The class of semi-boolean \(\ell \) -groups was introduced in 1968 by A. Bigard. These are the \(\ell \) -groups G in which the principal convex \(\ell \) -subgroup G(a) generated by any \(a \in G\) is equal to the polar \(a^{\perp \perp }\) . Examples include all hyperarchimedean \(\ell \) -groups and all existentially closed abelian \(\ell \) -groups. Ordered by inclusion, the set of convex \(\ell \) -subgroups of a semi-boolean \(\ell \) -group is a Martínez frame (an algebraic frame with FIP in which every element is a d-element). Related are the Yosida \(\ell \) -groups, i.e., the \(\ell \) -groups whose frame of convex \(\ell \) -subgroups is a Yosida frame (an algebraic frame with FIP in which every compact element is a meet of maximal elements). Applying results on Martínez frames and Yosida frames, we obtain new characterizations of the semi-boolean and Yosida \(\ell \) -groups, show that the former constitute a radical class and the latter do not, and present new examples with special properties. To build some of our examples, we introduce the \(G+B\) construction for \(\ell \) -groups, an adaptation of the \(A+B\) construction from commutative algebra.