NeXTSTEP on PA-RISC
Overview
NeXTSTEP is a Unix operating system based on Mach microkernel with an advanced GUI, developed in the 1980s and 90s by NeXT. NeXTSTEP supported PA-RISC computers in release 3.3 from 1994 in an effort to open up the operating system to other hardware platforms like HP PA-RISC, SPARC and Intel x86.
The PA-RISC version of NeXTSTEP 3.3 was developed on and specifically for the HP 9000 712 pizzabox workstation, a very fitting combination of the 1990s with a very nice user experience.
Introduced in 1989 by NeXT, NeXTSTEP featured development and user environments, an unique GUI and the Display Post Script (DPS) display system. The operating system core is a Mach microkernel, 4.3BSD compatible and runtime-extensible.
In its early years, NeXTSTEP only ran on NeXT black hardware
, sophisticated and expensive custom NeXT designs based on Motorola 68000, the sleek NeXT cubes.
In 1991 white hardware,
Intel x86 PC, was supported in NeXTSTEP 3.1 to open up the operating platform.
Development continued and in 1994 NeXTSTEP 3.3 was released with support for different RISC platforms including Sun SPARC and HP PA-RISC. Support for PA-RISC in NeXTSTEP was only brief and limited to a select set of 32-bit HP 9000 workstations.
NeXTSTEP itself, while revolutionary in aspects, did not have long commercial success. However some of its ideas and technologies live on in Mac OS, after corporate M&A and consolidation in the tech sector.
Systems support
NeXTSTEP runs on some HP 9000 700 PA-RISC workstations of the 1990s with 32-bit processors like PA-7100 or PA-7100LC with ASP or LASI designs:
| Class | Supported omputers |
|---|---|
| HP 9000 700 | 712, 715, 725, 735, 755 |
| Portables | probably SAIC Galaxy 1100 |
NeXTSTEP ran very well on HP 9000 712 workstations and provided a unique operating system experience for the 1990s with Unix-like OS and a slick GUI on top. NeXT on PA-RISC was actually developed on 712 workstations.
HP 9000 735/125 were the fastest RISC workstations that ran NeXTSTEP in the 1990s.
Hardware support
NeXTSTEP 3.3 supports most standard hardware of supported PA-RISC workstations:
- Storage required between 400 MB for a user environment to 700 MB for complete developer environment
- 32 MB to 64 MB RAM required, with a maximum of 256 MB supported
- All onboard graphics and CRX and CRX-24 supported
- HCRX and HCRX-24 graphics supported after installation of NeXTSTEP 3.3 patches
- Onboard SCSI controllers for storage
- PS/2 keyboards only on 712 and 715/64, 80 and 100 workstations, no HIL
- HIL keyboards on all other systems
- Unsupported on 735/755 are FWD (Fast/Wide Differential) SCSI and FDDI
Documentation
Manuals
- NeXTstep 3.3 Network and System Administration Manual, NeXT Software Inc. 1994, mirrored at NeXTComputers.org, accessed December 2019
- NeXTstep 3.3 Developer Documentation Manuals, NeXT Software Inc. 1994, mirrored at NeXTComputers.org, accessed December 2019
Articles
- The NEXTSTEP/OpenStep FAQ, Bernhard Scholz 1996, mirrored at levenez.com, accessed December 2019
- First NeXT RISCWorkstation: Our first look at NEXTSTEP on HP's low-cost pizza box, NeXTWORLD, April 1994
- NeXTstep on the HP 712 Part 1: Installation, Sophie Haskins, Pizza Box Computer, 2020
- https://blog.pizzabox.computer/posts/hp712-nextstep-part-2/, Sophie Haskins, Pizza Box Computer, 2020
Software
There used to be a large software archive available at the Peanuts.org FTP server. It went offline about 2004-2005, without a known mirror. Other than that there is not much software available, other than contemporary open source or shareware.
- NeXTSTEP Current Patch List (.pdf) Apple Computer 2006, mirrored at NeXTComputers.org, accessed 8 January 2009
- NeXTSTEP 3.3
User
patch NS33RISCUserPatch3.tar and release notes NeXTSTEP 3.3 Patch 3 Overview (.pdf) Apple Computer 2006, mirrored at NeXTComputers.org, accessed 8 January 2009 - NeXTSTEP 3.3
Developer
patch NS33DeveloperPatch2.tar