Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!bionet!arisia!roo!mdixon From: mdixon@parc.xerox.com (Mike Dixon) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: What's NeXT's Eighth Breakthrough should be ? Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 90 20:06:26 GMT References: <1990Sep20.064103.17884@midway.uchicago.edu> Sender: news@parc.xerox.com Distribution: comp Organization: Xerox PARC, Palo Alto, CA Lines: 42 In-reply-to: phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu's message of 20 Sep 90 05:26:21 GMT (questions from phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu) (1) Can I insert a color board into my NeXT cube, and hook it up to my old monochrome monitor? I certainly wouldn't mind a screen processor. once you've got the 68040 upgrade, your can stick a NeXTdimension color board in your cube. i doubt the color board would work with a NeXT monochrome monitor (wrong interface), but it might work with someone else's. it wasn't clear if the color board would go n times faster in monochrome. the cheaper (16 bit) color is only available in the slab. (retail price for the NeXTdimension + monitor is about $7k) on the other hand, the 68040 does screen update on the monochrome monitor pretty damn fast, so you probably won't feel very inclined to shell out $4k for just a screen processor. (2) Does the upgrade 68040 board provide a few more greys? no. (3) Do the new NeXTs have the same bus, do some models have the same OD, as my old one (so that I can add the same upgrades)? the new cubes use the same bus -> same upgrades. the OD is now optional for the cube, but not available for the slab (the box is too small, for one thing; they didn't make any provision for an external OD) (4) Should 2.88MB floppy drives be purchased from 3rd parties, or from NeXT? if you want an internal floppy for your cube, NeXT will sell you one (+ a new face plate; it goes in the hard disk space, but leaves room for a half-height hard disk) if you want an external floppy, you buy it from one of the 3rd parties. .mike. (this is all based on NeXT's presentation at the BaNG meeting last night) -- .mike.