3D Printed NeXTstation Case for a Cube Motherboard

Just thinking out loud; might be a fun project for those with a 030 board lying around.

I agree. I'd like to see it slot in like one of the vme sun stations. I would volunteer the time for a backplane layout if someone can do a case.

Well the Nubus backplane is not exactly that big. You could just pull it out and have the two connected with power still going there and not need the cube. Next thing to do might be to break a nubus backplane so it just has the one connector, and still feed it power. I recall the old hack to have an 030 board and 040 board in the same machine was to cut a line in the backplane so both cards register correctly, and suspect you could do something like that to make it more compact. Beyond that you probably have to engineer something more substantial.

Do we know which NuBus signals are required to run a NeXT CPU board? IIRC the backplane is passive, but this description on how to run a 68040 and 68030 board together (https://wiki.preterhuman.net/NeXTcube_running_68030_and_68040_boards) in a single Cube case mentions slot number jumpers:

QuoteThe procedure reconfigures slot #2 on the cube's back-plane as slot #0. This provides two slots configured as #0, required for booting the two motherboards.

Are there any signals provided by the power supply in addition to the supply voltages?

I think you only need power and reset to get the board going.

I have pictures of the modified backplane on the cube with 4 motherboards if that would be helpful.

Would it be possible to use a 1U ATX power supply with a modified version of chrisrot's ATX power supply adapter (https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=4409) instead of a backplane?

Just an observation; the silkscreen on the cube motherboard slot cover would be oriented correctly with the motherboard lying flat with chips up. :)

Would the idea be a single slot desktop similar to the NeXTstation then?

I think due to the size of the boards it may be easier to look at sheet metal or acrylic for this, either acrylic cut and assembled together or sheet metal bent up like a normal PC case.

I wouldn't mind throwing together a couple of designs once the power/backplane direction is figured out.

Hello NeXT Community:  We already have Brians adaptor board for an ATX power supply http://www.asterontech.com/Asterontech/cube_atx.html  my thought would be a case like this one ye old NeXT Risc workstation https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Images/Rare_NeXT_Hardware/NRW-NeXT_RISC_Workstation/NeXT_RISC_open.jpg   this shows you don't need a cube case for it to work https://youtu.be/Ok4YrpFEbMo

Quote from: Rob Blessin Black Hole on July 07, 2023, 04:11:12 PMHello NeXT Community:  We already have Brians adaptor board for an ATX power supply http://www.asterontech.com/Asterontech/cube_atx.html  my thought would be a case like this one ye old NeXT Risc workstation https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Images/Rare_NeXT_Hardware/NRW-NeXT_RISC_Workstation/NeXT_RISC_open.jpg  this shows you don't need a cube case for it to work https://youtu.be/Ok4YrpFEbMo

There are pictures here in the forums that show members running a cube motherboard outside of the cube case, but I think the question here was about the type of backplane required for this application since it wouldn't require additional expansion slots.

I was curious as to what type of mini backplane would be required to use a 1U ATX power supply, or can one of the ATX power supply adapters be modified so that no backplane would be required?

Hello Nitro:

I also have cube backplains so laying one flat or standing it and using cabling may solve the issue of routing between motherboard and atx.  Depending on the space and design available in the new case which also would open up possibilities for horizontal stacking of expansion boards like a dimension or fpga or even an intel board .  Rabbit hole lol then there is always the original Cube Case design which is hard to beat which using that foot print. Turn it 90 degrees , ATX power supply under or over the motherboard with zulu scsi , new case half the size and motherboard still slides in and out .... custom drive cage or harness that holds power supply and drives also slides in and out , I see it lol....

It would be interesting to mount a NeXT floppy in the standard location for 040's and add a PLI super floppy PCB so 030's could have a SCSI floppy. Rabbit hole indeed.

Quote from: Nitro on July 07, 2023, 08:45:28 PMIt would be interesting to mount a NeXT floppy in the standard location for 040's and add a PLI super floppy PCB so 030's could have a SCSI floppy. Rabbit hole indeed.

With the original cube I was always annoyed that I couldn't have my hard drive, the magneto optical, CDROM and floppy all in one unit.

Today you can get closer because you could put in a SCISBlue dangling for the hard drive, but you still cannot get all 3 units with only really 2 drive slots. HOWEVER.

Since the floppy and CDROM are half height solutions, you would have the room now, you would just need a custom face plate. The magneto optical can still occupy a full height slot below.

So it's finally kind of possible. You could 3d Print a front faceplate, but the down side is the original face plates are metal if I recall, and it would be nice to have that same finish.

Quote from: zombie on July 08, 2023, 05:15:03 PMWith the original cube I was always annoyed that I couldn't have my hard drive, the magneto optical, CDROM and floppy all in one unit.

Today you can get closer because you could put in a SCISBlue dangling for the hard drive, but you still cannot get all 3 units with only really 2 drive slots. HOWEVER.

Since the floppy and CDROM are half height solutions, you would have the room now, you would just need a custom face plate. The magneto optical can still occupy a full height slot below.

So it's finally kind of possible. You could 3d Print a front faceplate, but the down side is the original face plates are metal if I recall, and it would be nice to have that same finish.

Those are good points. I'm guessing that a 3D printed faceplate could be sanded and painted to get a finish that's close to the original, but I haven't tried that. I mentioned in the Godzilla thread about designing a low profile BlueSCSI 3D printed bracket to mount the drive directly to the cube motherboard. I haven't taken a close look at it but I believe there's enough room between the motherboard and drive cage to mount the drive. Then it would just take a short SCSI cable to connect it. Fun stuff to ponder during the summer.

Quote from: Nitro on July 08, 2023, 07:13:05 PMThose are good points. I'm guessing that a 3D printed faceplate could be sanded and painted to get a finish that's close to the original, but I haven't tried that. I mentioned in the Godzilla thread about designing a low profile BlueSCSI 3D printed bracket to mount the drive directly to the cube motherboard. I haven't taken a close look at it but I believe there's enough room between the motherboard and drive cage to mount the drive. Then it would just take a short SCSI cable to connect it. Fun stuff to ponder during the summer.

Here is a question I cannot resolve for myself and wonder what you think.

What is the 'ultimate' media suite for a cube?

When I had the cube, I kept the original 256MB magneto optical. It was VERY reliable for me for 2 reasons. I didnt use it as a boot drive, and I had the NeXT cleaning kit that I used a few times a year, and it was very rock solid. I had lots of opticals around and it was a great emergency boot (native) medium.

But over time, better magneto optical drives came out. 5.25" ones that held gigabytes and even the cool Fujitsu 3.5" that eventually had gigabytes too, and I upgraded to those as they were just faster/more efficient.

I think you want a CD ROM just because so much installation/boot media uses it and much of NeXT software was eventually on CDROM. Similarly you want a 2.88MB floppy for accessing software too.

I personally never had much software that came on the original magneto optical drive (and it was easy to move it off there for the one package I recall I had), so it seems the maggot optical is less a priority.

These days, to make it compatible with modern systems you probably want some SD card type reader or maybe even a USB SSD connection of some kind. Not sure there is any SCSI to USB (fast) converter. I recall there were a few SCSI to USB adapters for scanners and things like that, so perhaps something could be done with that.

So one school of thought would be it makes sense to keep it as original as possible and that would mean to use the NeXT optical, NeXT floppy, NeXT CDROM and forgo the hard drive since they take up a lot of space, are slow, and prone to dying now.

Another school of thought is to make it as modern as possible and that might mean just keep floppy/CD, forget magneto opticals and just get something that would let you use SD cards and/or USB devices.

Cant quite resolve which way I would go in my own mind.

Quote from: zombie on July 08, 2023, 08:08:52 PMWhat is the 'ultimate' media suite for a cube?

The original NeXT drives are hard to beat, so that's a great option. I like your idea of a custom faceplate set up for a floppy/DVD drive/MO drive. The look and extra ventilation that the floppy faceplate has is nice. Add a BlueSCSI to the mix and that would be a great setup too. I guess I like both options. :)

If I can find some free time I'll fire up Autodesk Inventor or SolidWorks and see what I can come up with for a case.

FWIW. Many CDROM/DVD drives work well in cubes with MO slots. A perfect one might have one MO drive, one CDROM drive *and* a floppy slot.

I guess we can call this a CUBEstation. I created a quick mock-up of the lid. I haven't added the cutouts yet because things may change once the base is finalized.





For those wondering what it would look like made out of birch.

Looks good! I'm envious of the patience/skill it requires to create these models.

Looks cool Nitro, another project may be to convert a gutted NeXT Laser printer case into an NeXT compatible hybrid 68K and intel based computer .  or use the Decklid from a NeXT laser as the top to a Cube Station :)

Quote from: barcher174 on July 20, 2023, 02:46:38 AMLooks good! I'm envious of the patience/skill it requires to create these models.

Thanks Brian. I'm envious of your electronics and PCB skills; I wish I could do both. I'll work on the base next and see how everything lays out. I took my multimeter and checked out a cube backplane just to get an idea of the connections between the power supply and the motherboard connector. The wiring diagrams on your ATX power supply page (http://www.asterontech.com/Asterontech/cube_atx.html) are very helpful.

Quote from: Rob Blessin Black Hole on July 20, 2023, 09:26:41 AMLooks cool Nitro, another project may be to convert a gutted NeXT Laser printer case into an NeXT compatible hybrid 68K and intel based computer .  or use the Decklid from a NeXT laser as the top to a Cube Station :)

Thanks Rob. It's interesting to think how we can breathe new life into 030 motherboards. Hope you're feeling better soon.

Solid Works?

Quote from: pTeK on July 21, 2023, 01:52:59 AMSolid Works?

This model was created with Autodesk Inventor. I use SolidWorks too but I've been running Inventor for a lot longer.