It was the first processor to use the PowerPC architecture and was designed primarily for low-end and portable applications. It was manufactured at an IBM facility at the 500-nm process technology node. Compare that with processors today being made at 45 nm and you can see how far the industry has come.
Also on the board was a device with package markings from BrookTree, which was acquired by Rockwell Semi in 1996 and is now known as Conexant. This RGB to NTSC/PAL digital video encoder revealed Apple's lofty intentions to market the product not only in Japan and North America but in Europe, Africa, parts of South America and possibly Greenland.
Next we see some design wins for Samsung, showing how far back the Korean company has had an association with Apple for its memory components. With the KM416C1204AJ and KM416C254BJ, we have two variations of 4M(256K x 16)-bit DRAM EDO memory devices.
More on board
Moving along the Pippin board, we see a device labeled "Crystal." Crystal, a Cirrus Logic brand, provided the CS4217-KL. This part served as the (probably 16-bit) audio codec for the Pippin until it was discontinued in 1998. Variations of this same codec later found themselves in Apple's innovative iMac G3 home computer.
The Zilog Z85C3008VSC was the CMOS SCC (Serial Communications Controller), which was optimized for non-multiplexed bus processors (giving more insight into the IBM processor itself). This low-power device acted as the host controller for the internal 14.4-kbit/second modem. For Internet protocol fans, this device supported the daisy-chain hierarchy of interrupts. This was another design win for this SC controller, as the Z85 had found a home on Apple's discontinued Newton PDAs.
Another device that found its way from the Newton to the Pippin was the AMD AM29F010, a 1-Mbit CMOS sector erase flash. This memory served as the Pippin's ROM.
Lastly, we see a practice on this board that Apple uses to this day. The act of using non-descriptive package markings with the "Apple" name on it occurred in 1995 as it does today in 2008. This particular device labeled with "343-S1125," however, had the telltale Texas Instruments logo. Having the experts at Semiconductor Insights do a decap of the package confirmed a TI device that was the I/O controller for the Pippin.
