NeXTcube
Workstation computer by NeXT
The NeXTcube is a high-end workstation computer developed, manufactured, and sold by NeXT from 1990 to 1993. It preceded the NeXT Computer thin pizza box workstation and is housed in a cube-shaped magnesium enclosure, designed by frog design. The workstation runs the NeXTSTEP operating system and was launched with a $9,995 (equivalent to about $25,000 in 2025) list price.
01Hardware
The NeXTcube is the successor to the original NeXT Computer, with a 25 MHz 68040 processor, a hard disk in place of the magneto-optical drive, and a floppy disk drive. NeXT offered a 68040 system board upgrade (and NeXTSTEP 2.0) for US$1,495 (equivalent to $3,680 in 2025). A 33 MHz NeXTcube Turbo was later produced.
NeXT released the NeXTdimension for the NeXTcube, a circuit board based on an Intel i860 processor, which offers 32-bit PostScript color display and video-sampling features.
The Pyro accelerator board replaces the processor with a 50 MHz one.
02Specifications
- Display: 1120×832 17 in (432 mm) 82 ppi grayscale MegaPixel Display
- Operating system: NeXTSTEP 2.2 Extended or later
- CPU: 25 MHz 68040 with integrated floating-point unit
- Digital signal processor: 25 MHz Motorola DSP56001
- RAM: 8 MB, expandable to 64 MB (Sixteen 30-pin SIMM slots)
- Floppy drive: 2.88 MB
- Hard drive: 105 MB, 340 MB, 400 MB, 660 MB, 1.4 GB or 2.8 GB SCSI drive
- Network interface: 10BASE-T and 10BASE2 Ethernet
- Expansion: four NeXTbus slots (mainboard uses one slot)
- Size (H × W × D): 12 in × 12 in × 12 in (305 mm x 305 mm x 305 mm (±1 mm))
03Legacy
Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web at CERN in Switzerland on the NeXTcube workstation in 1990.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “NeXTcube”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- NeXTcube.jpg by Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
- NEXT Cube-IMG 7154.jpg by Rama & Musée Bolo, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
- NeXTcube motherboard.jpg by Autopilot, CC BY-SA 4.0
- NeXTcube first webserver.JPG by Geni, CC BY-SA 4.0
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