NeXTSTEP 3.3 (x86) on 86Box with Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996]

NeXTSTEP is an object-oriented operating system that was officially released for the first time for computers using the Motorola 68000 series as the processor. This operating system was first found in NeXT Computer workstations sold by NeXT Inc., which was a technology company founded by Steve Jobs.

In 1996, Apple Computer acquired NeXTSTEP and OpenSTEP and used them as a foundation to build Mac OS X, which was later rebranded to macOS, for Macintosh computers. The Darwin kernel uses NeXTSTEP’s technologies to power the core part of macOS (Mac computers and laptops), iOS (iPhone), iPadOS (iPad), watchOS (Apple Watch), and tvOS (Apple TV).

Our focus in this article is testing NeXTSTEP 3.3 on an 86Box emulated machine with a Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996] motherboard. You can download it from here.

We’ve configured the virtual machine as follows:

We’ve configured a virtual machine to run with:

• Machine type: [1996] Socket 7 (Dual Voltage)
• Machine: [ALi ALADDiN IV+] Biostar M5ATA
• CPU: Intel Pentium @ 90 MHz
• Memory: 32 MB
• Video: [ISA16] S3 86c924 (AMI)
• Keyboard: AT Keyboard
• Mouse: PS/2 Mouse
• Sound card: None
• Floppy disk controller: Internal device
• Hard disk controller 1: Internal device
• SCSI controller 1: [ISA16] BusLogic BT-542B
  • Address: 0x330
  • IRQ: 11
  • DMA: 5
  • BIOS address: C800H
• New hard disk: NeXTSTEP.vhd
  • C/H/S: 2080/16/63
  • Size: 1024 MB
  • Bus: SCSI
  • Channel: 0:00
• CD-ROM drive 1: [SCSI-2] PHILIPS CDD2600 1.07 (6x)
  • Channel: 0:01

Once everything is configured as above, we can now start the virtual machine. We’ll have to change the boot order to ensure that SCSI comes first before C then A. Please make sure that you’ve set the hard disk, the SCSI controller, and the CD-ROM parameters correctly, as NeXTSTEP requires SCSI for a successful installation, and is very picky about specific parameters during the installation.

Now, insert the disc called NeXTSTEP_3.3_User_(i386_m68k).iso to the CD-ROM reader and the floppy disk called 3.3_Boot_Disk.img to the floppy drive, then let the system start.

After that, let it boot to the installer, then press 1 in both screens to begin installation.

Now, insert the device drivers disk to the floppy drive. The disk name is 3.3_Driver_Disk.img.

Now, choose the BusLogic ISA device driver for both the CD-ROM used to install NeXTSTEP from and the hard drive to install it to. Make sure that you’ve selected a device driver called BusLogic ISA SCSI Adapter (v3.31).

Then, continue without loading additional drivers.

Let NeXTSTEP start.

Confirm that the correct disk and the correct size is shown. Then, press 1 to select it. Afterwards, press 1 to erase the whole disk, and press 1 once again to confirm the installation.

Let the first stage of installation copy the base system files to the hard disk.

Afterwards, the installer should say that the installation is successful. Remove any disk from the floppy drive, then press ENTER to restart the virtual machine to the second stage of the setup.

If everything goes well, you should see this screen.

Configure the S3 graphics adapter by clicking on the monitor icon, then click on Add… > S3 Graphics Adapter > Add. Then, go back to the main menu by clicking on the paper icon at the left of the window, and click Save.

A new window opens where you’ll be able to customize what components will be installed to your NeXTSTEP system. We have kept everything as the default, so we clicked Install.

Let the installation begin.

Click on Restart, and let it reboot to the NeXTSTEP language and keyboard layout customization screen.

Click OK, and the desktop will load with the file viewer open.

Here’s a demonstration of this operating system running on 86Box.