a bog standard SVGA (VESA?) or OpenFirmware (OF) device - you'll see a bootlogo. If not, you see nothing.
Brams is right about flashing the card to a Mac BIOS on both counts. Mil 1 is not capable - the flash ROM is too small (by about half IIRC) but most (I stress MOST) Mil 2's will flash just fine. If your's is compatible, the updater will let you know (and I think it is pretty reliable, though not infalible.)
The other part - about OF booting working is pretty much on the ball too. Though IIRC not *all* OF cards work. Depends on the OF revision the ROM on the card expects/supports.
Okay, back to Bootroms. Be (after R4.0 I think) removed the Matrox Millenium NUB Driver (I think for just the Millenium 2, but might be both) because of the BUG in the driver. The bug itself is fairly minor. It will cause the Box to halt when the driver is initialized IIRC and sort of happens quite randomly. The R4.5 boot ROM does not have the driver in it. I _think_ the R3 one does, but that is the source of the bugs. The PR2 boot ROM is fairly stable, and works well.
My BeBox uses the PR2 boot ROM. I have used a Mil 2 in it extensively (though not at the moment) with a PC BIOS and the boot logo works just fine. Boot logo and everything. A PR2 boot ROM will boot all versions of BeOS ever released from the PR2 release onwards (PR2, R3, R4, R4.5, R5, R5.03, R5.05 etc). Don't recall the BeBox ever hanging either.
To quote a private post someone once sent me (long enough for the dust to have settled):
Quote
from ../beos/exp/src/boot/vga/video/video.c
......
case MATROX_VENDOR:
switch( h.device_id ) {
// FFB: Mystique and Mill-II support is buggy in (currently) incomprehensible ways :-(
// Remove support for Genki, so we don't hang the BeBox during boot.
// case MGA_1064S:
// case MGA_2164W:
case MGA_2064W:
theBCP = MatroxCardEntrypoint( ......
Mystique is Millennium's other name IIRC. Genki is R4.5's code name. The R4.5 boot ROM is the last one Be ever produced and publicly released.
To quote myself:
Quote
... the Mil 2 [has] a second Apple style connector. I have two.. in fact one is directly in front of me right now...
The card has the following markings:
MATROX 708-04 REV : A COPYRIGHT 1997
FAA41556 (on a barcode)
765820 REV 401-1 (on a sticker)
The main chip is an MGA marked as:
MGA-2164WP-C 9732KU23
On the back:
MIL2P/41 (might be 'MIL2P/4I'))
Assembled in Ireland 401
This is the card I reflashed successfully with a Mac ROM and used in my 9500 for about 6 months, and the card (well, t was another physical card as I used to own 2 of these) with the original PC BIOS ROM that works with my PR2 boot ROM.
Secondly: The BeBox for "sale", earler in this thread, is mine. I'm looking for a good home for a dear old friend. I think it is unfeasable to ship it to the states (ironic too, as that is where it came from, ultimately..) If you feel you want to convince me otherwise, please feel free to get in touch (join the BeBox.nu forums, PM me there of possibly post to the thread.) I'm pretty sure I would not turn down the right offer to ship to the states. But I'm very sure that that would be quite a bit of money. Be fore warned ;-)
Quote from: "brams"Wierd, I got an email from Matt last night and he didn't tell me about that, he is a memeber here as well.
Sorry, I assumed you would have seen it ;-)
If anyone is looking for PCI cards - a few S3 video cards, a few NIC's and a few ADAPTEC branded SCSI cards, look on the same forum. I would repost here, but I assume they are not all that interesting.
Looking for reasonable money for them... £3/$5 a piece plus shipping costs... something like that.
Quote from: "memson"Sorry, I assumed you would have seen it ;-)
I only tend to go on BeBox NU about once a week now, not much going there I'm afraid.
It's a bit of a shame somebody has much into BeBoxes as you obviously are has deceided to sell. I can understand economics dictate circumstance more often than not, still I feel it's a shame.
Thanks for the info on the bootroms as well :-)
Quote from: "memson"This is the card I reflashed successfully with a Mac ROM and used in my 9500 for about 6 months, and the card (well, t was another physical card as I used to own 2 of these) with the original PC BIOS ROM that works with my PR2 boot ROM.
Matt
Did you ever try and use the Mil II in the BeBox with the PPC Mac BIOS?, if so did it work and why did you keep it in with the PC BIOS?
Quote from: "brams"http://idisk.mac.com/brams-Public/Matrox/Flasher1.31.sit
I tried to flash mine on my G4 and it didn't like it, not sure if it was OS 9.2.2 it did'nt like or the G4 so I did it in a 7500 using Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5.
OK, i have now purchased a 7300/200 for 1,50 EUR from eBay only for flashing the card :-). I will let you know if all works fine.
Quote from: "Andreas"Quote from: "brams"http://idisk.mac.com/brams-Public/Matrox/Flasher1.31.sit
I tried to flash mine on my G4 and it didn't like it, not sure if it was OS 9.2.2 it did'nt like or the G4 so I did it in a 7500 using Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5.
OK, i have now purchased a 7300/200 for 1,50 EUR from eBay only for flashing the card :-). I will let you know if all works fine.
Haha, overkill or what :-)
I had a 7300/166 that I overclocked the 215mhz, it was a fine computer. Get a decent G3 in it and run BeOS or NetBSD or Linux.
Quote from: "brams"Matt
Did you ever try and use the Mil II in the BeBox with the PPC Mac BIOS?, if so did it work and why did you keep it in with the PC BIOS?
Nope. I tried a IMS Twin Turbo pulled from a Mac in ot, and it worked. IIRC the boot logo worked too - though you might have only seen it on a reboot.
Basically, I bought the box with the card already in it and working and never really had a reason to change it until I wanted to run PR2. The PR2 would boot to the installer and then hand (possibly related to the bug mentioned above.) I replaced it with an S3 card - Trio I think, not Virge as that one is not supported by the PR2 too.
Quote from: "Andreas"OK, i have now purchased a 7300/200 for 1,50 EUR from eBay only for flashing the card :-). I will let you know if all works fine.
Andreas
Did you flash the card OK and does it work ok in the BeBox, are you getting the boot animation and logo now?
Quote from: "brams"Andreas
Did you flash the card OK and does it work ok in the BeBox, are you getting the boot animation and logo now?
Damn ********ing Apple special Monitor connector! I have now the Apple here but can't see a picture because these special plug. I have now purchased for another few EUR such a DIP-switch thingy and have to wait for it.
BTW, after flashing the card, the 7300/200 should be able to install Rhapsody or BeOS? Or what can i do with such a fossil?
Quote from: "Andreas"Quote from: "brams"Andreas
Did you flash the card OK and does it work ok in the BeBox, are you getting the boot animation and logo now?
Damn ********ing Apple special Monitor connector! I have now the Apple here but can't see a picture because these special plug. I have now purchased for another few EUR such a DIP-switch thingy and have to wait for it.
BTW, after flashing the card, the 7300/200 should be able to install Rhapsody or BeOS? Or what can i do with such a fossil?
Actually I think 7300's are a damn fine machine, brilliant for BeOS and probably Rhapsody too, not sure if it will run 5.6, I recall I tried OS X server 1.0 very quickly once on my 7300 maybe as an unsupported machine and it worked fine.
Apart from a crappy graphics they are very good, if i was you, I'd keep my eyes open for a decent PCI ATI card maybe an All in Wonder Pro (Rage Pro) and a fast G3 and put BeOS and Rhapsody on it. What would be cool is if you could get a Daystar or NewerTech nPOWER dual 604E cpu card. BeOS rocks with a fast SMP set up. PowerSurge PCI Macs where the last PowerPC supported platform as well, so for what you paid it's quite a decent prospect.
On the Intel side BeOS has a driver for the AIW so you can use the TV and VIVO functions, not sure if BeOS PPC has it though, I have a BrookTree TV card in my BeBox and that works fine though, so if the AIW uses a BrookTree IC then it should work for that too.
Quote from: "brams"
Actually I think 7300's are a damn fine machine, brilliant for BeOS and probably Rhapsody too, not sure if it will run 5.6, I recall I tried OS X server 1.0 very quickly once on my 7300 maybe as an unsupported machine and it worked fine.
I'm thinking of these Openstep 5.1 /5.2 like Developer Releases with the real NeXTstep GUI.
Quote from: "Andreas"Quote from: "brams"
Actually I think 7300's are a damn fine machine, brilliant for BeOS and probably Rhapsody too, not sure if it will run 5.6, I recall I tried OS X server 1.0 very quickly once on my 7300 maybe as an unsupported machine and it worked fine.
I'm thinking of these Openstep 5.1 /5.2 like Developer Releases with the real NeXTstep GUI.
I think they work fine also. Probably best to forget about a G3 upgrade in that case though.
Just grabbed an auction off of ebay for a monostation, monitor cable, and extra next logo for $20 + shipping. Thought this would qualify as a "good deal".
Chef
Quote from: "nextchef"Just grabbed an auction off of ebay for a monostation, monitor cable, and extra next logo for $20 + shipping. Thought this would qualify as a "good deal".
Chef
Do you have a link to this completed auction? I couldn't seem to find it, and I am curious about who the seller was...
Quote from: "conrad"Quote from: "nextchef"Just grabbed an auction off of ebay for a monostation, monitor cable, and extra next logo for $20 + shipping. Thought this would qualify as a "good deal".
Chef
Do you have a link to this completed auction? I couldn't seem to find it, and I am curious about who the seller was...
Here is the ebay item number, and it appears to be someone in michigan. 280046867667
I figured it was a great price just for the monitor cable, and I get a slab and and extra logo "for free".
Chef
That's the guy I got my complete Turbo system from. Very nice guy, ships quickly and responded to email with great alacrity.
Quote from: "conrad"That's the guy I got my complete Turbo system from. Very nice guy, ships quickly and responded to email with great alacrity.
Good to hear some positive feedback from someone who has dealt with him.
This will be my fourth slab, so I should be good with spare parts now.
Chef