I can't tell what kind of cable it uses to interface with the computer. I know it can't be, but it *really* looks like a USB cable.
The keyboard is connected through the GB's IIRC soft serial port (very very slow). My guess is that this comes with a BASIC interpreter or something and turns the GB into a portable 80's style microcomputer with PC link for retrieving data. I think this would have been really cool... Shame every console, especially SNES, didn't have a workstation addon or I'd have had learned low level computing at a more tender age
Hell, it would be a cool little gadget having around. Just like the family basic package, nothing seems to be more nerdy, than having a basic compiler and a keyboard to a handheld . Die reinste Freude ist die Schadenfreude.... and why is the purest joy the malicious joy ? I know it is a saying, but still it makes me wonder wildly offtopic.
There are studies that show that schadenfreude registers in fMRI scans of the brain. You get a physical joy reaction (release of chemicals in the brain) from certain pains (usually to others), so it's not purely psychological. Anyways, that is a really cool little thing. Would be interesting to see more about that company.
Hi, I noticed that that Work Boy image was popping up in my web server logs, so I just wanted to give some more info for anybody who's interested. The article was actually from a UK magazine called Game Zone (April 92 issue). I don't think it ran very long, but it wasn't a bad magazine. Anyway, I managed to find the issue over the weekend, so I've scanned in the whole article. It's got more info on the developers, plus details about the software side of it and some more images of the hardware. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 I really wanted one of them at the time, as a result of seeing that article, but I never managed to find one anywhere. I'm not sure if they ever actually got released (at least in the UK).
I would love to get one too, since it is such a sweet looking geeky and awesomely nerdy thing too. Heck can you imagine the fun of it to the next old school coding party ? going totally basic with such a wonder ? To me it will just scream out some serious crazy stuff. But at the same, it is an exciting little gadget. And perhaps even have a family basic competition with that too, to some future demo party of some sort ? Anyway I am rambling a bit, but hey it is fun some times doing that.
What I am saying is, I think that gadget rocks. And I think it would be awesome to get some kind of BASIC code demo party with different gadgets. Such as the Workboy, if it has a basic coder in it. And somebody could make a compiler to the famicom BASIC package (it could be an open source compiler to many OS´s) . So you could in reality code a NES/Famicom rom in famicom basic. And let the old school times roll. Is that clear enough ?
I remember a keyboard unit for the Gameboy. I have a vague recollection of it being used for some translation software, but it might be that it was just in a clearance offer next to it. I saw it in a Littlewoods store sometime in the 90s. If anyone wants a GB keyboard, I think Jeff Frohwein made a circuit to adapt a PC keyboard...
From Wikipedia: "The Work Boy was a rare accessory for the Game Boy. It included a mini keyboard that plugged into the link cable outlet. The Work Boy cartridge included such programs as a clock, calendar, measurement conversion, and a phone book." I see no mention of anything BASIC related, oh well.
i own a weird agenda-like cart for the gameboy (monochrome) - of course the battery is long dead and it wont remember anything when you shut it off, but it's still pretty cool to mess about with. Can't recall its name or where I ve put it though PS: there's no keyboard needed for my cart though and it looks nothing like the item depicted.
It's a shame this unit wasn't more widespread as it would have been awesome to have for homebrew apps for the GB. :drool: Might have seen that in some GB magazine I own.
