MessChess

[F.Huber]

Are you considering a direct interface to the Certabo boards?

Well, AFAIK the Certabo team has already added MessChess to their board, but I don't know how well this works.
Since I don't have a Certabo board, of course I can't make any interface to it, and I'm not interested to support
all kinds of existing external board - it's already enough work to write the UCI/WB plugins for the most important
chess GUIs like Arena, WinBoard, Shredder and Hiarcs.

[AdminX]

They don't work in Banksia?

Actually it does appear that it will work in Banksia! Here is how:

Step 1: Goto the \CB-Emu\MessChess\Hiarcs Directory.
Step 2: Run the MakeAll Batch file that is located there, This will create a folder with all of ROM *.bat files.
Step 3: Install any of the Roms via the *.Bat files you just created.



Here is a Screenshot of a quick test, Note it does not display engine output, but you can view it in the Engine Log Window:
https://i.ibb.co/qgGd078/mess.png

[BrendanJNorman]

They don't work in Banksia?

Actually it does appear that it will work in Banksia! Here is how:

Step 1: Goto the \CB-Emu\MessChess\Hiarcs Directory.
Step 2: Run the MakeAll Batch file that is located there, This will create a folder with all of ROM *.bat files.
Step 3: Install any of the Roms via the *.Bat files you just created.



Here is a Screenshot of a quick test, Note it does not display engine output, but you can view it in the Engine Log Window:
https://i.ibb.co/qgGd078/mess.png

Got it working!

Unfortunately, these modules can only play long time controls, as they always lose on time in blitz.

What can you expect from a computer from the 1980s though!

Time for some LTC tourneys.

[F.Huber]

Unfortunately, these modules can only play long time controls, as they always lose on time in blitz.

Sorry, but that's complete nonsense!
All modules have different levels (also for Blitz), but of course YOU have to enter the correct level settings.
And of course you can't just use any pre-defined level of the GUI (e.g. Banksia), because these old engines have their own levels,
so you have to set the level either in the engine itself or in the engine configuration window of the used GUI.

[BrendanJNorman]

Unfortunately, these modules can only play long time controls, as they always lose on time in blitz.

Sorry, but that's complete nonsense!
All modules have different levels (also for Blitz), but of course YOU have to enter the correct level settings.

Thanks, but lol...Why so aggressive?

And of course you can't just use any pre-defined level of the GUI (e.g. Banksia), because these old engines have their own levels,
so you have to set the level either in the engine itself or in the engine configuration window of the used GUI.

Okay. I'll give it a try.

[F.Huber]

Thanks, but lol...Why so aggressive?

What's aggressive in saying the truth?

[mbabigian]

Well, AFAIK the Certabo team has already added MessChess to their board, but I don't know how well this works.

It doesn't work well. From what I read in their forums, I get the impression there is a software board simulator that allows you to write code/test without a board, but I haven't looked into it further. Since the UCI shim that Lars Nowak wrote doesn't seem to work for me (won't see the ID chips), I will look at programming something myself when time allows. Since DGT is supported in Arena and Certabo is the only other board maker I know of, I'll see if I can get something working, as thankfully, "supporting boards" is not necessary, just "board"

Perhaps I'll work on getting one of the existing (and working) GUIs glued to the board with a shim program of my own. The Certabo software is not very pretty, nor does it support full UCI configuration. Using Arena or Shredder, would be much more appealing to me.

All the best,
Mike

[F.Huber]

I know I've asked this before, but is there any likelihood of getting either the Kasparov SPARC or the Franz Morsch machines?

The SparcLite CPU has recently been emulated in MAME, so the Saitek Sparc module is now also available in my CB-Emu package:
https://fhub.jimdofree.com/

[AdminX]

I know I've asked this before, but is there any likelihood of getting either the Kasparov SPARC or the Franz Morsch machines?

The SparcLite CPU has recently been emulated in MAME, so the Saitek Sparc module is now also available in my CB-Emu package:
https://fhub.jimdofree.com/

Thank You.

[GONeill]

Well, AFAIK the Certabo team has already added MessChess to their board, but I don't know how well this works.

It doesn't work well. From what I read in their forums, I get the impression there is a software board simulator that allows you to write code/test without a board, but I haven't looked into it further. Since the UCI shim that Lars Nowak wrote doesn't seem to work for me (won't see the ID chips), I will look at programming something myself when time allows. Since DGT is supported in Arena and Certabo is the only other board maker I know of, I'll see if I can get something working, as thankfully, "supporting boards" is not necessary, just "board"

Perhaps I'll work on getting one of the existing (and working) GUIs glued to the board with a shim program of my own. The Certabo software is not very pretty, nor does it support full UCI configuration. Using Arena or Shredder, would be much more appealing to me.

All the best,
Mike

I know this is an old message, but in case anybody is reading this now and has the same question please note that my drivers support Certabo, DGT, Millennium and Novag Citrine/UCB boards in Arena (and therefore CB-EMU Arena), Shredder and LucasChess. They make the board direct input devices using the DGT eBoard interface rather than acting as UCI engines.
https://goneill.co.nz/chess.php