Friday, June 24, 2011

Unboxing the Pippin: Apple's First Game Console

I seriously don't know if this is real.  No, has to be a joke.  I'm so confused!!!

No, this is a real gaming console.  Did you know that in May 2006, the Pippin placed 22nd in PC World Magazine's list of the "25 Worst Tech Products of all Time.  lol


Technical specifications


Hardware

The Pippin AtMark PCB.
  • 66 MHz PowerPC 603 RISC microprocessor
    • Superscalar, three instructions per clock cycle
    • 8 KB data and 8 KB instruction caches
    • IEEE standard single and double precision Floating Point Unit (FPU)
  • 5 MB combined system and video memory, advanced architecture
    • Easy memory expansion cards in 2, 4, 8, and 16 MB increments.
  • 128 K Flash memory accessible storage space.
  • 4 x CD-ROM drive
  • Two high-speed serial ports, one of which is GeoPort ready, the other is LocalTalk
  • PCI-compatible expansion slot
  • Two “AppleJack” ruggedized ADB inputs
    • Supports up to four simultaneous players over Apple Desktop Bus (ADB)
    • Supports standard ADB keyboards and mice with mechanical adapters

Video

  • 8-bit and 16-bit video support
  • Dual frame buffers for superior frame-to-frame animation
  • Support for NTSC and PAL composite, S-Video and VGA (640x480) monitors
  • Horizontal and vertical video convolution

Audio

  • Stereo 16-bit 44 kHz sampled output
  • Stereo 16-bit 44 kHz sampled input
  • Headphone output jack with individual volume control
  • Audio CD player compatibility

System software

The Pippin firmware board.
  • 3 MB ROM version 7.7.D (version number on ROM boards is development 1.1, 1.2; production 1.3).
  • Runtime environment derived from System 7, System 7.5.2 (if used, Enabler 1.1).
  • PowerPC native version of QuickDraw.
  • Reduced system memory footprint (most computer extensions features removed).
  • Disk-resident System Software stamped on CD-ROM with title.
  • System boots off of CD-ROM by default (but can boot off any SCSI device).
  • Pippin System Software upgrades released through CD-ROM stamping operations.
  • 68k emulator.
  • Macintosh Toolbox intact.

Enjoy the movie.




2 comments:

Blast away! I'm all ears. SPAM me and it gets erased. :)