1<HTML> 2<HEAD> 3 <TITLE>Bandai Pippin Museum & Archive</TITLE> 4 <META NAME=GENERATOR CONTENT="Microsoft FrontPage 6.0"> 5 </HEAD> 6<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> 7<P></P> 8<!-- Main table --> 9<!-- The entire web site is meant to be 700 pixels wide. --> 10<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=10 WIDTH=700 BACKGROUND="http://www.macgeek.org/images/pattern1.jpg"> 11<!-- Row #1 of main table --> 12 <TR> 13<!-- This column is for the banner itself --> 14 <TD VALIGN=top COLSPAN=2 WIDTH=680 HEIGHT=143> 15 <P> 16 <IMG SRC="http://www.macgeek.org/images/theworldbanner.jpg" ALIGN=bottom width="675" height="148"></P> 17<!-- End banner column --> 18 </TD> 19<!-- End Row #1 --> 20 </TR> 21<!-- The next row #2 contains both the links on the left side, and the main body on the right. --> 22 <TR> 23<!-- Start column is for the links. --> 24 <TD VALIGN=top WIDTH=158> 25 <P><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" COLOR="#000000"> 26<!-- Start of the table where the links will be in --> 27 <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 width="159"> 28 <TR> 29 <TD VALIGN=top WIDTH=28> 30 <P> 31 </P> 32 </TD> 33 <TD width="131"> 34 <P><a href="http://www.macgeek.org/"> 35 <font size="-1" color="#000000">Home Page</font></a></P> 36 </TD> 37 </TR> 38 <TR> 39 <TD VALIGN=top COLSPAN=2 width="159"> 40 <P> 41 <IMG SRC="http://www.macgeek.org/images/gap.gif" ALIGN=bottom width="4" height="17"></P> 42 </TD> 43 </TR> 44 <TR> 45 <TD WIDTH=28> 46 <P> </P> 47 </TD> 48 <TD width="131"> 49 <P><A HREF="http://www.macgeek.org/museum/"><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" COLOR="#000000">Apple 50 Museum For-A-Day</FONT></A></P> 51 </TD> 52 </TR> 53<!-- End of the table where the links are in --> 54 </TABLE> 55<!-- End of column is for the links --> 56 </TD> 57<!-- This column (within main row #2) is the main body --> 58 <TD VALIGN=top WIDTH=502 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> 59<!-- Contents of the main body starts here --> 60 61<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="500"> 62 <tr> 63 <td width="295"> 64<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"> 65<P><b>Bandai Pippin Museum & Archive</b></P> 66</font> 67<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="1"> 68<P><B>Purpose of This Web Site</B></P> 69<P>My reason for creating this 70museum and archive is to preserve a part of Apple Computer's legacy, much like 71my attempts with the Apple II and Macintosh series. Much of what you'll see here 72are basically data collected from the World Wide Web, but I've re-archived them 73so they're situated in a centralized area for easy access.</P> 74<P>I hope you enjoy and make use of the museum and archive!</P> 75</font> 76 </td> 77 <td width="12" align="right" valign="top"> 78 </td> 79 <td width="193" align="right" valign="top"> 80<img border="0" src="images/system024_s.jpg" width="229" height="154"></td> 81 </tr> 82</table> 83 <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="500"> 84 <tr> 85 <td width="500"> 86<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"> 87<hr> 88<P><b>Museum & Archive Contents</b></P> 89</font> 90<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="1"> 91<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="100%" id="AutoNumber1"> 92 <tr> 93 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> 94 </td> 95 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"> 96 </td> 97 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 98 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 99 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 100 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"><i><b><font size="1">UPDATED:</font></b></i></td> 101 </tr> 102 <tr> 103 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> 104<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="1"> 105 <img border="0" src="images/pippin_bullet.jpg" width="19" height="20"></font></td> 106 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"> 107<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="2"> 108 <b><a href="http://www.macgeek.org/museum/pippin/photoalbum.html">Pippin Photo Archive</a></b></font></td> 109 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 110 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="1">Contains photos of 111 Pippins I've come across</font></td> 112 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 113 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="1">12/07/2002</font></td> 114 </tr> 115 <tr> 116 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 117 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 118 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 119 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 120 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 121 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 122 </tr> 123 <tr> 124 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> 125<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="1"> 126 <img border="0" src="images/pippin_bullet.jpg" width="19" height="20"></font></td> 127 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="2"><b> 128 <a href="http://www.macgeek.org/museum/pippin/information.html">
128Hardware & 129 Software Information</a></b></font></td> 130 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 131 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="1">Overview of 132 hardware and software information</font></td> 133 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 134 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"> 135 <font size="1" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">12/07/2002</font></td> 136 </tr> 137 <tr> 138 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 139 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 140 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 141 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 142 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 143 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 144 </tr> 145 <tr> 146 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> 147<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="1"> 148 <img border="0" src="images/pippin_bullet.jpg" width="19" height="20"></font></td> 149 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="2"><b> 150 <a href="http://www.macgeek.org/museum/pippin/faq.html">Pippin FAQ</a></b></font></td> 151 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 152 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="1">Frequently asked 153 questions about the Bandai Pippin</font></td> 154 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 155 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"> 156 <font size="1" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">12/07/2002</font></td> 157 </tr> 158 <tr> 159 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 160 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 161 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 162 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 163 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 164 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 165 </tr> 166 <tr> 167 <td width="7%" align="left" valign="top"> 168<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="1"> 169 <img border="0" src="images/pippin_bullet.jpg" width="19" height="20"></font></td> 170 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="2"><b> 171 <a href="http://www.macgeek.org/museum/pippin/development.html">Pippin 172 Development</a></b></font></td> 173 <td width="3%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 174 <td width="37%" align="left" valign="top"><font size="1">Software and 175 hardware development information, including PDFs and visuals</font></td> 176 <td width="2%" align="left" valign="top"> </td> 177 <td width="38%" align="left" valign="top"> 178 <font size="1" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">12/07/2002</font></td> 179 </tr> 180 </table> 181 182<P><FONT SIZE="+1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"><B>The Bandai 183Pippin @World</B></FONT></P> 184 185<P><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"><B>E3 and Other 186Adventures in Electronic Entertainment</B></FONT></P> 187 188<P><i><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">This column first 189appeared in the May 21, 1996 issue of PC Graphics Report</FONT></i></P> 190 191<P><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Unfortunately, all 192Nintendo fed at the press conference was cheese and crackers, but I 193was determined to save my appetite for the Bandai Pippin @World 194announcement, being held that evening at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I 195wasn't disappointed by the spread, but I was somewhat disappointed by 196the Pippin, hailed by its manufacturers and designers as being the 197ultimate "Television Appliance" for surfing the Internet. Sheryl Crow 198performing live for a small group of us (1000 people) did make up for 199it (although I did lose out on a Sheryl Crow CD when I accidentally 200gave someone a free drink ticket which later turned out to actually 201be a CD redemption ticket).</FONT></P> 202 203<P><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">The Pippin is an 204Apple developed technology, so it's no surprise that the guts of the 205Pippin are remarkably similar to those of a Macintosh. But not 206similar enough to allow straight Mac software to run as-is. After 207all, the Pippin (I call it a "MacJr") folks need to find a way to 208charge title developers a royalty to justify the low cost ($599) of 209the product, and they do this by licensing a custom Pippin API. So, 210the next question is why is Bandai introducing the Pippin, and not 211Apple. The answer appears to be two part:</FONT></P> 212 213<OL> 214 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Bandai's parent 215 company's claim to fame is ownership of the Mighty Morphin Power 216 Rangers, and as such, the company has extensive experience with 217 channels alternate to those of traditiona computing 218 devices.</FONT></LI> 219 220 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Bandai's Bandai 221 Digital Entertainment group, which is marketing the Pippin, has 222 received quite a chunk of funding to launch the Pippin, and my 223 guess is that Apple is going to let them test the waters before 224 shipping its own Pippin unit (which Apple committed to at its 225 conference last week).</FONT></LI> 226</OL> 227 228<P><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">There are some 229features on the Pippin I think are good, like the fact it actually 230does enable consumer Web access via a television, has dual VGA and 231video output (NTSC or PAL), its keyboard/digitzer combo is pretty 232cool (the digitizer pad is above the keyboard, and the whole thing 233folds to make a thin black box), the "banana" controller appears 234pretty useful, they have some neat tools and games available for the 235unit, and they've kicked off a decent ad campaign in USA Today. For
236the latter, the first ad I saw had this simple message "Introducing a 237revolutionary new way to get at the Internet... It's called the 238television." With ads like this, they are helping promote the entire 239consumer Network Computer (NC) concept and not just their own device, 240which is a good thing for the industry, and probably not so good for 241Bandai.</FONT></P> 242 243<P><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Let's take a look 244at everything I don't like about the Bandai Pippin @World.</FONT></P> 245 246<UL> 247 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">First, because 248 it uses a "lite" MacOS core, people will have great expectations 249 of what the Pippin should be able to do since it's really a 250 mini-PC. The Bandai folks have agreed that changing this mind set 251 is a real challenge.</FONT></LI> 252 253 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Second, the 254 Pippin's TV output, while surprisingly reasonable for Web pages, 255 does a lousy job on regular OS text and Web browser menus because 256 of the small fonts used there.</FONT></LI> 257 258 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Third, the 259 price point of $599 for a fall shipment is too high. Especially 260 when you consider the game console Internet 261 connections.</FONT></LI> 262 263 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Fourth, the 264 keyboard and controller currently require cables - no IR or RF 265 cordless input devices are going to ship with Bandai's
266 Pippin.</FONT></LI> 267 268 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Fifth, Pippin 269 forces people to use a specific Internet provider, PSInet, for at 270 least 6 months, with a $25/month minimum service fee, which forces 271 consumers who are already net literate to have multiple ISPs, 272 probably shutting them out entirely of wanting to buy a Pippin 273 with that constraint. That obviously leaves the remaining unwashed 274 masses as potential Pippin purchasers, still a large number. 275 </FONT></LI> 276 277 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Sixth, the 278 machine is currently incapable (due to not enough RAM) of running 279 Netscape 2.0 or something comparable with Java and VRML support, 280 putting its capabilities well behind the state of the art when it 281 will ship in September.</FONT></LI> 282 283 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Seventh, the 284 name for the device ("Pippin @World") is silly. Many non-computer 285 literate people don't know what an "@" is.</FONT></LI> 286 287 <LI><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Eighth, (and 288 most importantly) Bandai has not studied the extent to which 289 Americans are functionally illiterate. 290 <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93275.pdf">According to a 1993 study 291 by the U.S. Department of Education</a>, approximately 292 46-51% of the adults resident in the U.S. are considered 293 functionally illiterate. Astounding but true. What this all means 294 is that while a Pippin could be used as an ultra-expensive (in 295 relative terms) game console device by these folks, they aren't 296 about to do any serious Internet surfing. When I brought this up 297 to a Japanese executive with Bandai, he just could not understand 298 that Americans might not be able to read. Talk about a cultural 299 gap.</FONT></LI> 300</UL> 301 302</font> 303 </td> 304 </tr> 305</table> 306 307 308<!-- Contents of the main body ends here --> 309 </TD> 310<!-- End of row #2 --> 311 </TR> 312<!-- Start of row #3. This row just shows the background pattern as filler --> 313 <TR> 314 <TD COLSPAN=2 BACKGROUND="http://www.macgeek.org/images/pattern1.jpg" WIDTH=680 HEIGHT=5 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> 315 <P></P> 316 </TD> 317<!-- End of row #3 --> 318 </TR> 319<!-- Start of row #4. This row displays the copyright information --> 320 <TR> 321 <TD COLSPAN=2 WIDTH=680 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> 322 <CENTER><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Web site copyright 323 © 1997-2010 Pearl City Networks. Apple, Bandai, and Pippin are 324 registered trademarks by their respective owners. All Rights 325 Reserved.</FONT></CENTER> 326 </TD> 327<!-- End of row #4 --> 328 </TR> 329<!-- End of main table --> 330</TABLE> 331 </BODY> 332</HTML>
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