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

Another aid...

[aeinome]

...for all those n00bs who can't get past the first level... easy GameFAQs access!

Finally!!!1

[riotstarter]

Finally, porn on the gameboy!
Thank Jebus.

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).

ooooo a dongle.

[Neophytus]

Just looked at the demo. The interface looks rather... painful. Give me a PDA any day.

Why?

[L-Train8]

Okay, why you would want to browse on your gameboy vs. your PDA or cell phone is beyond me. For the same cost you can get a device designed for wireless web access, with much better UI and button layout. The main advantage I see in this technology would be for wireless multiplayer games, and they have zero developer support for that. According to their website, they are taking applications from developers. Without some seriously good game support, no one is going to buy this.

I don't see this being purchased by more than just a few hobbyists who love to use Linux on weird platforms.

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.

MMMORPG

[birdman666]

So now we can have Mobile Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, and geeks can get a tan!

Re:MMMORPG

[bigattichouse]

Wow, too bad we can't put GPS on it, and make a MMPRPG that maps to the real world!... so as you walk around the real world, you have a "window" into the game... so I see you have one, and we can do battle, or some such... put some "god" users to walk around and create the world (like tunnels where there are real subways, etc.) Sort of a geocaching+multiplayer... now all you need is a pair of HUD glasses to make a completely nerd-immersion game! And you could "disoconnect" the map so you can wander around without needing to actually walk anywhere. That could be really cool.

Re:MMMORPG

[moosesocks]

Good God!

Real life RPG? How the hell are we supposed to do:
combat?
spell casting?
necromancy?

and all while in an active subway tunnel?

*moosesocks attacks bigattichouse with battle axe: initial D4 roll: 2 *miss*
*wait two turns*
*a subway is approaching
*D6 roll: 1: *hit* (is a miss even possible without some sort of "fly" spell?)
*ananymoose has been killed by a subway car

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.

Nice

[FrostedWheat]

$49, $99,. hmmm how much is a Gameboy Advance these days. $69.99 on amazon.com.

$217.99 total.

For a little more, you'd be better of with the Zaurus SL-5500. If you have the Gameboy Advance already tho, it might be worth it. Gonna be a HUGE annoyance browsing without a keyboard and backlight screen.

Plus Doom look so much better on the Zaurus :)

Re:Nice

[davidstrauss]

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

GBA SP has a backlit screen.

Multi-player?

[CleverNickName]

FINALLY! I can win in an online game.

I challenge any of those 14 year-old kids who own me in CS to face me in . . . Tetris!

Muwahahahaha!!!

Ooh goody

[SomeOtherGuy]

How cool...I can setup a wireless lan to my Laptop and setup and setup my new $700 dollar blue tooth enabled Ipaq to take forwarded packets from the bluetooth on the Laptop -- and then forward the packets so I can browse the web in real style on my Gameboy. Cool -- Every generation gets you a smaller screen and less disk space.....Now only if I could forward the packets from my gameboy to my cellphone....Hot damn -- I need to get me one of them new fangled blue tooth enabled cellphones...and then the circle of degradation and the quest for the smallest screen and suckiest input method will be complete.

It burns it burns!

[FrostedWheat]

Without the backlight screen, I might just be able to read games.slashdot.org without getting a headache!

This is gonna be great!

ah.. 255 pages of cache

[ewhenn]

That equates to roughly 18 pictures of color pron!

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