Plug-and-play Pippin - Macintosh Garden

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2011, May 11 - 1:54am

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Joined: 2009 Nov 14

Plug-and-play Pippin

OK, this is just a pipe dream of mine, but you know how in recent years, there's been plug-and-play Atari and Commodore consoles, which have built-in games but the original circuitry (they can be modified to play actual games). Wouldn't it be cool if Apple licensed out the Pippin (the Macintosh-based video game console) to be basically a plug-and-play Macintosh, with games from the 1990s? And not just Pippin games (almost none, and none memorable), I'm talking good Mac games.

Unfortunately, I think Macintosh games of the vintage variety don't have the same nostalgia power of Atari and Commodore, plus Apple doesn't want to dilute its current brand.

But hey, I can dream, right?

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2011, May 11 - 11:23pm

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

That, my friend, is a fantastic idea. There was a recent Sega MegaDrive (+ master system) released here -- black, sleek with 2 wireless controllers, for about $59AUS, and it plays original carts!!!

This would also need Motorola's OK, as they would need to licence (recreate) the hardware.

With Apple holding onto its source code like its children, we will never see this in our lifetimes...

2012, April 17 - 1:47pm

Temporary Joe

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Joined: 2009 Nov 14

I wanted to come back to this idea, and it could work, but only if heavily modified. The new Pippin would not have much of the Pippin logo (the Internet has taken care of that) and no Apple logo at all, and would be redesigned from the original Pippin. The design would be slimmed down somehow: maybe to the size of a PowerBook of the time. Rather than the paltry 5MB total, it would be maybe 64/128MB, with an additional 500MB for storage. GeoPort and AppleTalk will be scrapped for a standard Ethernet cable, and there will be a PCI slot for other purposes, which will be room for licensed add-ons. It would have a 68k co-processor to maintain compatibility with older applications, be able to boot up the Mac OS without much trouble (no hacking required), and of course, lots of CD releases that would be from the Mac OS's best days. Like the original Pippin, these also run as Mac apps, and also like the Pippin, they come with an optimized version of the Mac OS so you don't need to fiddle with extensions.

The problem would be pricing it so it becomes an appealing budget alternative to the PS3/Wii/360.

2012, April 18 - 8:57am

SwedeBear

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Joined: 2009 Apr 18

Sell it as a kit? 'Build-it-yourself-thingy' shipped in various step of completeness.
Else; do it as MoBo to be fitted in an empty shell of buyer's choice. Really sweet would be in dimensions of a Classic Mac/PowerBook.