Computer MuseumCentral Texas
Public opening planned for February 2027
NeXTcube in the collection
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NeXTcube

A Motorola 68040 workstation running NeXTSTEP.

MakerNeXT
Era1990s
TypeUnix workstation
The story of this machine ↓
A COLLECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Amir Husain

About this object

The NeXTcube combined a Unix operating environment with a graphical development platform. The photographs document the enclosure, display, and boards held with this example.

Inspect the original photograph
Original collection photograph: NeXTcube
The original collection photograph. Exhibit views use display masks to hide surrounding backgrounds; the photographed hardware is unchanged. Select the image to view it at full resolution.
NeXTcube in the collection
The NeXTcube as preserved in the collection.
NeXTcube and display in the collection
The NeXTcube as a complete workstation, with its display.
NeXTcube system board, EPROM detail
System-board detail: firmware and the hardware beneath NeXTSTEP.
NeXTcube system board, memory detail
System-board detail: memory expansion and the workstation’s internal architecture.
From the collection

This machine, in the collection

Internals and the software the cube ran.

Board detail, with dated firmware
Board detail, with dated firmware.
Memory on the same board
Memory on the same board.
HostManager, part of the NEXTSTEP administration tools
HostManager, part of the NEXTSTEP administration tools.
Technical record

NeXTcube

Introduced1988 as the NeXT Computer; 68040 cube from 1990
ProcessorMotorola 68030 at 25 MHz, later 68040 at 25 MHz
Signal processorMotorola 56001 DSP
Memory8 MB to 64 MB; 128 MB on Turbo
Storage256 MB magneto-optical on the original; later SCSI hard disks
DisplayMegaPixel, 1120 × 832
Operating systemNeXTSTEP, Mach kernel with BSD
Architecture

A dedicated signal processor alongside the main one, in 1988, for sound and modem work that the 68030 would have laboured over. The magneto-optical drive was the machine betting that removable optical storage would replace the hard disk, which it did not, and the drives were slow enough to hurt. What survived was the software: NeXTSTEP's object-oriented frameworks became Cocoa, and a NeXTcube at CERN served the first web pages.

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Another machine.
Another possibility.

Record & provenance

The NeXTcube combined a Unix operating environment with a graphical development platform. The photographs document the enclosure, display, and boards held with this example.

Reference: ATX-OBJ-125-IMG-5191

Source: collection inventory, photographs, and notes accompanying Serious Machines (Amir Husain, 2024).

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