Next Computer Systems.

[Druid6900]

I really don't know where else this might go, but, if there is a spot I missed, kindly move it.

My next personal project is these two items from a collection we acquired;

NEXT CSlab 68040 CPU
NEXT Mono w/montor

Everything seems to be there, the boxes, at least one monitor (another may be hiding somewhere), both keyboards, both mouses and I'm sure there is software around in one of the 50 or so boxes on the skids.

I guess the big question is, is this stuff worth anything, enough to make throwing some tech time at it to get it up and running, tested and pretty or is it just an oddity?

Thank you...

 

[commodorejohn]

NeXT stuff is definitely collectible, being suffused with the Holy Aura of St. Jobs (albeit not as much as your original Apple I boards and whatnot,) and for the rest of us it's a fun little *nix workstation environment to play around with. If you don't have an interest in it, you should certainly be able to find a good home for it.

 

[lowlevel]

I really don't know where else this might go, but, if there is a spot I missed, kindly move it.

My next personal project is these two items from a collection we acquired;

NEXT CSlab 68040 CPU
NEXT Mono w/montor

Everything seems to be there, the boxes, at least one monitor (another may be hiding somewhere), both keyboards, both mouses and I'm sure there is software around in one of the 50 or so boxes on the skids.

I guess the big question is, is this stuff worth anything, enough to make throwing some tech time at it to get it up and running, tested and pretty or is it just an oddity?

Thank you...

I think they're uncommon enough to be worth something. I remember using one a couple decades ago, and it was a pretty nice place to be as far as a unix/X station goes.... best of luck

 

[NeXT]

NeXT prices are heavily inflated by That Dead Bald Guy but the slabs are generally cheaper and easier to find these days. I distinctly remember being unable to sell a boxed mono slab system with a preloaded install and everything in the packing cartons on ebay for $250 in July 2011. That same year FreeGeek Vancouver couldn't sell a mono slab setup for $50. That changed four months later.
Mono slabs are identical to an 040 cube with the exception of fewer ram slots, no 5.25" bays, a standard 2.88mb floppy drive and no NeXTbus expansion. These days 32mb of ram is more than enough for NeXTSTEP, a 3.5" hard disk constraint isn't a problem, you don't really NEED an MO drive and there's nothing you want for the NeXTbus that isn't at least $1000 still.
That being said, you have a color slab as well, so the only desireable NeXTbus upgrade, the NeXT Dimension color board, is built into the machine.

For the mono slab, normally the non-ADB models (I forget how to identify them) require the NeXT mono monitor, keyboard and the mouse as they are all proprietary. For the color slabs again they had ADB and non-ADB flavours for the keyboard and mouse but you can technically use any color monitor with 13W3, however you require the black wedge shaped Sound Box and a Y-cable to connect everything together.

NeXTstep is a fun little OS and there's still some third party software floating around although development at this point has stopped.

 

[Druid6900]

Well, general consensus is that it is worth it to scrub the Official SJ Snake Oil off these two and put them up on the bench for a work-up and see what we get.
As I said, I have the two keyboards and mouses and I just happen to have a 20" Sun Micro monitor with a 13W3 connector on it, and the Next Mono monitor is on another skid, so, finding SPACE on a bench and the sound box and cables seems to be all that's left to do.
How long could it take to search through several skids of boxes to find that little item?
The thing is, the inventory list for all the stuff was partial (to say the least) and there are (literally) tons of stuff that wasn't on it and one never knows what software and manuals may be found.
Oh, did I mention that it was all packed up by people who didn't know what they were looking at?

Thanks for the comments and, if anyone else has something to say, I'd be interested in hearing it....