In light of my issues with my real NeXT hardware, I decided to try and get NeXTStep installed on a VM. We use Parallels for the Mac OS X platform here at work, so that is where I started.
I was able to find some useful information over at the nextcomputer.org site. It was a little old, but much of it still very pertinent to this install.
It kept on coming up with errors on the install. It would hang when trying to boot from the CD image. After various combinations suggested from the web and then a few I made up on my own, I will still left with a broken install process.
Nuts! but I didn’t give up. The windows people use VMware for their VM pleasures. A while back I had received a copy to test and try and make a Mac OS image. I dusted it off, gave it a quick update and tried it with VMware. I am not sure if it is better software (Parallels has never let me down before) or a little luck tossed in, but it worked well installing on Fusion.
There are still some drivers I need to track down and get installed. From my reading they are needed to get some better video and networking up and going. I am kind of looking forward to pulling out OminWeb from the OmniGroup, and seeing how it looks compared to now. It was (and still is) a wonderful web browser. I don’t use it as much as I used to as they don’t update it very often anymore. There tabs and workspace features are ones I wish I would see elsewhere.
It was welcoming after the past hours of frustration trying to get this up and working to finally see that wonderful Welcome screen.
From here on out it was a few clicks before I reach the desktop. What a site for sore eyes.
The desktop is a little tight don’t you think? I know I do. I am going to go on the hunt for the drivers tonight and see what I can scare up.
I will also post my notes out on the NeXT site in case there are a couple of other crazies out there.
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