====== Be Inc. BeBox Dual603-66 (1995) and Dual603-133 (1996) ======
===== Features =====
* CPU: Two RISC-based PowerPC 603 or 603e @ either 66 or 133 MHz
* RAM: Up to 256 MB (up to 8 72-pin SIMM modules)
* ROM: Unknown
* Text Modes: 80 columns x 25 lines
* Graphic Modes: 640x480 to 1600x1200
* Colors: 256 to 16.7 million
* Sound: 16-bit stereo sound system - Dual MIDI channels
* I/O Ports: 4xserial, Parallel, 3 x Infrared, SCSI II, 2 x Joystick, 2 x Midi, GeekPort
* Keyboard: Standard PC-AT
* Built In Media: 3.5" 1.44 MB FDD, SCSI & IDE HDD
* OS: BeOs
* Peripherals: 3 x PCI and 5 x ISA card slots
===== Usage =====
MESS supports both BeBox main models
* bebox [BeBox Dual603-66]: the 66MHz model
* bebox2 [BeBox Dual603-133]: the 133MHz model
== Keyboard ==
This system requires full keyboard emulation to work correctly. At startup, full keyboard emulation mode is enabled by default. Whilst in full keyboard emulation mode, some key associated functionality may be disabled (like the ESC key for EXIT). The keyboard emulation mode is toggled using the "Scroll Lock" key (by default).
=== RAM options ===
Different RAM configurations are possible for the bebox and bebox2 in MESS. You can switch between them, changing the -ramsize parameter. At command line
mess bebox -ramsize ram_value
where //ram_value// can assume one of the following values
8m
16m
32m (default)
===== Known Issues =====
The emulation of this system is Preliminary.
===== History and Trivia =====
The BeBox was a short-lived dual processor PC, offered by Be Incorporated to run their own operating system, BeOS.
In October 1995, Be, Inc. unveiled its first (and last) computer, the BeBox.
Be was founded in 1990 by Jean-Louis Gassée, former manager of the French Apple subsidiary. For almost 5 years, 12 engineers from Apple, NeXT and Sun designed the BeBox and its operating system, BeOs. The total design cost was about US$9 million.
BeBox hadware was based on a dual PowerPC 603 CPU running at 66 MHz (later 133 MHz). The motherboard was not really innovative but featured a large range of Input/Output ports, including IDE and SCSI HDD interfaces, standard PC card slots, MIDI, audio, infrared ports plus a special GeekPort for hardware experiments.
The Be Operating System was also developed from the ground up. It aimed to be an alternative to the "Heavy weight" Windows and Mac OS's, which were handicaped by backward compatibility hardware and software issues.
BeOs was a clear and clean multi-processor (up to 8), multi-threading, multi-tasking, GUI-based operating system, optimized for digital media management. The first BeBox machines were mainly intended for use by software developers, BeOs was delivered
with Metrowerks CodeWarrior and C++ languages.
In spite of its numerous advanced features, the BeBox never met the success expected by its designers, mainly because it was compatible with nothing else in the computing industry. Be sold around 1000 66 MHz BeBoxes and 800 133 MHz BeBoxes between October 1995 and January 1997, when production ceased.
In 1996, BeOs was ported to Apple PowerPC machines but Apple eventually preferred the NeXT basis for its future Mac OS X. Two years later, BeOs ran on Intel machines.
Because of the small size of the company and the competition from much larger competitors, the Be adventure finally ended on Novembre 2001 when the company sold all of its intellectual property and technology assets to Palm. Just before this happened, J.L. Gassée offered for free the latest version of his OS (R5) to Intel PC users.
Nowadays, although marginal, BeOs is still alive, and new releases and updates are regularly announced by the BeOs community.
Initial prototypes were equipped with two AT&T Hobbit processors and three AT&T 9308S DSPs.
Of particular note were the CPU load meters on the front of the unit (dubbed the "blinkenlights"), and the GeekPort in back, which allowed for experimentation.
== GeekPort ==
It's a digital and analog I/O and DC power connector, 37-pin connector on the ISA bus. It consists of:
* Two independent, bidirectional 8-bit ports
* Four A/D pins routing to a 12-bit A/D converter
* Four D/A pins connected to an independent 8-bit D/A converter
* Two signal ground reference pins
* Eleven power and ground pins: Two at +5 V, one at +12 V, one at -12 V, seven ground pins.
//(info from Wikipedia)//
===== Links =====
* The BeBox Zone -- http://www.bebox.nu/
* Beatjapan.org (Mirror of be.com, the official Be web site, now closed) -- http://www.beatjapan.org/mirror/www.be.com/products/bebox/dual603spec.html
* BeBox Photo Gallery (by Joseph Palmer: Be HW Engineer) -- http://www.josephpalmer.com/BeBox/BeBox.shtml
Generated on Sun Jul 19 10:17:28 2009