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Concept
BeBox
Summary
The BeBox is a dual CPU personal computer, briefly sold by Be Inc. to run the company's own operating system, BeOS. It has PowerPC CPUs, its I/O board has a custom "GeekPort", and the front bezel has "Blinkenlights".
The BeBox made its debut in October 1995 in a dual PowerPC 603 at 66 MHz configuration. The processors were upgraded to 133 MHz in August 1996 (BeBox Dual603e-133). Production was halted in January 1997, following the port of BeOS to the Macintosh, in order for the company to concentrate on software. Be sold around 1000 66 MHz BeBoxes and 800 133 MHz BeBoxes.
BeBox creator Jean-Louis Gassée did not see the BeBox as a general consumer device, warning that "Before we let you use the BeBox, we believe you must have some aptitude toward programming - the standard language is C++."
Initial prototypes are equipped with two AT&T Hobbit processors and three AT&T 9308S DSPs.
Production models use two 66 MHz PowerPC 603 processors or two 133 MHz PowerPC 603e processors to power the BeBox. Prototypes having dual 200 MHz CPUs or four CPUs exist, but were never publicly available.
The main board is in a standard AT format commonly found on PC. It used standard PC components to make it as inexpensive as possible.
Two PowerPC 603/66 MHz or 603e/133 MHz processors
Eight 72-pin SIMM sockets
128 KB Flash ROM
Three PCI slots
Five ISA slots
Internal SCSI connector
Internal IDE connector
Internal floppy connector
External SCSI-2 connector
Parallel port
Keyboard port, AT-style
Three GeekPort fuses
I/O Board connector
Front panel connector
Power connector
The I/O board offers four serial ports (9-pin D-sub), a PS/2 mouse port, and two joystick ports (15-pin D-sub).
There are four DIN MIDI ports (two in, two out), two stereo pairs of RCA connectors audio line-level input and output, and a pair of 3.5 mm stereo phono jacks for microphone input and headphone output. There are also internal audio connectors: 5-pin strip for the audio CD line-level playback, and two 4-pin strips for microphone input and headphone output.
Official source
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