[rescue] A long shot: looking for a NeXT Cube

[Andrew Jones]

On 03/28/2014 01:14 AM, Andrew Jones wrote:
>> There have been several on ebay in the last 2 weeks. One very nice
>> complete system didn't sell at $650: http://r.ebay.com/6vCGwx
>>
>> --Toby
>
> As-is, no returns is pretty normal for a scrapper.  This guy is no
> scrapper.  The auction is probably fraudulent, because it looks like he
> knows what he is doing.
>
> * He asks for $650.
> * It's sold without any HDD or even a not-DOA warranty
> * In the freaking listing, he mentions his other NeXT gear
>
> This guy clearly knows some things about NeXT gear, and he thinks he
> might be selling a brick.  It is not surprising that it didn't sell.

On closer inspection, I feel slightly less uncharitable.  Some of the 
early NeXT stuff was sold without an HDD on purpose, with the conceit 
that users would boot off their own MO media when they sat down at the 
workstation.

This guy clearly shows an MO NeXTSTEP install disc in his photos. If he 
has an early HDD-less unit, he probably attempted to boot that MO 
medium, and found it didn't work.

Given old-school MO's famous unreliability, it seems likely that the MO 
drive in this NeXT is dead, and the seller really was unable or 
uninterested in testing further.