Gameboy Advance Users to Get Bluetooth Internet

AEton writes "According to this Extremetech article, X-Tra Fun has developed a Bluetooth module for the Gameboy Advance which is expected to ship by Christmas 2003. The $49 module includes Bluetooth connectivity, although a cellphone or other Bluetooth device with Internet access is required to use the Internet, and it comes with an embedded eCos Linux kernel with a Web browser and 255 pages' worth of cache. A $99 upgrade adds a Secure Digital card slot and a dongle!"

Comments

bluetooth compatibility

[smeenz]

It will be interesting to see if this works with nokia's bluetooth phones. My experience with them, and a number of google hits suggests that nokia bluetooth only talks reliably to nokia bluetooth

eCos isn't Linux

[Rheingold]

eCos is an embedded kernel that was developed by Cygnus, now owned by Red Hat. However, it is NOT a Linux kernel (although the userland tools are probably all GNU).

Another Internet OS for the GBA

[Anonymous Coward]

There is another Internet OS that currently is being ported to the GBA called Contiki. It currently features a lot of what it to be expected of a modern OS such as multitasking, TCP/IP support, web browser, screensavers, etc. Still, it only requires no more than 50k and ought to be a lot faster than eCos.

My fault

[AEton]

I read the article; it said "Embedded in the module is an embedded eCos embedded Linux kernel" -- but it's quite likely that author Mark Hachman doesn't understand this discrepancy. Sure fooled me. If you're concerned about the misattribution, he's probably the person to contact about it -- again, that's Mark Hachman, Mark_Hachman@ziffdavis.com.

Re:Dongle?

[jshare]

You lie.

Well, ok, you are probably just misinformed.

Re:Nice

[davidstrauss]

Gonna be a HUGE annoyance browsing without a keyboard and backlight screen.

GBA SP has a backlit screen.

Re:What's the range?

[Locutus]

How come I have a 100 meter Bluetooth WAP here on the desk then? You are wrong rzbx, Bluetooth spec allows for 3 cleasses/ranges:

Class 1 : 100 meters
Class 2 : 10 meters
Class 3 : 2 meters

I've used Bluetooth to get an internet connection with a Bluetooth WAP( using the LAN Profile ), connected to the my local LAN via a Bluetooth connection to my Linux PC( using the Serial Prifile and ppp ), and finally, connected to a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone for internet connectivity( using the DUN Profile ).

People really need to understand that Bluetooth is not for just connecting a headset to a phone 1 meter away.

And I've not even started messing the PAN( Personal Area Network ).

LoB