PepperPad
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Hanbit's Pepper Pad 3 returns with Intel's Atom inside
Whoa, has it been a hot minute since we've seen a Pepper Pad 3 or what? Straight from the depths of left field comes Hanbit's Pepper Pad 3, this time with a slightly more adept processor at the helm. Reportedly showcased ever-so-quietly at Computex (alongside a Tablet PC prototype), this critter was purportedly packing an Intel Atom CPU and a Linux-based OS. Further specifications included a 7-inch VGA touchscreen, QWERTY (loose interpreters, we see) keypad, integrated WiFi and a 20GB / 30GB hard drive. Not a clue when this thing is scheduled to slip out, but it will certainly give the Everun a run for its money in the ugly department.
Pepper Computer: "we're not dead"
Pepper Computer, manufacturer of the original Pepper Pads and developer of the Pepper Linux OS, has admittedly seen better days. After months of silence from the firm's executives led forum members to write the company off as dead, CEO Len Kawell has finally responded to users' pleas and posted a summary of Pepper's current state of affairs -- but not before we left a message at headquarters stating our intentions to write up a deathwatch piece this week. According to Kawell, both the OS and Pepper Pad 3 -- which is manufactured and supported by Hanbit -- are still alive and well, though poor sales of Pepper-powered OEM devices have meant declining revenue for the company -- resulting in what sounds like considerable downsizing. At this point, without the money to pay developers, Pepper is looking to either sell its distro or open source it, although even the latter route requires resources that seem to be in very short supply right now. If you're looking to contribute to the project in some way, make sure to chime in by clicking on the Read link; you can help them out and help save us from having to pen yet another teary corporate obituary at the same time.[Thanks, moorashj]
The 2006 Engadget Awards: Vote for Handheld of the Year
Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Handheld of the Year! (For reference: yeah, we're including UMPCs in the Handhelds category.) Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Sunday, April 15th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: Asus R2H, Pepper Pad 3, Samsung Q1P, Sony Mylo, Sony Reader PRS-500, and Sony VAIO UX280P. %Poll-305%
H9 UMPC runs Linux
So, Vistagami isn't really your thing, and that Pepper Pad line never really caught your eye. Beijing Peace East Technology Development, Inc. is taking another shot your UMPC dollar with its new H9 7-incher. BPETD is calling this one the "world's first" Linux UMPC, and while we assume Pepper might take issue with that statement, there's no denying that this one would look quite at home among a lineup of Origami units. Unfortunately, a Linux OS isn't the only difference between the H9 and its Windows-based counterparts. Under the hood there's a mere 520MHz Intel PXA270 processor, 20GB HDD, 64MB ROM and 128MB of SDRAM, though connectivity is decidedly spiffier, with GPS, WiFi, GPRS / CDMA, PCMCIA and SD card support. The 7-inch touchscreen runs at a respectable 800 x 480, and the usual accouterments of headphone jack, microphone and built-in speakers are included. The OS purports to feature all those snazzy functions you might need from such a handheld, but from the looks of things it isn't incredibly polished. Of course, we have no idea if we'll be even seeing this thing outside its native China anyways, or how much it might cost were it to make it to these shores.
Pepper folks shake a little software onto the OLPC
The OLPC kids seem pretty set on their "Sugar" GUI, with its complete disregard for traditional UI forms in search of a new, kid-friendly OS experience. However, there's a new game in town, in the form of Pepper Computer, which has ported its Pepper Pad OS over to those brightly colored XO machines. The port makes plenty of sense, since Pepper's own computers run on similar AMD Geode procs, and both OSes are similarly based on Linux. Pepper Pad was also initially built with younger users in mind, and given the fact that Pepper's OS is quite a bit more mature than OLPC's current offering, it's hard not get attached to the idea. Of course, the absence of a touch screen on the XO might put a bit of a damper on things, but it seems the trackpad can take over just fine in its absence. It doesn't seem like this new development will have much effect on the OLPC project as it relates to those millions of laptops NickNeg is hoping to ship to kiddies in developing countries, but it's nice to know we'll have such an OS option when we snag our own XO off eBay.
Pepper Computer announces Pepper Pad 3
Hard to believe there was a first and second Pepper Pad (wait, there weren't two, unless you count that Pepper Pad Plus, which we don't), but it looks like with the recent upgrade to the Pepper Platform 3 comes the Pepper Pad 3 as well. Users can look forward to 50 percent longer battery life (supposedly), faster WiFi (802.11g this time, we presume), an integrated webcam, UPnP support, and a new AMD Geode LX 800 0.9 watt processor (instead of Intel's 624MHz Xscale PXA270). It's supposed to launch in August for $699 -- less than before -- but unless they do something about that cripplingly bad keyboard, unresponsive touchscreen, and dearth of applications developed for the "Web player," we can't imagine this one being any more successful than its predecessor(s).
