Sorry if i'm asking questions having been diskussed before, as i'm a noob :)
As written in my introduction i've an ADB Station (defect) and a non ADB Station (working). I bought the first one for spare parts not knowing there where different models of "the" station out there and now i'm asking myself: Would it be possible to hook up the Monitor of the ADB Station (much brighter then the other one) with the pre ADB Station? Of course i would have too use the keyboard and mouse of an Apple Performa since i've got no NeXT ADB ones.
As well - the HD in my ADB Station seems to be dead, would i have to replace it with the same one or does the firmware/bios/rom (i don'know whitch one the station uses) support different models of HDs?
Quote from: "PowerPC"
As written in my introduction i've an ADB Station (defect)
Sorry for asking again, i'm too lazy to search for your introduction, what is exactly defect?
In most cases the station won't power on due a defect power supply. You can use your PS from the working station.
Quoteand a non ADB Station (working).
So if it is a non-ADB Station (boot ROM lower than v71) you can't use any ADB equipment.
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As well - the HD in my ADB Station seems to be dead, would i have to replace it with the same one or does the firmware/bios/rom (i don'know whitch one the station uses) support different models of HDs?
You can use every SCSI-HD until about 2 GB out of the box. Bigger hd's need some magic to be bootable.
So there are other NeXT Fans in Germany. Until now i was the only one i knew of :wink: .
Thanks for answering my question so quick. Defect's only the Harddrive so you coverd that already. I must say i'm a little reliefed. Finding that particular 700 MB Quantum SCSI Harddrive might have proofen a very ungratifying job.
Sad thing's the Monitor - i hope the non ADB one will live an long live :)
How exactly may i check the bootromversion?
Quote from: "PowerPC"So there are other NeXT Fans in Germany. Until now i was the only one i knew of :wink: .
Of course there are :-)
I think NeXT was quite popular in Germany back in the 90s. I wonder how many of the former NeXT users here today actually use OS X...
Quote from: "PowerPC"So there are other NeXT Fans in Germany. Until now i was the only one i knew of :wink: .
Shure, even if it looks like that de.comp.sys.next are beeing death :-).
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How exactly may i check the bootromversion?
Press Command - ~ (upper left key on the numeric key pad) to enter the monitor.
Take a look at this site, a BIG thanx to Jenne for the nice NeXT-page, you will see the keys that have to be pressed shortly after seeing the boot-logo:
http://www.blackmac.ch/nextstation/pages/software.htmlYou will see it as the Window description, see my screenshot in:
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=422
Quote from: "Andreas"Take a look at this site, a BIG thanx to Jenne for the nice NeXT-page...
:oops: I didn't expect my page being THAT good at all after I got in touch with NeXT the first time about 3 months ago! Thank You Andreas, I will write a brief description (more or less translation) of all interesting installation steps in german one day...
J
Quote from: "Andreas"You can use every SCSI-HD until about 2 GB out of the box.
So i got an IBM DPES-31080. It seems to work (it's loud) but when starting the station i get a scsi error. I'm not familiar with scsi configuration - so what would i probably have to do?
Quote from: "Andreas"Press Command - ~ (upper left key on the numeric key pad) to enter the monitor.
Ok - small problem here - i don't have a NeXT ADB Keyboard so i have to use an (german) Apple ADB Keyboard - borrowd from my Performa.
Does the Apple Key substitute the Command Key? As well there is no ~ on the Keyboard but Num. in its place. How do i proceede?
Quote from: "PowerPC"So i got an IBM DPES-31080. It seems to work (it's loud) but when starting the station i get a SCSI error. I'm not familiar with scsi configuration - so what would i probably have to do?
Hmm I have to say you really do need to understand SCSI before you play with it, in terms of setting the device ID (and making sure no two devices have the same ID on the same bus) on the SCSI chain and also the fact the the end of the chain must the terminated either by an internal device terminator (so that rules out Low Voltage Differential), or a passive external terminator at the end on the cable, there are also lots of different standards which most but not all offer some degree of backwards compatibility, for example fast scsi, fast/wide, scsi 2, scsi 3 etc etc, add the that there are single ended, LVD & differential drives all of which have different bus widths, electrical characteristics and physical connections.
In terms of what a NeXT is best with it boils down to a Single Ended, 50pin Narrow SCSI drive that can work in Asynchronous mode of which Seagate & Quantum seems to work out of the box, some may need a disktab entry.
Disktab is the entry iirc in /etc/disktab which describes the disk type, layout and geometery to the operating system so partitions can be built. Some are included with the operating system for common disks of 2gb or less (Seagate Hawk for example), newer disks and those larger than 2gb need disktabs writing manually.
NS 3.3 can use 2gb partitions OS 4.2 can use 4gb.
Personally I've never had any luck with IBM drives & NeXT's. They are known for problems and they are sometimes difficult to switch out of Synchronous mode which the NeXT does not play with too well. I've tried to get IBM drives to work and they give odd SCSI errors, I tried to reprogram the mode pages of the damn things but they still give errors.
For ease of use as I've said on other posts, narrow Seagates are the best bet, the half height Hawks, Barracudas, Medalist Pro's all work fine though you may need to write or otherwise modify the disktab entry. I use a 4gb Medalist Pro in my slab and an 9gb Barracuda 18XL in my NeXTcube. Old 'cudas run hot and have been known to kill NeXTstations due to heat build up.
All of that said, 50pin Seagates seem to be drying up, I've bought a few spares just in case, I got a 9gb 50pin 'Cuda 36ES2 and another 18gb 'Cuda 18XL last week (gonna use this in the cube I think and put the 9gb in the BeBox). You can use 68pin single ended drives with an appropriate cable or adaptor but you don't have much room in a station so 50pin is better.