Nintendo Game Boy Printer
Nearly all of my past “Zscaler Logo on a Weird, Old or Obsolete Device” posts have been inspired by whatever weird, old or obsolete gadget I happened to be tinkering with at that time. However, during my recent guest spot on the (excellent!) PEBCAK podcast, the gauntlet was thrown down by our own Christopher Louie, CISSP: he wanted to see the Zscaler logo printed on a Nintendo Game Boy Printer!
It took some work to make this happen - here’s a quick summary of the steps involved:
Locate one of my original Game Boys and do some minor repair work (the battery terminals were badly corroded)
Find my old Game Boy Printer in my storage locker
Discover that my old Game Boy Printer is totally dead and will need a full repair / restoration
Replace Game Boy Printer from eBay
Realize that I’d somehow lost the rare/unusual/custom cable needed to connect the Game Boy to the Game Boy Printer
Spend a week searching online for a replacement cable
Purchase replacement cable
Realize that I’d purchased the wrong kind of replacement cable (I bought the one for the later Game Boy Color, which uses a different plug vs. the original / 1st-gen Game Boy seen here)
Purchase another cable
Discover that my entire hoard of ~30 year old Nintendo-brand thermal paper has lost its ability to hold an image due to age (the Game Boy Printer doesn’t use ink - instead, it heats the paper which is coated with a thermally-sensitive material that turns black when heated, but that material apparently loses sensitivity after 3 decades sitting in a box)
Scour the Internet until I find a supplier of thermally-sensitive receipt-printer paper that is the correct width for the Game Boy Printer
Use my Game Boy Camera to shoot a photo of the Zscaler Logo being displayed on my computer monitor
Print the logo!
See, nothing to it! Happy Friday, everyone!
