Re: IDE drive on 755CX

[<Tim.z.h.v.f.r.Vetter@ubs.com>]

> you'd better know what you're doing for NeXTSTep - I thought
> the NeXT company specifically recommended users to stay away
> from ThinkPads ?
> 
> Edmund. 

Was so until recently, but Next has just released a video driver
for the 755CX, so presumably someone there has tried this
combination successfully, and at least somewhat officially.
I was quite excited about this news as I do Nextstep development
for a living and the SVGA TP would make one of the better mobile
platforms for NS, not least of all because the TP shares a bit of
the sleek visual aesthetic of the old black Motorola-based
NeXTstations we knew and loved  :-)

However, like Ivo, I'm concerned about the installation.  Normally
you would have to install Nextstep onto an Intel machine via
a SCSI CD-ROM or hard-drive, and I don't think a PCMCIA
connection will do for this.  

That leaves Ivo's solution of installing it onto
 the TP IDE drive grafted into a desktop machine, which
should work according to the earlier traffic on the list which
suggests that the internal connector on the bare drive is a 
standard one (warranty be damned, full screwdrivers ahead!).

Or, what about using the Dock?  Two possibilites here:

1.  The Adaptec AHA-1532P internal "custom" adapter is
really just a flavour of the Next-supported 1542C, in which
case you just attach a CD-ROM and go!

2.  The internal adaptor is unsupported, but then you ought
to be able to stick a 1540 or 1542 into a free ISA slot while
somehow disabling the default adapter.

Then again, I wonder if there's something non-standard
about how the Dock extends the TP's internal bus that
confounds Nextstep?  Anyone have any information on
this?  Oh, and how good is PCMCIA support, 'cause a
Nextstation without Ethernet would be a travesty.  Ivo?

---
Tim Vetter   tim.vetter@ubs.com (ASCII)
Forex & Fixed Income Trading Development
Union Bank of Switzerland
voice: (+41) 1/2358422   fax: (+41) 1/2355129
snailmail:  LEIT/LITH-VFR Postfach 8021 Zurich, Switzerland

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