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Comment by slantyyz | Hacker News Reader

It would be cool if the crank was also used to charge the device's battery.

Apparently the issue is torque for such things, the OLPC was originally going to have a crank but the force was too much for the laptop body to take long term.

OLPC would have needed a lot more power than this device, plus due to its small size the whole thing could be machined aluminium.

Especially if there's games that utilise the mechanic. could just have a much lower torque (and therefore lower-current-generation) since it's going to be used a lot. Missed opportunity.

They need to put a handle on it. Then it could be like those handheld fishing games.

https://www.amazon.com/Radica-Games-Bass-Fishing-Handheld/dp...

It was removed because it wasn't going to generate enough power without cranking it constantly. And the ergonomics weren't great for kids. They did end up making an add-on crank at one point, but I don't think it ever was widely distributed

Is OLPC still around? I feel like I haven't heard much of anything about it for quite a few years.

Maybe at this point it's supplanted by smartphones?

that's what i thought it was for, and then maybe it could be used to charge something else with crank-power through usb

Yeah same here. I'm not sure I really buy it as control mechanism for playing though.

It looks uncomfortable to spin the crank while using the other controls, which means you’d want it to be used exclusively if at all.

There was a great fishing mini game in one of the N64 Zelda titles.

This crank would have ruled.

I had one of those dedicated fishing games back in the day with a crappy LCD display and a crank. Played it to death.

https://i.imgur.com/tdESids.jpg

The Dreamcast had a game and controller to go with it.

https://i.imgur.com/6AGrtRy.jpg

Ahh, the Dreamcast. I love those consoles. Recently picked up one basically new. It's archived for the grandkids, along with some 8 bit machines and a six switch Atari VCS (2600).

In a few years, we are going to revisit the golden era again, and it's going to be as fun as it was last time.

I've seen those things. Had no idea they were that engaging.

The Digital Crown on Apple Watch is a thing though. I’m ready to give it the benefit of doubt.

Most apps don’t use it and Watch OS 2 introduced the ability to scroll with your finger instead of the crown, since no one was using it

I'm surprised you say that - I have an Apple Watch and I genuinely love the ability to scroll with the crown - I don't block the display with my finger and I get tactile feedback.

I’m more concerned with how long this thing is going to last.

I view it more as a collectible art piece that you can interact with.

Yeah, if the crank charged the device, it would have been an instant buy for me.

Ditto. Missed opportunity to charge while you interact. Imagine if the buttons also squeezed out charge as you hit them. Would be a fun concept.

it wouldn't be a meaningful amount of charge. same with solar panels on electric cars.

Not a meaningful amount of charge from gameplay, I agree. But it could have a "charging mode" where the screen goes off and you just turn the crank for 5-10 minutes to get a substantial charge because it already has the hardware thingie built-in.

You overestimate how much energy you get from cranking

Tell that to the Boeing 737 Max geniuses that included a handcrank to restart the engines.

The crank looks a bit delicate for this purpose and I can imagine its lifetime would dramatically decrease for no real benefit.

That was my first thought as well. But would it actually be practical? Anyone have an educated guess as to how much cranking it'd take to get 30 minutes of play time?

Optional power drill adapter.

Though, if the drill isn't gas-powered, this would be kind of silly.

Optional bicycle adapter!

I thought at first that was the only reason to have the crank.

Would not work very well, you can only produce a few watts of power with a crank. And I bet it consumes tens of watts of power.

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