Hello all! I'm very excited to be joining your ranks. Yesterday marks the beginning of my tenure as a NeXT owner, and since this is a very new venture for me, I figured it would make a lot of sense to join your forum so I can work on learning more and getting the most of out this equipment.
My name is John, and I've spent most of my life working with old mac gear, so I am very familiar with the entire ecosystem of NeXT equipment. I have also run NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP on various hardware in the past, as well as other unixes, mostly SunOS/Solaris and IRIX. A couple of weeks ago, I got a lead on some NeXT equipment coming local to me, so I jumped on it. I am now the proud owner of a NeXTstation and a NeXTstation Color, with matching monitors, keyboards, and mice (as well as the sound box for the Color).
All of the equipment is in good working condition, though covered in a decent layer of dust and grime after having been parked in a basement for the last couple of decades. Somewhat amazingly, the lithium batteries in both machines not only haven't leaked, but they still have a 2.9v charge!
Right now I am focusing my efforts on the Color, as I haven't yet picked up the other setup (I will later this week). I've taken a few pictures of its "initial" state:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KsAUUS3dPDWkHThE6The machine itself has cleaned up very well, but the pebbled surface of the display has attracted quite a bit of... something... that I am having a hard time cleaning off. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!
Additionally, the individual I got these machines from also has a NeXTstation Turbo Color setup that he is looking to sell. If anyone located in the western half of North Carolina is interested, let me know and I can put you in touch with them.
Regards,
John
My go-to cleaner is lemon pledge.
Good to know, and you haven't had any issues with the finish? I have had issues with citrus based cleaners like Goo-Gone before.
It's extremely mild. Apparently it also contains a similar active ingredient as in plastic rejuvenation products. I originally got the tip from a guy who restores classic motorcycles. Been using it for years now with no problems.
Nice find, fabulous to have the whole setup working, NeXT monitor included! I use an old SGI Granite monitor with my TurboColor (& of course the NeXT displays with my cubes).
Enjoy! Hope you have fun exploring the software from here on nextcomputers.org, as well as at
https://ftp.nice.ch and
http://www.nextcube.org/board/browse/3151Cheers!
(I'm just up the road [7 hours, hehehehe] in Charlottesville, VA)