Collectors Corner: Paris 07, the full truth about the RISC 1

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HoodooGuru

Collectors Corner: Paris 07, the full truth about the RISC 1

Post by HoodooGuru »

Hi everybody,

as there are already many speculations around about the next weekends big event in France of whether of not there will be especially modified/tuned versions of our beloved dedicated machines starting, here comes the full story of the the Mephisto RISC 1, which I will be operating.

I got the RISC module set about 1,5 years ago as a vintage gift from my friend Eric (thanks again for it). The point was that it was not working any more, it was just trying to boot and did not start. Moreover, 4 of the 6 LEDs were white/yellow (TRN, INFO, LEV) or did not work at all (FCT) I guess due to quite heavy usage before. All in all even the shell was more or less totally damaged and just hold together with plastic tape.

So I decided to clean everything up and send the defective module to Arno Kreuzberg, who really could get back everything to a functional state after changing a couple of ICs and some weeks of work. He did quite a good job and I ordered also one of his new display modules. Still the issue with the LEDs remained...

As about 4 weeks ago it appeared that I will play with the RISC (as Alain decided to come with his new SPARC module) I said to myself that in view of the highly recognised competitors that I cannot show up with these nasty LEDs. So last week I decided to replace them and put eveything in a new shell. I added some wiring to the parts which did not work and now I have again a fully working RISC module. The red LEDs are so bright now that I guess all opponents will fall into total agony once I'll switch it on :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: .

So my question to the holy hall of dedicated machine judges. Does this RISC count as modified or not :wink: :wink: ?

no RISC no FUN regards
Stefan
Steve B

Re: Collectors Corner: Paris 07, the full truth about the RI

Post by Steve B »

hi Stefan

i am happy to hear Eric sent you this wonderful gift
i am also happy to read that you are admitting this problem BEFORE the actual tournament takes place rather then after

once the tournament photos would be released then the modified Risc would be known and a scandal could not then be avoided
(similar to Erlenbach 06 where a Fidelity Mach III tried to masquerade as a Mach I)

I Quote from the ..Collectors Handbook(King James Version- Unabridged)...
chapter 7..MODIFICATIONS Paragraph 6..

normal and required repairs to a dedicated chess computer ..in and of itself.. does not constitute a modification


so you repairing the LEDS and other components is acceptable

HOWEVER...

the telling point of the modification of course is the modified display module ...

your words...and i quote ...

I ordered also one of his new display modules.

therefore it can only be assumed the display module is not the REQUIRED Mephisto 16/32 BIT?:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 0515702/99

now the whole module set itself is in doubt...

can i ask you...

is your program module this one?

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 789041/100

or this one...
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 0032191/94

have a close look
they are both officially released by Mephisto but they are different

if you have the proper program and keyboard modules then we can work around the modified display module problem by allowing you to either use a normal display module or you can play without any display module at all

:wink: Regards
Steve
HoodooGuru

Re: Collectors Corner: Paris 07, the full truth about the RI

Post by HoodooGuru »

Steve,

as an honest man of course I put all things on the table before the scandal rises up. :lol:

To clarify the things: I have the 2nd version of the RISC program module you showed, you can find an actual picture here. I agree that it is not the required 16/32 Bit version, but I have another one like this with the original label, of course. I guess this should be ok.

take it or leave it :wink: :wink: :wink: regards
Stefan
Alainza

Re: Collectors Corner: Paris 07, the full truth about the RI

Post by Alainza »

Nice display module :wink:

See you next week regards,

Alain