Does NeXTStep 2.0 run on NeXTstation Color?

[cuby]

...and this BYTE article mentions 2.0 again, but also notes "NeXT was optimistically hoping to have release 2.0 ready in September. At press time it was still not finished, but NeXT was confident it would be ready in time."

[Rob Blessin Black Hole]

I also found an Installation set of 13 Floppies for version 2.1 , I now there is an optical drive version of 2.1  so I asked Mike as he may have worked on the color port at NeXT:)

[andreas_g]

After more investigations I can tell the following:
NeXTStep 2.0 expects the color frame buffer (VRAM) at address 0x06000000 (right after main memory), all later versions expect it at 0x2c000000.

Now the final question is: Is the color frame buffer accessible from both locations or just the latter?

Update:
I think I got it: Looking at the cpu.h header that comes with NeXTStep in /usr/include/next I see this difference:

NeXTStep 2.0:

Code Select Expand

#define P_C16_VIDEOMEM (SLOT_ID+0x06000000) /* COLOR_FB */
NeXTStep 2.1:

Code Select Expand

#define P_C16_VIDEOMEM (0x2c000000) /* COLOR_FB */
I guess memory locations changed from prototype to final hardware. I'm 90 % sure now that NeXTStep 2.0 won't boot on a real NeXTstation Color. Nevertheless it would be interesting to proof it.

[cuby]

I guess memory locations changed from prototype to final hardware. I'm 90 % sure now that NeXTStep 2.0 won't boot on a real NeXTstation Color. Nevertheless it would be interesting to proof it.

It seems that NeXT had prototypes of the Color station running at 20 (instead of 25 MHz) which were demoed with NeXTStep 2.0 according to this Usenet posting.

And then there's this probably over-optimistic NeXT brochure which states that NS2.0 comes bundled with the Color station...

[cuby]

...and it would be great to get access to the NeXT museum that existed in 1997...

• a sun 386 / NeXTSTEP 0.6 (unreleased software) - this is an error, it's confirmed to be a 3/60 later in the thread
• 030-25 NextCube / NeXTSTEP 0.8
• 030-25 NextCube / NeXTSTEP 0.9
• 030-25 NextCube / NeXTSTEP 1.0
• 040-25 NeXTStation / NeXTSTEP 2.0
• 040-25 NextStation Color / NeXTSTEP 2.1
• 040-33 NextCube with NextDimension / NeXTSTEP 2.2
• 040-50 NextStation Color / NeXTSTEP 3.3 (unreleased hardware)
• 88110 NextRiscWorkstation / NeXTSTEP 3.? NRW Alpha (unreleased soft/hard)
• 486-50 Compaq / NEXTSTEP 3.1
• 486DX2-66 Epson / NEXTSTEP 3.2
• Sun SparcStation 20 / NEXTSTEP 3.3
• Some kind of HP / OPENSTEP 4.0 PR1 (the tab shelf)
• Sun Ultra / OPENSTEP for Solaris.

[verdraith]

I'd love to get access to a Canon Object.Station.

[mikeboss]

this is the oldest post (03/1991) in comp.sys.next I could find where somebody's mentioning to have received his NeXTstation Color. it looks like these systems came with NeXTSTEP 2.1 preinstalled:

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.next/c/FT5MZbELhWE

announcement from NeXT that color-slabs have begun to ship (March 12th 1991):

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.next/c/3OcAb4EQdV4

[K-Town Computeum]

I have a color non-Turbo station in my collection and could test this. Where to download the NS 2.0 CDs?

[mikeboss]

I have a color non-Turbo station in my collection and could test this. Where to download the NS 2.0 CDs?

AFAIK, NeXTSTEP 2.0 was never released on CD-ROM. you could download "Nextstep 2.0 HD Image With Previous" and write the HD image to the mass-storage (HDD or flash) device using the dd command.

https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep/2x

-

[cuby]

Yet another Usenet posting making the matter more confusing...

"I ordered my NeXTstation Colour 200MB from NeXT on May 30, and it was shipped on May 31. It was a Developer purchase direct from NeXT. The only thing on backorder is the 2.1 upgrade floppy set." (posted on June 16th, the rest of the post indicates that the machine had already arrived). So this Colo(u)r was probably installed with 2.0? I start to suspect there might have been a special version of 2.0 for (early?) Color slabs...

Then again, this posting states:

">Fyi, 95% of the bug-fixes in 2.1 do not involve bugs at all. The
>update incorporates stuff for the color machines, all of which are
>shipping with version 2.1 installed. So unless your system falls into
>the subset of systems needing the few minor bug fixes that got thrown
>into 2.1, you don't need to update."

Oh my

[K-Town Computeum]

I've just tested it on my Color NextStation. It doesn't work. It hangs when it starts booting.

[cuby]

Hm, your machine has 26 MB RAM? That's a strange amount...

[andreas_g]

I've just tested it on my Color NextStation. It doesn't work. It hangs when it starts booting.

Thank you very much for testing! This is really interesting. Obviously they released NeXTStep 2.0 with code supporting prototypes of the NeXTstation Color but not the final product. I think this might also be the reason, that there are no revision 2.2 and 2.3 ROMs around. These might have supported the prototypes. The older 2.x ROMs only know monochrome systems and the newer ones only the final NeXTstation Color.

If we could find such an 2.2 or 2.3 ROM I could simulate the prototype NeXTstation in Previous.

Hm, your machine has 26 MB RAM? That's a strange amount...

The memory layout of the non-Turbo NeXTstation Color makes this possible: 3 * 8 + 2.

[cuby]

Hm, your machine has 26 MB RAM? That's a strange amount...

The memory layout of the non-Turbo NeXTstation Color makes this possible: 3 * 8 + 2.

Ah, I assumed that the Color slabs were also using 30 pin SIMMs like the Mono stations - this would make 26 MB (4x4MB + 4x2.5MB?) rather improbable, since 30-pin SIMM capacities usually increased by a factor of four and you need four SIMMs for the 32-bit bus.

With 72-pin SIMMs this is still a bit strange. I forgot that there were 2 MB 72-pin (PS/2) SIMMs, but this was probably not a configuration originally provided by NeXT.

But now I'm wondering about a thing, since there was a discussion about versions of the Color station using the Turbo chipset but running at 25 MHz. Most pictures of the Color non-Turbo PCB have eight 72-pin SIMM slots (e.g. this one), but some show only four (like that one). However, pictures of the Color Turbo always seem to show four slots only.

Now, are the Color non-Turbo machines with only four SIMM slots ones using the Turbo chipset clocked at 25 MHz, but the eight slot PCBs use the old chipset? What are the memory limits of the two different non-Turbo mainboards?

Edit: RTFM helps, this is confirmed by the FAQ, section 5.27...

[andreas_g]

But now I'm wondering about a thing, since there was a discussion about versions of the Color station using the Turbo chipset but running at 25 MHz. Most pictures of the Color non-Turbo PCB have eight 72-pin SIMM slots (e.g. this one), but some show only four (like that one). However, pictures of the Color Turbo always seem to show four slots only.

Now, are the Color non-Turbo machines with only four SIMM slots ones using the Turbo chipset clocked at 25 MHz, but the eight slot PCBs use the old chipset? What are the memory limits of the two different non-Turbo mainboards?

The first picture shows a board with original chipset that supports up to 32 MB of RAM and the second picture shows a board with Turbo chipset that supports up to 128 MB of RAM.