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I spent a good part of my only-child-childhood with this "robot" called 2-XL from Mego Corporation - I buy old ones off eBay for parts / projects and I finally got around to starting my 2-XL laptop bag project. I bought this green bag specifically because it was "2-XL green" and started to outfit it with the face plate from a broken bot.
The lights light up for now and eventually they'll only light up when there is a free open Wi-Fi hotspot.
Future versions may use the magnetic tape as fabric and other parts to really geek out...
From Wikipedia "2-XL, in its initial release, was an educational 8-Track based toy, in the shape of a robot that was introduced originally in 1978. 2-XL was the brainchild of Dr. Michael J. Freeman who felt that toys should be both fun and educational at the same time. By utilizing the various tracks on the magnetic audio tapes he could make the toy both interactive and fun for the would be kids at home playing with it.
Even the name, 2-XL, has a double meaning. One to sound like that of a Sci-Fi type robot and it also is supposed to sound like it is said, "To Excel" meaning that this robot will offer education and knowledge.
The toy was released in two different time periods. The original release in 1978 was produced by a toy company called Mego Corporation. It would later be brought back onto the market in 1992 by Tiger Electronics with an updated look and used cassette tapes rather than 8-Track."
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My 2-XL is still sitting in the basement. I loved that toy. I can almost hear it saying "please push...the question button...now"
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yah, the little voice in my head is the 2-xl voice, and it's always telling me to "press the question button"... now.
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Wow! Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these........
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It's nothing more than an 8-track tape player, there is not computing power in the thing.
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it was a kid's toy and a good one at that. you can play the tapes on an 8-track player, you cannot actually "choose" the right answers... so it's a little more than just a player, but it's a lot less than a gameboy for sure (it's too bad there aren't more educational games for the gameboy)...
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I used to play the tapes on an 8-track player when I didn't feel like getting the robot out. Every 8-track player had a "track" button to change to the next track, and 4 track-select buttons weren't uncommon.
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neat, i never had a 4 button 8-track, but i did listen to the tapes all the way through once and awhile.
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Oh, I had one of these. It was such a blast! The little guy would make silly punny jokes, and laugh in an electronic voice... Of course, it was really just an 8-track player, and pushing the button at the right time jumped you to a different track. I don't know how the cassette tape re-issue worked... It was a brilliant use of the technology. We always marvelled at what kind of algorithm would be needed to fit all the questions/answers onto the tape at the right spots!
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I just followed the Virtual 2-XL link from this page. I ended up wasting so much time on that site.
I had some tapes that aren't on the site yet and I should have them somewhere. I need to look for them and submit them.
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