Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

They developed a dual-CPU prototype box based on the 88000, circa 1992. It was never released - the company was bought before it advanced past the prototype stage.

They also had a prototype laptop, although I don't know for certain which CPU it was based on. Because the existing battery technology couldn't provide enough juice for reasonable runtime, it was going to be a plug-into-the-wall design.



They gave up on the 88000 the same time Apple did (yes it was considered at Apple too) and is directly related the IBM/Apple PPC partnership and Apple’s insistence that Motorola being a second source for the PPC. It was really Motorola that gave up on the 88000 and not Next.


NeXT wasn't bought until late 1996. That didnt kill the RISC project, what happened is the company dropped all hardware and became software-only (primarily on top of x86 boxes, but some lower-level pieces ran on HP and SPARC).


And spun off their hardware division as Firepower systems and sold it to Canon


Ah, yes, you are correct. Thanks for jogging my memory.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: