The BeBox Circa 2001

Want to build the ultimate BeOS Dream Machine?

Special thanks to Jean-Baptiste M. Queru of Be, Inc. and Kurt von Finck of Gobe, Inc. for their technical insight and invaluable suggestions. (Editors Comment: JBQ is married to a BeNews Editor and Kurt is a BeNews editor too :))

Believe it or not but it's been more than four years since Be, Inc. has discontinued production of their fabulous multi-processor BeBox. In its own time, it was not only a true marvel of technology, but also a distinctive work of geek art. The BeBox will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most daring designs of the decade past.

However, time didn't stand still and nowadays it's hard to impress anybody with a computer featuring 133MHz processors and an array of antiquated ISA slots. Not only that, but it is highly unlikely that Be will even support the original BeBox in the next release of BeOS, as they have pledged to do so only till the end of 1999. In fact, there is a chance that they might drop PowerPC platform development all together.

So, even those who are still holding on to their precious BeBoxen are probably looking for a replacement, assuming they don't have one already. For them, as well as for all the other readers of BeNews, we are pleased to bring an up-to-the-minute Guide to building the best BeOS-compatible machine. And we mean the kind that could (hopefully) make even Joe Palmer, the mastermind behind the original BeBox, proud.

A couple of months ago, when we started working on this Guide, we set a rather simple goal for ourselves. Basically, we tried our best to compile a list of premium components that would together amount to the finest BeOS-compatible computer that US$2K can buy. And, thanks to the nice folks over at StreetPrices.com, we were able to find the very best deals available.