What about a 790 toy?
quote[quote] It would be REALLY cool if you could hook it up to a computer network and reprogram it. [/quote]
Exactly! Flashcard memory is cheap and getting cheaper every month. To re-program it wouldnt be that difficult for an end user.
quote[quote] it would be much better to have Jeffrey Hirschfield do the voices and the lips specially for the toy. [/quote]
Totally! Jeff has a twisted mind, he can add his own one-liners and zingers on the fly.
quote:
* small stereo speakers with standard plug for connection to laptop CPU
Dont need stereo, mono would do just fine.
quote[quote] * parts for panel of switches and buttons that connect to the parallel port(?) of the laptop CPU [/quote]
USB is easier to access, but serial ports are cheaper and more common on mini-motherboards.
quote[quote] * CD-ROM with 790 program, animation, sound samples, and instruction manual [/quote]
Well, it doesnt need to have animated eyes or mouth. You need LCD screens for that, which would drive up the price. But a CD-ROM instruction and sound samples would lower the cost (no need to print out a manual).
I guess you could make it a model kit, thin plastic, hollow center making it lightweight and containing enough room for a microprocessor, speakers, or whatever you would need.
quote[quote] I don’t know much about programming or engineering, but I think that such a kit might be easy enough for me to assemble. Granted that I have good instructions! [/quote]
But as a kit, it might be a might more exspensive than 50$. The biggest problem is that you would need to make your own Operating System to handle everything. Im sure Linux would be good for this, but you would have to open the source to everyone.
Id love to put this ontop of my PC while playing games, having 790 as a constant nagging machine would be hilarous. I WANT MORE ABUSE!!
[ 27-03-2002: Message edited by: Evil_Lister ]