Installing OpenStep 4.2 on Parallels

NeXTSTEP is one of the most advanced operating systems from the 90s. You can understand why by watching this video:

Every feature Steve Jobs introduces in this video was already possible in 1992, which is amazing. I’ve dreamed of using NeXTSTEP ever since I learned about it, but I had never seen a running demo—only a NeXTCube. By chance, I found instructions on how to install OpenStep 4.2 on Parallels. Finally, NeXTSTEP (OpenStep 4.2) started running on my machine. o/

If you want to run OpenStep 4.2, follow this instruction. The only problem is that network doesn't work ,so you need to install a network driver. I found the solution by googling, but the link to NE2000 disk image(http://www-teaching.physics.ox.ac.uk/NextStep/NE2K_driver.fdd) was broken. Fortunately, I was able to recover the link from https://archive.org/ so you can download it.

Network setting:
1) Install the NE2K driver;
2) Shut down. Under Boot Order, make sure the hard drive is the first device, and add "devices.net.force_adapter_type=rtl"; in the boot flags.

3) Set the shared network. Reboot.
5) Open HostManager.app. Under Local choose "use local domain only".

6) Assign one of available IPs in your local network. Let the machine Reboot;
7) Add a name server in /etc/resolv.conf

Installing developer tools

There is a good video on Youtube:

The next step is to write some Objective-C code with this book and download some applications from http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/


References:

• http://openstep.bfx.re/
• http://www.nextcomputers.org/docs/FAQ-OpenStepOnEmulators.pdf
• https://forum.parallels.com/threads/openstep-4-2-driver-thread.3408/
• http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2992
• https://forum.parallels.com/threads/older-nic-emulation-before-gigabit.110324/