The Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) is a consumer device released by AMD in 2004 to allow people in emerging countries access to the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

. Originally part of AMD's 50x15 Initiative, the PIC has been deployed by

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privatel ...

s (ISPs) in several developing countries. It is based on an AMD

Geode A geode (; ) is a geological secondary formation within sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Geodes are hollow, vaguely spherical rocks, in which masses of mineral matter (which may include crystals) are secluded. The crystals are formed by the fil ...

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, an ...

and uses Microsoft

Windows CE Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products. Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is ba ...

and Microsoft

Internet Explorer 6 Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is a graphical web browser developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems. Released on August 24, 2001, it is the sixth, and by now discontinued, version of Internet Explorer and the successor to Inter ...

. The fanless PC runs the low-power

x86 processor and is equipped with 128 MB DDR memory and a 10 GB 3.5-inch hard drive. The device's price is $185 with a keyboard, mouse, and preinstalled software for basic personal computing and internet/email access and $249 with a monitor included.

Transfer to Data Evolution Corporation

AMD stopped work on the Personal Internet Communicator project after nearly two years of planning and development. In December 2006 AMD transferred PIC manufacturing assets to Data Evolution Corporation and the device was then marketed as the decTOP. The PIC is branded, marketed, and sold by local service providers such as telecommunications companies and government-sponsored communications programs. AMD owns the design of the PIC, but the device is currently manufactured by

Solectron Solectron Corporation was an electronics manufacturing company for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It was the first electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry in 1977. Solectron's first customer designed and distributed an electro ...

, a high volume

contract manufacturing A contract manufacturer (CM) is a manufacturer that contracts with a firm for components or products (in which case it is a turnkey supplier). It is a form of outsourcing. A contract manufacturer performing packaging operations is called copacker ...

specialist. Other companies integrated into the development include Seagate and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

. The ISPs include the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continents ...

(India), CRC (México),

Telmex Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional fixed-line ...

(México), and Cable and Wireless (in the Caribbean).

Technology

Hardware

The device is designed for minimal cost like a consumer audio/video appliance, is not internally expandable, and comes equipped with a minimum set of interfaces which include a VGA graphics display interface, four USB 1.1 ports, a built-in 56 kbit/s ITU v.92 Fax/Modem and an AC'97 audio interface providing sound capabilities. There is also an IDE-connector and the case can house a normal 3.5" HDD.

Hardware specifications

* AMD Geode GX [email protected] processor, 366 MHz clock rate * 128 MBytes DDR RAM (Up to 512 MBytes) * VGA display interface up to 1600x1200 * four USB 1.1 ports * 56 kbit/s ITU v.92 Fax/Modem * AC'97 audio interface * Fanless design.

Electrical specifications

* Input Voltage: 12 VDC (Factory provided AC/DC converter) * Power Dissipation: 8 Watts (plus power supply's own dissipation) * Total power Dissipation: 12.7 Watts @ 100% CPU Load

Software

Firmware

The decTOP's original

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...

does not allow any human interaction during POST at boot time. Therefore, it is not possible to format and re-install any other operating system. Any attempts to install a different OS, even when extracting the disk from the main chassis fail, since BIOS would look for WinCE's main boot file.

Operating system

AMD's PIC 50x15 was originally delivered with Windows CE 5.0 pre-installed in two partitions. The working (bootable) partition was allowed to boot normally, but when it failed, the BIOS would recover the partition's base-installation from a backup recovery disk in a small partition in the disk. When re-flashed with a more forgiving BIOS, the decTOP allows the user to install any x86-compatible operating system desired (32 bits only). It is known to work with any

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

distribution, as well as

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...

and other versions. However, upgrading the unit's main memory to 512 MBytes is recommended for reliable operation.

References

External links

* * {{cite web, title=AMD PIC - From WindowsCE to Linux, url=http://mozy.org/amd-pic/, author=roto, date=August 5, 2007, work=mozy.org Appropriate technology Information appliances Information and communication technologies for development Mobile computers Windows CE devices