Apple Bandai Pippin

The Pippin, known in Japan as Pippin @ (ピピンアットマーク Pipin Attomāku?), was a multimedia platform designed by Apple Inc. (then Apple Computer Inc.) and produced by Bandai in 1995. It was based around a 66-MHz PowerPC 603 processor, a 14.4 kbit/s modem and ran a stripped version of the System 7.5.2 operating system. The goal was to create an inexpensive computer aimed mostly at playing CD-based multimedia titles, especially games, but also functioning as a network computer. It featured a 4× CD-ROM drive and a video output that could connect to a standard television monitor. The platform was named for the Newtown Pippin, an apple cultivar, a smaller and more tart relative of the McIntosh apple (which is the namesake of the Macintosh).

History

Apple never intended to release Pippin on its own. Instead it intended to license the technology to third parties; Bandai was looking at entering the console video game market, and chose the Pippin as its platform. Much later Katz Media also entered production, planning to use the platform as a low cost PC with web ability. By the time the Apple Bandai Pippin was released (1995 in Japan; 1996 in the United States), the market was dominated by the Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and soon Nintendo 64. In addition there was little ready-to-use software for Pippin, the only major publisher being Bandai itself. It cost US$599 on launch,[1] and while touted as a cheap computer, the system, in reality, was commonly identified as a video game console. As such, its price was considered too expensive in comparison to its contemporaries. Bandai manufactured fewer than 100,000 Pippins (reported sales were 42,000) before discontinuing the system; production was so limited that there were more keyboard and modem accessories produced than actual systems.[2] Katz Media Productions produced an unknown number in Ireland for Europe, labeled it the KMP 2000; it is the rarest of the Pippin models. The images here are of the KMP developer unit, which include the 50 pin SCSI connector for external devices used for developing new software. In May 2006, the Pippin placed 22nd in PC World Magazine's list of the "25 Worst Tech Products of all Time".[3]

Software

In every way the Pippin is a Macintosh. Most of the Pippin software will run on Classic Macintosh OS (few will work with Mac OS 9). A third party created a Pippin bootable CD with Netscape that had the Macintosh GUI (Enabler 1.1), but was stripped of many of the extensions and control panels found on regular Macs. At least one Japanese title (Ultraman) existed that could run on Pippin, Mac, and Windows. Pippin CDs were created on a Macintosh or a Pippin with a SCSI connected external CD drive (for functionality testing). Once the final version of the software was ready, a checksum of the CD was sent to Apple and signed with Apple's private key. The signed checksum was applied to the gold master CD that was to be pressed and released to the public. The Pippin, during its boot process, would generate a checksum of the CD and compare it to the one signed with Apple's private key. Only if the checksums compared successfully would the boot process continue.[4]