The Pepper Pad was a family of Linux-based mobile computers with Internet capability and which doubled as a handheld game console. They also served as a portable multimedia device. The devices used Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies for Internet connection. Pepper Pads are now obsolete, unsupported and the parent company has ceased operations. The original prototype Pepper Pad was built in 2003 with an ARM-based PXA255 processor running at 400Mhz, an 8-inch touchscreen in portrait mode, a split QWERTY keyboard, and Wi-Fi. Only 6 were made, and it was never offered for sale. The Pepper Pad was a 2004 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovations Awards Honoree in the Computer Hardware category. The Pepper Pad 2 was introduced in 2004 with a faster 624Mhz PXA270 processor and the screen was rotated to a landscape format. The Pepper Pad 2 was the first Pepper Pad offered for commercial sale. The Pepper Pad and Pepper Pad 2 both ran Pepper's proprietary Pepper Keeper application on top of a heavily customized version of the Montavista Linux operating system. The Pepper Pad 3 was announced in 2006 with as upgrade to a faster AMD Geode processor. The Pepper Pad 3 also used a smaller 7" screen for cost savings. Like previous versions, the Pepper Pad 3 had a split QWERTY button keyboard, built-in microphone, video camera,

composite video Composite video is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video (typically at 525 lines or 625 lines) as a single channel. Video information is encoded on one channel, unlike the higher-quality S-Video (two channels) a ...

output, and stereo speakers, Infra-Red receiver and transmitter, 800x480 7 inch

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

touchscreen (with stylus), SD/MMC Flash memory slot, 20 or 30 GB hard disk, 256MB RAM, 256KB ROM, and both Wi-Fi (b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0. The Pepper Pad 3 used a heavily customized version of the Fedora Linux operating system called Pepper Linux. Unlike the Pepper Pad 2 which was built and sold directly by Pepper, the Pepper Pad 3 was built and sold under license by Hanbit Electronics.

Support

Pepper Computer, Inc. has ceased operations and is no longer providing support or sales for Pepper Pad web computers or Pepper Linux.

Software

Pepper Pads ran Pepper's "Pepper Keeper" software and suite of applications. Pepper's software was designed to be easy to use, and offered many features later found in devices like the iPhone and Android. The Pepper Keeper's home screen provided large icons for launching applications including a web browser, mail client, chat client, photo viewer, music player, video player, games, and a scrapbooking application. Pepper offered an application store, automatic software updates, and a simple way to share photos, music, and files with friends. The Pepper Keeper ran atop Pepper Linux, Pepper's custom version of the Linux operating system. Pepper Linux was ported to multiple devices including the One Laptop per Child.

Software ported to the Pepper Pad

FCE Ultra FCEUX is an open-source Nintendo Entertainment System and Family Computer Disk System emulator. It is a merger of various forks of FCE Ultra. Multiplayer support The Win32 and SDL versions of FCEUX do not currently support TCP/IP network play f ...

( NES emulator) *

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), originally called Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the crea ...

/ Macromedia Flash 7 * Java * X11 *

GTK+ GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprie ...

* Mozilla Firefox * RealPlayer * Helix * Squeak

Hardware (Pepper Pad 3)

* Mass: 2.1 pounds (985g) * Size: 29 cm x 14.9 cm x 2.3 cm (11.4" x 5.9" x 0.9")

Mainboard

* AMD Geode CPU, 533 MHz clock speed, x86 instruction set with MMX and 3DNow extensions, integrated north bridge, graphics controller and PCI bridge * AMD CS5536 Companion device (south bridge), USB 2.0 / IDE / IR / SMBus / APM interface
Wolfson WM9713
AC97 Audio / Touchscreen interface * 256MB DDR SDRAM (DDR-333 SO-DIMM) * 256KB BIOS ROM * Chrontel CH7013B NTSC/PAL TV signal encoder * IrDA and TvIR emitters/receivers

Subsystems

* Hitachi TravelStar 20GB 1.8" IDE disk drive * Atheros AR2413A-based mini-PCI 802.11b/g WiFi interface, with externally attached antenna (external to the card, internal to the Pepper) * Bluetooth 2.0
AU Optronics A070VW01
7.0" 800x480 TFT LCD * Integrated 62-key clicky keyboard, including 4-way cursor array and scroll wheel * 3800mAh Lithium-Ion Battery * Stereo Speakers * Microphone * 640x480 digital camera, fixed focus

External Ports

* USB 2.0 host port * USB 2.0 device port * 1/8" Stereo headphone out * 1/8" Composite video out * 1/8" Microphone In

Internal Ports

* miniPCI (occupied by WiFi interface) *

JTAG JTAG (named after the Joint Test Action Group which codified it) is an Technical standard, industry standard for verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture. JTAG implements standards for on-chip instrumentation in ele ...

test-access port. * Serial port with console

References

External links

* DOW
Pepper Computer, Inc.
* DOWN 2011-02-2
Hanbit America
hardware manufacturer website *
Archive of Hanbit America
Web archive of hardware manufacturer website * DOWN 2011-0202
Pepper Pad Community Forums
official discussion forums * DOWN 2011-02-2
Pepper Wiki
Pepper Pad information repository *
Web archive of wiki
Archive
Pepper Linux 4.0 Application Launching Preview
(Video) {{Linux devices Handheld game consoles Microsoft Tablet PC Mobile computers Linux-based video game consoles ARM-based video game consoles X86-based game consoles