> > Here's my best story along these lines. I've had a NeXT Cube for quite a > while and it sat for some time in my parent's basement while I went off to > school and got my adult life together. > > A few years ago, I made a pass through the town where I grew up with a box > truck (on the way to Indiana to grab my ROLM CBX) and picked up all the > remaining stuff I had in storage there and brought it home with me. > > I connected the monitor, keyboard and mouse and plugged the Cube in. Hit the > power button on the keyboard and it powered up and booted right into NeXTstep > as if it had just run a few days ago. I think the system must have been > sitting idle for almost fifteen years before I got back to it. I even managed > to remember the password ;) > > Since then, I've restored pretty much everything I was able to bring back to > running condition. I try to fire them all up a few times a year, at a > minimum. In general, things have held up pretty well. Drives tend to be the > greatest challenge - but can sometimes present the greatest surprises as well > :O > > Best, > > Sean >
NeXT cubes are amongst the "most coveted" systems I don't currently have in my collection. Whilst being devoid of value in market terms, I agree that the old data on some of these systems is a real period treasure trove. Take the Colour Classic in my original post. It came from a school (since demolished) and has lots of old, crude work on it - seemingly from a Geography department. I actually learned something about glaciers by reading some tonight!! -Austin.
