Next Station Turbo Repair

[Drake]

I received this beautiful black slab months ago before my wife and I sold our house and purchased a new home, as such it sat waiting for today.
Unfortunately one of the network ports received enough force to shear off it's legs and fly out. Otherwise the machine is in pristine working order.

A quick, satisfying solder job and it's as good as new!

Previously with my Next Cube, using a BlueSCSI resulted in several LUN ID errors and demands to initialize each unused "drive". Thankfully BlueSCSI has an amazing community and dedicated developers to keep firmware updated and evolving. Flashing a bluepill with the latest release: V1.1 the Next Station sprang to life with Next Step 4.2 hosting a sprinkle of demos and apps.

All that's left now is to sort out a mini FTP server to grab DOOM!

I am interested in sharing a "fleshed out" BlueSCSI image when it's ready so feel free to stick around/share what you might have

 

[retr01]

Hey, @Drake! I see you have an Apple QuickTake camera on the shelf! Is it a 100 or 150?

 

[Drake]

Hey, @Drake! I see you have an Apple QuickTake camera on the shelf! Is it a 100 or 150?

150 grabbed off ebay for $20! Had a bunch of elementary school photos on it still ahha.

 

[Kai Robinson]

I have lusted after one of these for years now - still never seen one in real life - they're even more scarce than SGi machines here - very jelly!

 

[Drake]

I have lusted after one of these for years now - still never seen one in real life - they're even more scarce than SGi machines here - very jelly!

Very random circumstances that got me my next gear, they're good at Math!
I've never seen an SGI myself let alone other Next machines (outside the two I own).

 

[Paolo B]

These are indeed nice machines. A little overrated, but definitely plenty of reasons for loving them. I definitely do.
I see you have a plain, first gen N4000 display, the one with the impossibly heavy steel support. And with the “rotten” (hydrolisis) rollers.
A few years ago I made a small run of replica rubber feet, PU cast, not 3D printed.
I traded the whole batch with blackhole inc., they may still have some spare ones.

 

[Drake]

These are indeed nice machines. A little overrated, but definitely plenty of reasons for loving them. I definitely do.
I see you have a plain, first gen N4000 display, the one with the impossibly heavy steel support. And with the “rotten” (hydrolisis) rollers.
A few years ago I made a small run of replica rubber feet, PU cast, not 3D printed.
I traded the whole batch with blackhole inc., they may still have some spare ones.
View attachment 6322

thanks for reminding me
worth a shot, I hope someday to find one of those fancy external VGA converter boxes for these machines. Using the tired mega pixel display will undoubtedly someday bring sadness.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I have lusted after one of these for years now - still never seen one in real life - they're even more scarce than SGi machines here - very jelly!

Same. No one in my local mac/retro pc group has one either unfortunately. A Next Cube would be legit. Nice work.

 

[Paolo B]

thanks for reminding me
worth a shot, I hope someday to find one of those fancy external VGA converter boxes for these machines. Using the tired mega pixel display will undoubtedly someday bring sadness.

Some time ago I modified an ADB board to run a VGA display and spare hours to my Mega Displays. It surely works, but it feels somehow odd, don’t quite appreciate the “retro experience” in full.
So, take good care of your Mega Display!

 

[TyepLex]

Some time ago I modified an ADB board to run a VGA display and spare hours to my Mega Displays. It surely works, but it feels somehow odd, don’t quite appreciate the “retro experience” in full.
So, take good care of your Mega Display!

View attachment 6328

Which LCD Monitor are you using?

 

[Paolo B]

In the picture: Eizo FlexScan S1910. Supports sync on green,

 

[JdM74]

Another late to the game posting....but there are a couple of options out there in the wild for using non-period-specific VGA displays [that support SoG] with NeXT hardware.

First, from DrakWare - the NeXTBox. With no sound support, it'll let you plug the standard NeXT cable that goes into a MegaPixel display in and an ADB or non-ADB keyboard. Currently sold out, sells for $100. My understanding is they'll start producing more of these this month. I'm going to get a couple for one Slab and Cube.

The other, which is the more elegant solution and a bit more costly -- the nuIO board. Produced by a member of the nextcomputers.org forums, this is a near replica of the board found in the NeXT Soundbox, which incidentally is the same board that's used in the MegaPixel display to connect keyboard and other bits into. The difference with the nuIO board, is that it has a VGA connector built into it, so you don't need an expensive Y-cable to go from the computer to the 'soundbox board' to the VGA display. However, you do need to have some form of powered speakers attached to this board for sound. These are available from Black Hole, Inc. and are available in limited quantities and runs. There are also options for cases [used with Slabs or Cubes] and internal mounting brackets [for Cubes only].

On a side note...I mentioned non-period-specific LCD displays....I had an idea, which I'm going to try once I get the nuIO boards I ordered...I have a Dell 1704FP [17" display, that supports SoG] and the shell of a MegaPixel display, without stand [found in good condition for a decent price]. IF the nuIO board connection allows for the right mix of display visibility [resolution really, since the NeXT uses an odd resolution] and the picture falls within the same frame as the MegaPixel shell, to mount the LCD display in the shell and fashion up a stand so it looks near-dead-on to the original. That should be fun, if it works out rightly.