lacsap@media.mit.edu (Pascal Chesnais) (06/03/91)
FAQ-2/3 910602: Frequently Asked Questions pertaining to the NeXT computer.
The information contained in this post is a compilation of answers to
questions posted by participants in the comp.sys.next USENET group.
No guarantees are made regarding the correctness of these responses.
This will get posted to comp.sys.next about every other week. There
is currently no particular order to this list, items get added and
removed over time.
Note:
We are not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this
posting. If you have any corrections, additions, questions, or
answers to add to this list, please send email to
next-faq@media-lab.media.mit.edu
A copy of the FAQ can be found on sonata.cc.purdue.edu in pub/next/FAQ
as well as other useful information (diskdrive and simm sources).
Peripherals
-----------
P1. What type of microphones will work with the NeXT?
Some NeXT owners use the RadioShack (Realistic) Tie Clip Microphone
($19.95) cat 33-1052. NeXT Computer, Inc. uses the "Sony Electret
Condenser Microphone ECM-K7" in-house (available for ~$60). Some use
Sony Tie-Clip microphone, #ECM-144, which costs around $40. Others
have successfully used a WalMart brand microphone (available for ~$6).
P2. How do I connect a modem to the NeXT?
Previously, we suggested that people use Mac modem cables; however,
it has come to our attention that there is no one standard Mac
modem cable. Since correct modem operation on a NeXT depends upon
a correctly wired modem cable, buying a Mac cable is not a good
idea. Some Mac cables do not allow dial-in and no Mac cable allows
the use of hardware flow control. For these reasons, we are
recommending that only cables that meet NeXT specifications be
used. [however, if you have a Mac modem cable lying around and
don't care about dial-in or hardware flow control, then by all
means....]
These cables are available commercially from NextConnection, and from
Computer Cables and Devices, or can be custom built. Note that no off-
the-shelf Mac cable will allow hardware flow control. It is however
possible to make a such a cable from an Imagewriter II cable by replacing
one of the mini-8 ends with a DB-25 connector.
Most people use tip or kermit to control the modem. SLIP and/or UUCP may
also be used (but are more complicated to set up and require the
remote machine to also have SLIP and/or UUCP (respectively)).
The 2.0 Network and System Administration Manual, which is available
in hard-copy (shipped with each machine) contains an extensive
description of how to use modems with the NeXT machine. Additionally
NeXT in their TechSupportNotes series called SerialPortDoc.wn and UUCP
for 1.0/1.0a systems . This document is available from most FTP sites
that carry NextAnswers. Also, try to obtain the comp.sys.next note by
Mark Adler entitled "How to connect a modem" (reposted 5 Jan 91)
[Adler's note does contain info on the changes required to connect a
modem to the 040 NeXTs]
P3. Are there any alternative sources for the SCSI-II to SCSI-I cable
required to attach external SCSI devices to the 040 NeXTs?
Yes. This cable is the same as the one used by Sun SparcStations and
DecStation 5000's (but not DecStation 3100's which use 68-pin micro
rather than the 50pin micro connector used on NeXT 040, Suns and
DecStation 5000).
P4. What fax modems will work with the NeXT?
The following fax modems are currently available for the NeXT Computer:
Manufacturer/Model Supplier/Phone Avail. Type
------------------ -------------- ------ ----
Abaton Interfax 24/96 NX Abaton 800-444-5321 Now Class 2*
DoveFax for NeXT Dove Computer 800-622-7627 Now Class 1
Ricoh DX-1 VISUS 412-687-3800 Now Proprietary
In order to use a fax modem with the NeXT Computer, a NeXT compatible
fax driver must be available to operate the modem. Modem control
procedures may be proprietary or conform to one of the following
EIA/TIA standards:
Class 1: CCITT T.30 session management and CCITT T.4 image data
handling are controlled by the driver.
Class 2*: CCITT T.30 session management and image data transport are
handled by the modem. CCITT T.4 image data preparation and
interpretation are controlled by the driver.
Release 2.0 of the NeXT system software includes a Class 2 modem
driver which will work with any fax modem which meets the EIA/TIA
Asynchronous Facsimile Control standard. Other fax modems must supply
a NeXT compatible driver.
The following are notes by Alan Marcum of NeXT Tech Support
concerning the Class 2 modem driver:
---
Note that there's a small bug in 2.0 (fixed in 2.1): a symbolic
link is missing for the file Class2_Fax_Modem_Driver
in /usr/lib/NextPrinter.
The simple fix: create the link; it should reference
Interfax_Fax_Modem_Driver, also in the
/usr/lib/NextPrinter directory.
An alternative workaround for Class 2, especially useful for
novices: just use InterFax as the modem type in PrintManager,
rather than Class 2*.
Additionally Alan tells us:
- After installing a fax modem using PrintManager one must
repeat setting things in the Fax Options panel in order for them to be
stored correctly. In particular, these include the Rings to Answer
and Number of Times to Retry. This affects all fax modems being
installed.
- If one uses illegal characters in the Modems Number field in
the Fax Options when configuring an InterFax modem then the modem will
not answer the phone. Legal characters are digits, spaces, and plus
signs (+). This does not affect the Dove modem.
(*)Note that the Class 2 is not yet approved; it is still out for ballot,
after having failed in an October 1990 round. The Abaton InterFax
24/96 NX driver supports Class 2 as it was in that draft; there are
expected to be very few changes prior to approval.
P5. How may I attach more than two serial ports to the NeXT?
Unitnet has a device that will connect to the scsi bus. For
more information email sales@cpd.com or call 714 546 1100
Jacob Gore adds:
Also, one can use an IP terminal server. In a non-Internet
environment, inexpensive terminal servers, which don't control access
to the network securely, can be used. If your network is an Internet
subnet, you must use a terminal server that controls either: (1) who
can log into the terminal server, or (2) which machines the terminal
server will access. These tend to be more expensive (around
$250/port, but in 8-port increments), but it may be quite economical
means of sharing ports among many NeXTs (or other computers) on the
network.
Eric P. Scott adds:
Particularly if one has a NeXT network, an Ethernet terminal
server may be the way to go. One that supports Linemode Telnet
(such as the Xylogics Annex III) will offer the best performance.
P6. What is the best and/or cheapest way to connect a NeXT to a thick Ethernet?
There are many possible solutions. For example, here are two:
A) The University of Waterloo [Audio Research Group] uses an old door-stop
PC XT clone with two Western Digital cards (WD8003E Ethercard Plus, $250 CDN
each; you should be able to get them for under $200 (US$)) running Vance
Morrison's PCRoute (available from accuvax.nwu.edu).
You will also need a thickwire transceiver and a drop cable (about $300).
In addition, you will need Internet addresses for the NeXT and both PC
Ethernet cards (and a subnet address). The documentation for PCRoute
contains quite a bit of information on the performance of this setup.
This solution requires two subnets. There is another program called PCbridge
that allows the machines on the thin and thick wires to be part of the
same subnet. This product also does packet filtering, so that packets
destined to machines on the same side of the net do not cross over.
B) Cabletron sells a MR-2000C Singleport Repeater for $695 that does
exactly what you need minus drop cable and transceiver. Their number
is (408) 441-9900.
P7. How can I connect my NeXT to the telephone line and use it like an
answering Machine?
There is one company that is selling both hardware and software to allow
you to do this:
Software Engineering Solutions, 11160 Jollyville Road, Austin, Texas 78759
(512)343-2828, mbrown@math.utexas.edu
Pricing has been set at $695.00.
P8. What color monitors can I use with the Color NeXT machines?
Sony GDM-1601 were demonstrated with the NeXT color products.
NeXT is not shipping these monitors. Sony no longer makes them,
however there is a replacement GDM-1606 which has a long
lead time on delivery [2-3 week delivery on a sample point of
one monitor:-)] It does require alignment to adjust for the
different scan rate...
The important specs for the color monitor are:
Horz Scan Rate: 61 KHz
Vertical Scan Rate: 68 Hz
NON-INTERLACED
P9. Where can I get 13W3 to BNC adapters to connect third party color
monitors?
NuData in New Jersey carries 13W3 female to 4 BNC male connectors.
908-842-5757, the price is about $100 call for details.
Utilities
---------
T1. Where can I obtain the most recent version of Kermit?
The source for the latest version is available via ftp from
watsun.cc.columbia.edu in the directory named kermit/sw. Get the
file ckaaaa.hlp to get started and see what files are required.
Note that this version of Kermit does have a NeXT specific
compile option. A binary only version is available via ftp from
cs.orst.edu as kermit5a.165.bin20.tar.Z, source is kermit5a.165.tar.Z
T2. Where can I obtain a NeXT version of SLIP or PPP?
There is no publically available version of SLIP or PPP for the NeXT;
however, versions are under development by several sources.
For example, Marble Associates has announced plans to produce
a commercial version of SLIP for the NeXT. For more information
send mail to slip@marble.com.
T3. Where can I obtain a version of Larry Wall's patch for the NeXT?
A patch binary that will run on 1.x and 2.x systems is
available from sutro.sfsu.edu [130.212.15.230] as pub/patch.Z
T4. Where can I get a NeXTstep netnews reader?
By far the most versitile newsreader for the NeXT is NeXTgrazer
by Jayson Adams of NeXT. It is on the archive servers and is
extremely useful for coping with volume of news we are faced with.
T5. Where can I get plotting software?
nxyplot by Tom Pulliam is available from cs.orst.edu
graph is availble in source form from 4.3BSD systems. It is useful
for dealing with pairs of numbers that need to be viewed.
psplot comes with the NeXT, it takes the output of the graph program
and generates a .ps file that can be previewed with Preview or Yap.
gnuplot is availabel from prep.ai.mit.edu
jsplot clone of graph that generates ps files directly.
plplot is a library of c routines that generate 2D, 3D and
contour plots. It is available on purdue archive, plplot.tar.Z
contains the source, and NXplplot.tar.Z contains the library,
example programs and documentation.
Mathematica The ReadList command will bring in files containing
sample values and produces a plot on the fly.
T6. Where can I get objective-c mode for emacs?
You can get ObjC mode for Emacs, by Douglas Worthington and Kenneth
Persson from cs.orst.edu
Compatibility
-------------
C1. Where can I obtain a NeXT version of X-Windows?
There is a X11R3 version named XNeXT developed by MIT. This version
is available in binary only, works only on monochrome machines and does
not work under Release 2.0 of the NeXT OS. XNeXT is a 1-bit black and
white server. XNeXT is available from most ftp sites that have
NeXT software.
McGill University (der Mouse) has produced a beta version of
an X11R4 server named mouse-X available via ftp from 132.206.1.1.
cd to X/XNeXT and fetch one of the files with names beginning
with "distribution". This version only uses NeXTstep for keyboard
and mouse events. This version will only work with monochrome
NeXT machines, it will not work with color products. This version
initially did not work under 2.0, however Howie Kaye fixed it
to work again, diffs will be incorporated soon on the McGill server
sources. In the meantime you can get binaries off of
cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (11.5Mbytes) in the Xnext directory.
A color server is available from: mfriedel@consult2.mines.colorado.edu
it should work on color NeXTstations.
Pencom Software of Austin, TX is distributing an X11R4 server
called "co-Xist". It is a monochrome two-bit server which
is displayed inside a NeXTstep window. This server will work
with 2.0 and higher, and will run on all of NeXT's current
hardware platforms and display options. A color server is in
the works. Cost for server $249/commercial $149/educational,
motif $100, digital librarian documentation $50. Contact
Pam O'Neal at pensoft!pam@cs.utexas.edu. Pencom will accept
orders for their product now.
MIT maintains a ftp server for X distribution: export.lcs.mit.edu
It currently does not have any NeXT specific servers. If you
compile software make sure the libraries are install in the ld
path, and that you use the X provided C pre-processor.
C2. Can I run DOS software on the NeXT?
Yes, there is a product called Soft-PC that has been announced
for the NeXT and publicly demonstrated on the NeXT. Contact
Insignia Solutions Inc 408-522-7600
In addition NeXT machines equipped with 2.88Mbyte floppy drives
are able to read and write DOS diskettes (3-1/2" variety!) at
1.44MB or 720Kb in addition to having UNIX filesystems. Consult
the User Manual on initializing disk for DOS or Unix applications.
C3. Can I run Macintosh Programs on my NeXT?
No. However, there is a third party company working on reading
and writing of Mac diskettes.
C4. Can I run tcsh or bash on my NeXT?
If you are simply looking for emacs-like command editing
you can do this with the csh distributed by NeXT by
typing:
set editmode=emacs
or
set editmode=vi
Note that file completion will conflict with vi's use of esc to
leave insert mode, so you may want to map file completion to tab by
adding the following to your ~/.bindings: bind-to-key
FilenameExpansion "\^I"
In addition it is possible to bind control keys to commands
with a .bindings file. Users should seek the csh(1) man page for
more information.
People have ported tcsh and bash to the NeXT. A patch for Bash 1.05
by Jacob Gore (jacob@gore.com) is in the archives, the rest can be ftp'ed
from prep.ai.mit.edu. tcsh binaries for all kinds of machines are
available on tesla.ee.cornell.edu , including binaries for NeXT.
If you install your own shell on a NeXT, you need to add it to
the file /etc/shells so that FTP will work.
C5. Can sound files be used on the Suns and NeXT interchangeably?
Sun OS 4.0.3 stored only raw mulaw files without any extensions, this
format is obsolete, however to convert it to a NeXT snd format you can:
sndconvert -o nextified.snd -f 1 -s 8012.8210513 -c 1 -r sun-sound
Starting with Sun OS release 4.1 they adopted a file format like NeXT's:
A comparison of <multimedia/audio_filehdr.h> on the Sun and
<sound/soundstruct.h> on the NeXT shows the formats to be compatible--
just rename *.au to *.snd for the NeXT.
Sun only implements a subset of NeXT's sound file formats.
Currently these seven are interchangeable:
SND_FORMAT_MULAW_8
SND_FORMAT_LINEAR_8
SND_FORMAT_LINEAR_16
SND_FORMAT_LINEAR_24
SND_FORMAT_LINEAR_32
SND_FORMAT_FLOAT
SND_FORMAT_DOUBLE
While they are all _meaningful_ to the Sun, the standard
SPARCstation hardware only directly supports 8-bit mu-Law at
the CODEC sampling rate.
If you have raw soundfiles (e.g. from SunOS 4.0.3 systems, or
converted from the Macintosh), you can use raw2audio on the Sun
or sndconvert -r on the NeXT to add a sound header.
Languages
---------
L1. What Fortrans compilers are available for the NeXT?
There is a fortran to c translator called f2c available via anonymous
ftp from research.att.com in dist/f2c
There is a guide to installing and using it on sonata.cc.purdue.edu in
pub/next/FAQ/how-to-install-f2c
L2. What Lisps are there for the NeXT?
- Scheme is available from altdorf.ai.mit.edu. A quick tutorial on how
to install it on the NeXTs is in the works.
- Xlisp is available from bikini.cis.ufl.edu. To make it work on the NeXT
changes in
unixstuf.c :
#define BSD
in function init_tty: declare extern char xltoplevel()
in function read_keybd:
change char buf[1] to char buf[100]
change sizeof(buf) to sizeof(char)
L3. What Pascal compilers are available for the NeXT?
There is a pascal to c translator called p2c available via anonymous
ftp from sonata.cc.purdue.edu
pub/next/2.0-release/source/p2c.tar.Z
L4. What should I know about c++ shipped with the NeXT?
cc++ shipped with the NeXT 2.0 is actually:
NeXT Release 2.0 (v31.1) -- GNU version 1.36.4 (based on GCC 1.36)
libg++ is not provided, you need to compile it (GNU software is
available from prep.ai.mit.edu).
Two things to note about the cc++ on NeXT.
Any C include files have to be specified as below:
extern "C"
{
#include <libc.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
}
This tells that the code is C++, so you won't have problems with the
standard libraries thinking your program is Objective C.
Also the /usr/include/stdio.h in line 75 has a variable "new"
that conflicts with a g++ keyword. You can redefine it
using
#define new __new__
#include "stdio.h"
#undef new
After the above two fixes, g++ programs that do not
use the g++ class library (and therefore do not need
libg++ to be available) work.
Editors:
Pascal Chesnais lacsap@media.mit.edu
John Garnett garnett@cs.utexas.edu
Erik Kay erikkay@athena.mit.edu
Copyright 1991 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This compilation is meant primarily as a service to the comp.sys.next
community. Newsletter editors wishing to excerpt from this work
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This allows for readers to access the most recent information, and
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We do not collect any royalties, charge any fees, or compensate
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--
Pascal Chesnais, Research Specialist, Electronic Publishing Group
Media Laboratory, E15-351, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139 (617) 253-0311
email: lacsap@plethora.media.mit.edu (NeXT)