6 ms·

Childhood toys: 40 years on 2-XL works just fine

104 points by jgrahamc 4y ago

heywire 4y ago
Techmoan somewhat recently did a video on the 2xl, including breaking down the various tracks on the 8-track. https://youtu.be/amuRIydCoJk https://youtu.be/amuRIydCoJk
- jgrahamc 4y ago
  That’s cool. In the clip I posted I swear the initial sound effect is actually RTTY. Anyone ever try to decode it?
  - lb1lf 4y ago
    I was thinking the same thing. I am not sure it is 45.45 baud w/170Hz shift (taken from memory) ham RTTY, but I figured I'd run it through a decoder once I got back inside the shack just to see if it is an Easter egg or just random...
    - jgrahamc 4y ago
      Let’s see which one of us gets there first!
    - jgrahamc 4y ago
      I don’t have much time to look deeper but around 3kHz there are two peaks 300Hz apart. Wouldn’t surprise me if there is a signal there and could be ASCII.
    - jgrahamc 4y ago
      https://blog.jgc.org/2022/10/the-hidden-code-inside-2-xls-space-age.html https://blog.jgc.org/2022/10/the-hidden-code-inside-2-xls-sp...
- smcl 4y ago
  One other thing I learned from Techmoan is that one of the few remaining companies making cassette playback mechanisms today is a company called "Tanashin" - and I only bring that up because that name is on a sticker in one of the photos inside this 2-XL in jgrahamc's post.
  - mrob 4y ago
    According to https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-last-cassette-player-standing/ https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-last-cassette-pl... , Tanashin no longer makes tape mechanisms. The so-called "Tanashin" mechanisms found in modern products are actually Chinese mechanisms based on old Tanashin designs.
    - smcl 4y ago
      Ahhh very interesting! I had no idea
    - Aeolun 4y ago
      It looks like Tanashin is out of business now. At least their website returns a 401 and has for the past year or so (according to the internet archive). Last snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20210117133724/https://www.tanashin.co.jp/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210117133724/https://www.tanas...
  - jccalhoun 4y ago
    Another youtuber, VWestlife, has more technical and has talked more about this. As another poster notes most of these are knockoffs and even the motors are knockoffs that go so far as to put the label of a more reputable company on them.
madengr 4y ago
LOL I had one of these. They made them with both red and green LED for the eyes. I only got a Big Trak when I was 40 and they re-released it.
askew 4y ago
I wonder if this acted as some inspiration for the 2-Bit character in Deathloop: the vocals in particular are similar.
leobg 4y ago
Pictures of this old, clunky circuit board bring up fond memories.
nahuel0x 4y ago
Today this will be an app, probably much better in many aspects. But some magic is lost by not being an specific object designed for a single purpose.
- m_t 4y ago
  There are plenty of "Story box" that exist now. Mixed Ng the advantages of an app and the tangibility of a real object. One example I know of: https://lunii.com/en-gb/ https://lunii.com/en-gb/
jvanderbot 4y ago
> On opening 2-XL by removing 13 screws I was ready for an internal mess and had the air duster ready. But the insides were pretty clean for something 44 years old. If you don't have re-circulation / ventilation fans, it really shouldn't get that messy if the exterior case is moderately tight. My image of "old electronics" is mainly from old mainframes / desktops, and those have copious fans to really suck in all the dust and pet hair.
- ilyt 4y ago
  It generally heavily depends on room it is in. My PC at home (no AC, middle of city) pretty much needs yearly dusting, one in office (AC) barely gets any dust, servers in datacenter even less even after near decade of use (we had some legacy stuff)
snickmy 4y ago
There was an Italian equivalent version of this. I don't remember the name but it was grey and blue, and it was sold circa early 90s. It had the exact shape and look of this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/694191660/vintage-1992-tiger-2xl-robot-works https://www.etsy.com/listing/694191660/vintage-1992-tiger-2x.... but without the 2xl logo. Loved how Italy was rebranding everything I had almost worked out myself how it worked by playing those special tape in a normal recorder.
- Sephiroth87 4y ago
  Unless there were weird bootlegs going around, it was still called 2-XL with the same branding (https://youtu.be/aVXwo6raHoA https://youtu.be/aVXwo6raHoA)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
wglass 4y ago
I’m surprised the 8 track cassette was still good. I remember finding an old box of 8 tracks in the late 80s and they were disintegrating. Assumed they weren’t built to last for decade plus. But maybe those were just stored poorly.

104 points by jgrahamc 4y ago

Techmoan somewhat recently did a video on the 2xl, including breaking down the various tracks on the 8-track. https://youtu.be/amuRIydCoJk https://youtu.be/amuRIydCoJk

jgrahamc 4y ago
That’s cool. In the clip I posted I swear the initial sound effect is actually RTTY. Anyone ever try to decode it?
- lb1lf 4y ago
  I was thinking the same thing. I am not sure it is 45.45 baud w/170Hz shift (taken from memory) ham RTTY, but I figured I'd run it through a decoder once I got back inside the shack just to see if it is an Easter egg or just random...
  - jgrahamc 4y ago
    Let’s see which one of us gets there first!
  - jgrahamc 4y ago
    I don’t have much time to look deeper but around 3kHz there are two peaks 300Hz apart. Wouldn’t surprise me if there is a signal there and could be ASCII.
  - jgrahamc 4y ago
    https://blog.jgc.org/2022/10/the-hidden-code-inside-2-xls-space-age.html https://blog.jgc.org/2022/10/the-hidden-code-inside-2-xls-sp...
smcl 4y ago
One other thing I learned from Techmoan is that one of the few remaining companies making cassette playback mechanisms today is a company called "Tanashin" - and I only bring that up because that name is on a sticker in one of the photos inside this 2-XL in jgrahamc's post.
- mrob 4y ago
  According to https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-last-cassette-player-standing/ https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-last-cassette-pl... , Tanashin no longer makes tape mechanisms. The so-called "Tanashin" mechanisms found in modern products are actually Chinese mechanisms based on old Tanashin designs.
  - smcl 4y ago
    Ahhh very interesting! I had no idea
  - Aeolun 4y ago
    It looks like Tanashin is out of business now. At least their website returns a 401 and has for the past year or so (according to the internet archive). Last snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20210117133724/https://www.tanashin.co.jp/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210117133724/https://www.tanas...
- jccalhoun 4y ago
  Another youtuber, VWestlife, has more technical and has talked more about this. As another poster notes most of these are knockoffs and even the motors are knockoffs that go so far as to put the label of a more reputable company on them.

madengr 4y ago

LOL I had one of these. They made them with both red and green LED for the eyes. I only got a Big Trak when I was 40 and they re-released it.

askew 4y ago

I wonder if this acted as some inspiration for the 2-Bit character in Deathloop: the vocals in particular are similar.

leobg 4y ago

Pictures of this old, clunky circuit board bring up fond memories.

nahuel0x 4y ago

Today this will be an app, probably much better in many aspects. But some magic is lost by not being an specific object designed for a single purpose.

m_t 4y ago
There are plenty of "Story box" that exist now. Mixed Ng the advantages of an app and the tangibility of a real object. One example I know of: https://lunii.com/en-gb/ https://lunii.com/en-gb/

jvanderbot 4y ago

> On opening 2-XL by removing 13 screws I was ready for an internal mess and had the air duster ready. But the insides were pretty clean for something 44 years old. If you don't have re-circulation / ventilation fans, it really shouldn't get that messy if the exterior case is moderately tight. My image of "old electronics" is mainly from old mainframes / desktops, and those have copious fans to really suck in all the dust and pet hair.

ilyt 4y ago
It generally heavily depends on room it is in. My PC at home (no AC, middle of city) pretty much needs yearly dusting, one in office (AC) barely gets any dust, servers in datacenter even less even after near decade of use (we had some legacy stuff)

snickmy 4y ago

There was an Italian equivalent version of this. I don't remember the name but it was grey and blue, and it was sold circa early 90s. It had the exact shape and look of this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/694191660/vintage-1992-tiger-2xl-robot-works https://www.etsy.com/listing/694191660/vintage-1992-tiger-2x.... but without the 2xl logo. Loved how Italy was rebranding everything I had almost worked out myself how it worked by playing those special tape in a normal recorder.

Sephiroth87 4y ago
Unless there were weird bootlegs going around, it was still called 2-XL with the same branding (https://youtu.be/aVXwo6raHoA https://youtu.be/aVXwo6raHoA)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

wglass 4y ago

I’m surprised the 8 track cassette was still good. I remember finding an old box of 8 tracks in the late 80s and they were disintegrating. Assumed they weren’t built to last for decade plus. But maybe those were just stored poorly.