Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!rutgers!bellcore!faline!thumper!gamma!pyuxp!nvuxj!nvuxr!cmc3
From: cmc3@nvuxr.UUCP (C Chase)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: What's this machine all about?
Keywords: Unix? Macintosh? X11?
Message-ID: <958@nvuxr.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jan 89 15:39:28 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Lines: 51


I know very little about the NeXT machine.  In fact what I know can be
summed up as follows:

	1) fancy hardware:
		68030 processor
		optical disk
		special purpose chips (e.g. A/D, graphic hardware)

	2) great sound

	3) nice monitor

sounds fine, but what is it really?  I seem to have read somewhere that
this box runs an OS resembling Unix.  Something about handling all the
standard OS calls of Unix, but not being derived from the original AT&T
code.  If this is true, it sounds great, but is it really Unix?  Am I
going to be able to take any standard unix code and make it go?  (yeah,
I know "what do you mean by 'standard unix code'").

Which brings me to my real question, what kind of user interface does
this box have?  I expect there's some fancy window manager.  Well, what
kind of window manager is it?  And what if I wanted to run the X Window
System?  

Well, I think I've properly displayed my ignorance.  

When this newsgroup became available at my site, I was hoping that
I might learn something about the NeXT machine and related software by
reading the group.  But so far about 90% of the traffic seems to be
related to "what is a menu".  I guess a lot of people are really
concerned about this topic.  If they'd really like to know, I can show
them one.  I use menus all the time.  They're really not that
complicated.  

I don't mean to insult other persons who feel they have something to
contribute to this newsgroup.  They have as much right to post their
views as I do to post my own.  But I really do think people should try 
to excercise a little restraint when choosing which newsgroups to post.  
If the article is unrelated to the NeXT machine should it really be 
posted to this group?  

Enough said. 

I am serious about wanting to know the relationship (or possibility 
of a relationship) between the NeXT machine and X11.  And I
really am curious about what this machine is capable of doing.

Craig Chase

cmc3@nvuxr.bellcore.com