How about a program that starts and stops media nodes right in time, becoming the Haiku version of LV2? That would be a DAW which takes advantage of the Be ecosystem!
Hi ! Do you know how much does a Bebox costs at the moment ?
1 billion dollar? LOL!
I sold my 66MHz model for about what I paid for it used, so around $750, in 2007. I can only imagine the capacitor and all the various other issues suffered by old electronics has claimed some of these by now, and that the price and scarcity will make the 66 be close to $1000 and the 133 be over $1000 as a very rough guestimate. In an auction, I think they could hit $2000 if the conditions are right (multiple people bidding and the auction being well publicised.) They seriously hardly ever come up anymore.
wow ok ! Because my uncle asked me if I could sell the two bebox he has and I found this forum.
He worked on this project and told me he actually invented the GeekPort.
How can I know which bebox does he have ? He’s not sure, he says one is a powerpc and the other one is a motorola I guess. I’ve seen an amd logo on one of them. They are in a pretty good condition expect for some corrosion on the box
edit: I can’t upload images because I’m new…
here are some links:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1re83UyVT_PqMFI8PmkkcHGLKdTioeK4j/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tES-l6X2kczDGzCR5Hz7NLp24tsXMjJ4/view?usp=drivesdk
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Those look like Hobbit based Be Machines. The Hobbit stuff is pre BeBox, so it is super super rare. But also, the software on the drive is about the only software you will easily get for them unless someone else has archived their Hobbit Be Machine. I think I have only ever heard of about circa 5 actual units. Is this both boxes, or just the one you are not sure about?
If you don’t mind me asking, who is your Uncle? I think the original Hobbit hardware was mainly made by one guy.
I know they used some Hobbit hardware with PowerPC cards to emulate the new design before the actual hardware was ready. If you have hose cards, that is pretty rare. I don’t know of anyone else who has publicly said they have one of those.
Oh wow ok… I don’t know precisely for both, and he doesn’t know precisely either. I’m asking for his permission for telling you his name. But he jokes from time to time about how his basement is a computer museum haha, maybe he still has those cards I don’t know I’ll ask but it has been such a long time he has those, I don’t think he will remember well…
Both of the machines looks like the one in the middle on this picture: https://live.staticflickr.com/1809/43385092882_f32fb2d574_b.jpg
Okay - so they are AT&T Hobbit based computers and are rare. But also very obscure and so I don’t really know if they are worth more or less than a BeBox. The BeBox can still be used, to a fashion, where as these are pretty niche and probably have very early OS versions. To the right buyer, you can probably sell them for a decent amount, but they are very much museum pieces.
The most essential thing - if you can back up those hard drives do it with a high priority. If they die, you are very unlikely to get the software back. You might be able to get some other software (I think someone did archive their Hobbit hard drives) but who knows what is on those drives - it is a really important historical document.
The last Hobbit appearing on ebay was sold for over $1000 in 2009 so they’ll definitely sell, or maybe your uncle wouldn’t mind want to give them away, to a computer museum for example.
Does he have any software on floppy disks and documentation for it?
And to repeat what memsom wrote, backing up the harddrives is important even if there are 2 hdd dumps and install floppies images out there.
I imagine the only extension card in both is a graphic card.
And more pictures of them would be nice.
I think also - if one is a prototype PowerPC box, that is priceless. I remember reading that the first PowerPC hardware were add on cards to the Hobbit dev boxes, so it does seem like it is possible. Both the images clearly have AT&T Hobbit processors in them, so it would need to be something like a daughter card or something extra inside the case.
I wonder if the drives are SCSI or IDE?
The cable coming out of the hdd looks like a 50pin, that would make it SCSI.
I saw pictures of the PPC daughter cards for the Hobbit, somewhere…
I did save it but I don’t remember the source, so credits to the forgotten author…
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Of course, right now I’m mainly collecting information, because he worked on the development of those machine and has very early pieces and preproduction items… He told me he created the « GeekPort » and agrees that those should be in a museum.
Does a “Decana hardware card” rings any bell ? I’m not a BeBox amateur like you guys so I’m learning a lot about Be inc and BeBox atm haha.
Thank you in advance for any info from your uncle can share about the machines and his time at Be.
It would be better to make a new thread for that I think.
You’re right, as soon as he comes back from his vacations I’ll talk with him and build a proper topic in order to gather information
Could you please take a photo of this card? Also, more photos of these machines are always welcome.
Blacked out vans, contingency plans…
They like death or glory …
They have a great story …
They’re the Powers that Be
(printed at the bottom right of the card, too funny!!)
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I didn’t notice that until now… Nice touch by Be 
I was unaware that there was active talk about these old things.
Two questions:
- Assuming it’s working normally, what are these things selling for at this point?
- Who wants one? I’ve got one of very first ones (I wish I hadn’t given my beta version away to a friend decades ago!).
Any pictures? Do you have any docs for it?