DaeumYeog Hardware / 2023-12-16 16:28:21

Initial Setup

My NeXTstation came complete with a Toshiba MK438FB Rev 5030 SCSI hard disk with NeXTStep v3.2. The first step was to connect it to my network (and then the Internet). To be continued...

The second step was to use the provided ftp command to access a dedicated FTP share on my RPI. I faced checksum errors with the downloaded files because the ftp command doesn't automatically (or be default) use the binary mode, with TYPE I. Once these errors cleared, I started downloading programs from online repositories, especially NeXTfiles.

The third step was to mount NFS shares. I ran into problem with the NFSManager.app, which seems to be buggy, at least in NeXTSTEP v3.2. Instead of using NFSManager.app, I simply edited the configuration file /etc/rc.local (rc means "run commands" ), which runs after the network is setup, to issue the mount commands. The commands all look like:

mount -o rw,bg,mnttimeo=8,retry=1 CHAMSAE:/media/Archives /Net/CHAMSAE-Archives

With these commands, I can now access from Net my NFS shares and share files between my NeXTstation and my other computers .

Upgrading to NeXTSTEP v3.3

My NeXTstation came with the v3.2 of the original operating system NeXTSTEP. I upgraded it to v3.3 to benefit from all the latest, recent developments as well as some patches. The upgrade process is easy and smooth :

• First, I downloaded the ISO images of the User and Developer CD-ROMs available on Archive.org.
• Second, I copied these images into the SD card of my BlueSCSI, giving them appropriate names so that the BlueSCSI and NeXTstation recognises them (CD40_512_NS33_User.iso and CD50_512_NS33_Developer.iso).
• Third, I ran the Installer.app as root. I found that the easiest way was to launch a terminal, issue su, and then execute /NextAdmin/Installer.app/Installer.
• Fourth, I use the Installer.app to run XXX and start the upgrading process. I was very impressed by the quality of the process, including a check of the system files that have been modified and a window to (de)select which of these system files to keep/overwrite.
• Fifth, I run the upgrading process, which went very fast and without any problem. Finally, I rebooted my NeXTstation and now run NeXTSTEP v3.3 . (I don't have screenshots because I forgot to take them! )

I noticed some superficial changes first, like the icons for the NeXTstation or the Terminal.app having changed from black to silver. There are other more important changes under the hood that now allow me to run applications that didn't work with NeXTSTEP v3.2, in particular OmniWeb v2.7b3!

After installing NeXTSTEP v3.3, I installed all the latest patches, which include a patch for the Y2K bug. These patches are available all-in-one in another CD-ROM image at nextcomputers.org. I just downloaded, copied, and accessed NSOSY2K.iso and now my NeXTSTEP is up-to-date and I can set the day properly.

This table summarises the different versions from NS3.2 to NS3.3 to NS3.3+Patches:

Finally, I installed the Developer CD to develop program for my NeXTstation . I was a bit confused by the content of the CD and opted to install the four packages in the folder NextCD/Packages/ folder:

• DeveloperDoc.pkg;
• DeveloperLibs.pkg;
• DeveloperTools.pkg;
• GNUSource.pkg.

As usual, running the Installer as root, it took a while but the process went smoothly.