Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
In the continuing saga of this Intel Professional Workstation, we dig in deeper into the history of this unusual piece of hardware, and take a page from the Digital Forensics and Information Response (DFIR) folks to reconstruct the full history of this machine.
After touring the hard drive and seeing the small number of programs and confusing configurations, I decided to dig in deeper and using Autopsy from the Sleuth Kith, I decided to run a battery of forensic tests to figure out what was just the story of this system.
Even after finally piecing together the overly complex life and times, I was still left with the daunting task of debugging the SCSI controller, and digging into why I had so many failures. My journey here would take me to Windows NT, NeXTstep, NetWare, Linux, and even NetBSD. To solve this mystery, I would have to dig into the datasheets of the NCR 53C700, the SCSI Device Management System and more.
What I would find is that Intel had only supported Windows NT 3.1, SCO UNIX, and NetWare in the form of a specific SKU for those operating systems, which mean the retail releases appear to be unusable "as is" on this machine.
In short, I would find that Intel essentially abandoned this machine not long after it was released, and left it in such a poor state that almost no operating system would work "as is" with this system. We might be able to change that given enough time, but for now, it's time to close on this odd example of hardware made by Intel itself.
Interesting Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:40 - Exploring the HDD
05:13 - Digital Forensics, Kali, and Autopsy
07:44 - System Diagnostics
09:45 - The SCSI HDD
12:30 - The Breeman Notes
13:15 - NeXTstep, OS/2, and QNX
16:00 - Understanding the SCSI Failures
17:20 - NetBSD
18:55 - Future Projects
NCommander's Socials:
Twitter: twitter.com/FOSSfirefighter
Discord: discord.gg/V8esNah
Blog: https://casadevall.pro/
Music is from http://www.epidemicsound.com, with the following tracks used in order:
- Searching for Sam - Jon Bjork
- Time to Think Again - Jon Bjork
- Thirty-Fourth Window - Heath Cantu
- Valiant - Dream Cave
- Fog Lake - Spectacles Wallet and Watch
- Paradigm Shift - Gavin Luke
- Rumors (Instrumental Version)
- Person of Interest - Dream Cave
- This Is Our Hut - Trabant 33
- Prize Fight - Marc Torch
- A Healing Component - Spectacles Wallet and Watch
- Perfect Timing - Spectacles Wallet and Watch
- A Time for Tales - Jon Bjork
In the continuing saga of this Intel Professional Workstation, we dig in deeper into the history of this unusual piece of hardware, and take a page from the Digital Forensics and Information Response (DFIR) folks to reconstruct the full history of this machine.
After touring the hard drive and seeing the small number of programs and confusing configurations, I decided to dig in deeper and using Autopsy from the Sleuth Kith, I decided to run a battery of forensic tests to figure out what was just the story of this system.
Even after finally piecing together the overly complex life and times, I was still left with the daunting task of debugging the SCSI controller, and digging into why I had so many failures. My journey here would take me to Windows NT, NeXTstep, NetWare, Linux, and even NetBSD. To solve this mystery, I would have to dig into the datasheets of the NCR 53C700, the SCSI Device Management System and more.
What I would find is that Intel had only supported Windows NT 3.1, SCO UNIX, and NetWare in the form of a specific SKU for those operating systems, which mean the retail releases appear to be unusable "as is" on this machine.
In short, I would find that Intel essentially abandoned this machine not long after it was released, and left it in such a poor state that almost no operating system would work "as is" with this system. We might be able to change that given enough time, but for now, it's time to close on this odd example of hardware made by Intel itself.
Interesting Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:40 - Exploring the HDD
05:13 - Digital Forensics, Kali, and Autopsy
07:44 - System Diagnostics
09:45 - The SCSI HDD
12:30 - The Breeman Notes
13:15 - NeXTstep, OS/2, and QNX
16:00 - Understanding the SCSI Failures
17:20 - NetBSD
18:55 - Future Projects
NCommander's Socials:
Twitter: twitter.com/FOSSfirefighter
Discord: discord.gg/V8esNah
Blog: https://casadevall.pro/
Music is from http://www.epidemicsound.com, with the following tracks used in order:
- Searching for Sam - Jon Bjork
- Time to Think Again - Jon Bjork
- Thirty-Fourth Window - Heath Cantu
- Valiant - Dream Cave
- Fog Lake - Spectacles Wallet and Watch
- Paradigm Shift - Gavin Luke
- Rumors (Instrumental Version)
- Person of Interest - Dream Cave
- This Is Our Hut - Trabant 33
- Prize Fight - Marc Torch
- A Healing Component - Spectacles Wallet and Watch
- Perfect Timing - Spectacles Wallet and Watch
- A Time for Tales - Jon Bjork
