NeXTSTEP on IBM ThinkPad 755CX (long)

[fozztexx@nvc.cc.ca.us (Chris Osborn)]

I recently installed NeXTSTEP on an IBM ThinkPad 755CX, and I thought
I'd write up a little review of how it went, and how I like using
NeXTSTEP on it (so far). I've been using NeXTSTEP on NeXT computers
since NeXTSTEP 0.9, and have been dying to get a NeXTSTEP notebook for
a long time.

The ThinkPad has a 75mhz Pentium, 800x600x16bit LCD, 40megs of RAM, a
Toshiba 1.3gig HD, a Xircom IIps PS-CE2-10BC (UTP/BNC), and Adaptec
1460 SlimSCSI.  I've also got a 540meg HD with Win95 on it.

I decided to install via SCSI, instead of doing it over the network,
based on previous experiences with both types of installations on
desktop machines.

It took a bit of struggling to figure out that I needed *two* PCMCIA
drivers, one for the PCMCIA bus, and the other for the Intel 82365
chipset that drives the PCMCIA. After figuring that out, NeXTSTEP
finally noticed I had a SCSI card, and was able to boot up off the
CD.

I wanted to dedicate the *entire* drive to NeXTSTEP (after all,
when I want DOS/Windows, I'll put in the other HD). When it gave
me some options about making DOS partitions and what not, I told
it to use the entire drive for NeXTSTEP (I'd really like to make
3 NeXTSTEP partitions, but I don't think that's possible).

After completing the installation, and trying to reboot, the computer
was unable to boot off the drive. NeXTSTEP had done a raw install,
and had used every single sector, including sectors normally used
for the DOS partitioning scheme. Unfortunately, the BIOS in the
ThinkPad can only boot by using the DOS partitioning scheme.

I went ahead and rebooted off the CD, and reinstalled NeXTSTEP
again, this time going into the advanced options and making a single
NeXTSTEP partition using the menu the CD gives you. After reinstalling,
it still wouldn't boot. NeXTSTEP had decided that since there was
only a single partition, and it was dedicated to NeXTSTEP, it would
again raw format the drive.

I rebooted once again off the CD, and this time caved and made both
a NeXTSTEP partition *and* a DOS partition. I made the DOS partition
very tiny (only 2 megs), because I have no intention of putting
DOS on that drive. After doing the install this time, the drive
was finally bootable.

After the CD finished installing, and rebooted the computer, it
came up, and of course asked me to insert the floppy that had
several drivers that were not on the CD (ones relating to the PCMCIA
and EIDE).

Unfortunately, it only remembered 3 of the 4 drivers I had loaded
from floppy, the EIDE, Adaptec SlimSCSI, and one of the PCMCIA
drivers. So after it booted up a ways, it freaked out because it
couldn't find the CD drive that it wanted to mount and finish up
installation, and went into single-user mode. I ignored its problem
and just exited the shell, so that it would continue to boot up.

When I got NeXTSTEP booted up, and had gotten through Configure
the first time, and had finally been able to login, I was able to
use Configure to load the rest of the drivers from floppy, so it
could locate the SCSI card again. I was then able to reboot and
install the rest of the packages from the CD.

I was actually impressed with the speed of the video under NeXTSTEP.
The computer came with Win3.1 pre-installed, and running 16bit
under that was just fine. But I was only able to withstand Win3.1
for about a week, then I put Win95 on it. The video performance
under Win95 was horrible. I was worried that maybe the video really
was slow. Nope, just Win95. It's plenty fast enough under NeXTSTEP.

One of the things that annoys me is that when I tell NeXTSTEP to
turn off the computer, it gives me the screen that says, "Please
wait until it's safe to turn off your computer," and then in a bit,
"It's now safe to turn off your computer," but doesn't actually
turn the computer off itself. Win95 *does* turn the computer off
by itself.

I also really miss use of the MWave DSP. I *really* want sound
better than a stupid beep, and I *really* miss the 28.8 modem that
the DSP is capable of. The voice mail/answering machine/speakerphone
stuff I can live without, but I wouldn't mind having them too. :-)

It also looks like I'm gonna have to boot into DOS anytime I want
to turn on/off the serial port or IR interface. I don't know of
any way to run the ThinkPad setup utilities under NeXTSTEP.

I also couldn't get any of the standby, suspend, or hibernate modes
to do anything. The NeXTAnswer on installing NeXTSTEP says that
only standby is supported, and closing the lid. I couldn't resist,
and had to see if it would hang. It didn't at all, and closing the
lid simply turns off the LCD screen.

I haven't yet figured out how to get into the ROM monitor, or work
with funky numpad which is overlaid on top of the regular keyboard.

Overall, I'm really happy to finally have NeXTSTEP on a notebook
(and can't wait to take it to work and show it off), but I'd still
like to see better support of the extra ThinkPad goodies like the
MWave DSP, and the ability to actually power off the computer from
software. I'm also a little disappointed the video is only 12bit,
rather than 16, but that seems to be a problem with *any* 16bit
video card.

---
Chris Osborn, Network Administrator       Voice: 707 253 3130
Napa Valley College                         Fax: 707 253 3063
2277 Napa-Vallejo Hwy., Napa, CA, 94558
<fozztexx@nvc.cc.ca.us>           MIME ok, NeXTMail tolerated

-- 
Chris Osborn, Network Administrator       Voice: 707 253 3130
Napa Valley College                         Fax: 707 253 3063
2277 Napa-Vallejo Hwy., Napa, CA, 94558
<fozztexx@nvc.cc.ca.us>           MIME ok, NeXTMail tolerated