BeBox

The BeBox was a short-lived dual processor PC, offered by Be Inc. to run their own operating system, BeOS.

The BeBox made its debut in October 1995 (BeBox Dual603-66). The processors were upgraded to 133 MHz in August 1996 (BeBox Dual603e-133). Production was halted at the end of 1996, 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.

Hardware specifications

Initial prototypes were equipped with two AT&T Hobbit processors and three AT&T 9308S DSPs.

CPU load meters on the front of the unit (dubbed the "blinkenlights"), and the GeekPort in back allowed for experimentation.

• Two PowerPC 603 processors running at 66 or 133 MHz powered the BeBox. Prototypes having dual 200 MHz CPUs or four CPUs exist, but these prototypes were never publicly available.
• GeekPort: a digital and analog I/O and DC power connector, 37-pin connector on the ISA bus.
  • 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.

External links

• The BeBox Zone
• BeBox Photo Gallery (Joseph Palmer: Be HW Engineer)
• Pinout for the GeekPort connector

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