Ubuntu ARM64 for chess?

[AlexChess]

Hi!
Have you a link for cutechess and cutechess-cli ARM64 binaries? I've fount it here, but it is expired.
I'll tell you if it works also on Ubuntu ARM64 under Parallels Desktop M1

Thanks!
AlexChess

I thought you wanted to compile by yourself. Are you having issues compiling Cutechess or Banksia ? The hardest part is to install Qt dependencies. Otherwise, I can't see why the platform (ARM instead of amd64) would make a difference.

Thank you! Now I have it working on Ubuntu ARM64 under Apple Parallels Desktop M1 (if someone needs it just ask ) thanks to cpeters

[jshriver]

Thank you! Now I have it working on Ubuntu ARM64 under Apple Parallels Desktop M1 (if someone needs it just ask ) thanks to cpeters

That's wonderful, so your using this on your M1 was wondering which ARM you were running Ubuntu. I cant wait to buy parallels and get my Mac m1.

Recently picked up a 2nd Raspbery Pi4, with only 2gigs ram this time. Wonderful little machines.

[AlexChess]

...Instead I'm interested to buy a Raspberry PI4, too. 20-30 years ago I was a chess computer dedicated Satek-Kasparov-Mephisto dealer, I do not understand why someone don't continue to produce them using powerful raspberry-like hardware, selling master level affordable 100$ sensory chessboards connectable also to PC & MAC if you wold reach SuperGM 3000+ ELO, instead of buiding 1800 Elo toys still using H8 CPUs . Weak toys that I find today Googling

[jshriver]

I'm tinkering with streaming and doing a test stream now. PI4Chess requested a tournament match amongst the various pi engines, so going to give that a try and stream it.

Feel free to watch.

[mvanthoor]

...Instead I'm interested to buy a Raspberry PI4, too. 20-30 years ago I was a chess computer dedicated Satek-Kasparov-Mephisto dealer, I do not understand why someone don't continue to produce them using powerful raspberry-like hardware, selling master level affordable 100$ sensory chessboards connectable also to PC & MAC if you wold reach SuperGM 3000+ ELO, instead of buiding 1800 Elo toys still using H8 CPUs . Weak toys that I find today Googling

Millennium Chess: https://computerchess.com/en/

Back to the 80's. They are basically a reboot of H&G's Mephisto (even the font type is the same), and they use the same software. It's basically the Mephisto computers of the late 80's repackaged into new hardware.

The dedicated hardware such as the Exclusive or Exclusive Deluxe is WAY too expensive. I'd much rather have a DGT-board and the Limited Edition clock, and a Raspberry Pi in a nice case. Oh... wait. I have that. Twice. The board is tournament size, and I can completely control it myself. I built my own Picochess image from scratch, compiled my own engines for it (including my own engine), and created my own opening books using the Classical games from the free Lichess databases.

The DGT Pi is a nice piece of kit, but I don't like the fact that it needs additional software to get the Pi and clock to communicate. This software is finicky. I'd rather keep everything independent, so I can swap the Pi out for any other computer I want.

[AlexChess]

...Instead I'm interested to buy a Raspberry PI4, too. 20-30 years ago I was a chess computer dedicated Satek-Kasparov-Mephisto dealer, I do not understand why someone don't continue to produce them using powerful raspberry-like hardware, selling master level affordable 100$ sensory chessboards connectable also to PC & MAC if you wold reach SuperGM 3000+ ELO, instead of buiding 1800 Elo toys still using H8 CPUs . Weak toys that I find today Googling

Millennium Chess: https://computerchess.com/en/

Back to the 80's. They are basically a reboot of H&G's Mephisto (even the font type is the same), and they use the same software. It's basically the Mephisto computers of the late 80's repackaged into new hardware.

The dedicated hardware such as the Exclusive or Exclusive Deluxe is WAY too expensive. I'd much rather have a DGT-board and the Limited Edition clock, and a Raspberry Pi in a nice case. Oh... wait. I have that. Twice. The board is tournament size, and I can completely control it myself. I built my own Picochess image from scratch, compiled my own engines for it (including my own engine), and created my own opening books using the Classical games from the free Lichess databases.

The DGT Pi is a nice piece of kit, but I don't like the fact that it needs additional software to get the Pi and clock to communicate. This software is finicky. I'd rather keep everything independent, so I can swap the Pi out for any other computer I want.

Cool!
Could you add an image or your wonderful chess kit?
My granddaughter has donated a 37€ Lexibook electronic chessboard to her husband (I suggested it) and it seems very good for the price, but the 80's wooden chessboards were really nice. I had in my home a Kasparov Renaissance, a Mephisto Roma 68020 and a Fidelity Elite A/S. I'd like to find something similar today, but with a good processor inside and/or PC / Mac connections

[mvanthoor]

Cool!
Could you add an image or your wonderful chess kit?

Sure. I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea, because it takes quite some space. My DGT board is on a dedicated table though: it sits there forever. It's the Walnut board (because that's the only one without lettering), with the Timeless pieces (because I don't want completely black pieces, and I don't like the huge fat knight in the Royal set).

The board has 5.5cm squares, and the pieces are size 6 (King is 95mm tall). This is the only size DGT has.

The clock is the DGT 3000 Limited Edition with wooden look. (It's still plastic, though. When it was released, I had hoped it was of real wood, with a real LCD-display with backlight, but no; it's still the 80's segmented display. The wood-print does look a LOT better than the plasticky red version though.)

The computer is a Raspberry Pi 4, in an Argon ONE case (which has an on/off button), running my own custom image based on RaspberryPi OS.

The setup is controlled by setting up the starting position, and then touching certain squares with either the extra white or the extra black queen, to set engines, levels, opening books, etc. (This is how PicoChess works. You can also control it through the clock's menu, but that's much slower. I don't like that method.)

You set up either white or black at your side (that is the reason why I didn't want lettering on the board), and then set up the engine, level, time control, and opening book by using the extra queens. If they're the same as the previous game, you don't need to do this, because PicoChess remembers this (even when the RPi is turned off; it's persistent). If want to play white, you just start with the first move. If you want to play black, you flip the lever on the clock and PicoChess starts with white, and you will thus play black.

So, if you have it set up with your preferred engine, level, time control and opening book, you just turn on the clock and the computer, set up the starting position, and when the thing says *BEEP!* "Pico" (and then switches to your time control), you can start to play. No screen, keyboard, or mouse involved.

In use:


Not in use:


The cover is just a thick table-cloth, custom made to size for the DGT-board. (As an ex-dealer of wooden chess equipment, you must have seen chess boards with round markings on the white squares, for being set up too long without moving; where the rest of the square has colored and the covered part didn't.)

If you want to lose the raspberry, there are two options:
1. Buy / build the DGT Pi.
2. Put a small computer under the table.

I want to have the RPi on top, because I change the image, and in the future, program for it (using the second Pi and DGT-board in the computer room), in an effort to replace Picochess (*).

My granddaughter has donated a 37€ Lexibook electronic chessboard to her husband (I suggested it) and it seems very good for the price, but the 80's wooden chessboards were really nice. I had in my home a Kasparov Renaissance, a Mephisto Roma 68020 and a Fidelity Elite A/S. I'd like to find something similar today, but with a good processor inside and/or PC / Mac connections

Tell me about it. As a kid, I've drooled over the wooden modular chess computers by Mephisto for ages, but when you're like 8 years old, it's impossible to ask your parents to buy you an fl. 1500 chess computer. That would be € 680, which was a HUGE amount of money in the 80's. I got an el-cheapo chess computer from my parents, because none of my friends played chess and there wasn't a chess club where kids could play (too late in the eveneing). I started to defeat it within about a year. In total I saved money for about 3 years, and did many chores at home and for family members, to be able to buy my very own chess computer for fl. 400. (I still have it, and I sometimes play it for nostalgic reasons: the CXG Sphinx Titan.)

I've had a DGT-board since 2007 though. (I sold that one, because of the very old and non-standard Hirose USB-collection, and replaced it with the ones I now have.)

(*) (I *LOVE* PicoChess, but I *HATE* its Python code. It's based on some libraries where the developers thought: hey, a new version! Let's break everything! So it's almost impossible to upgrade those libraries without breaking half of PicoChess. I took a look into it, but I ... just ... can't. I hate Python. The language. The syntax. The slowness. The entire mentality. I'm going to lift the DGT-communication from PicoChess, and rewrite that in Rust; and then I'll build my own "PicoChess" on top of it, using my own engine as the backend for move legality checking.)

Because of this, I have the second Pi, and second board. When I change the image, I first test in the computer room, and when everything works correctly, I make a new SD-card and swap the card in the Pi in the living room. In short, the Pi / board in the living room is always in a playing state, the one in the computer room can be broken intermittently.

[cpeters]

Hey Marcel!

Surely the board is nice and well-crafted, but I would prefer no paraphernalia around it when playing against 'it'. Looking only at the board when contemplating moves, is a minimum.

An e-board with led/other move indication is starting at 400 (?) with certabo (?!). I'm still annoyed that DGT chose to ship their centaur closed, as it has all of it:

-a Pi (le zero)
-no pressure thingy
-black/white/e-ink stylish stuff
-move indicators with awsome light-circles (from the future)

I think that they (DGT-marketing) think they got trolled when I asked them if they would provide me the source code (they using pychess and linux and stockfish for centaur) after I buy one, so they trolled me with their answers.

As for the millennium: yes. It appeals to collectors ('limited' and 'exclusive' labeled products/series; gold plaques etc.) I guess - old wine in a semi-old hose. Productline is either fugly cyberdyne-systems plastics or high-endish cabinets with cabelage powered by (fantastic!) Chess Genius or The King.

I do want a plastic, move indicating (led/other) e-board; wireless connectable within 400/500 €. Goddammit!


greetings!

[AlexChess]

Really wonderful chessboard, better than Tasc R30! I want to search on Amazon something similar to your professional kit

Since you are remembering me 80's... In 1981 I bought my first Fidelity Mini sensory chess for 148.000 Italian Lire °75€ of today° (4 levels, and it was really weak, also when I upgraded it to 6 levels with a 50.000 Lire cartridge ) My computer & chess passion continues ever since. ...Sinclair ZX Spectrum Cyrus Chess and QL Psion chess (by Richard Lang of Genius and Mephisto) ...4 years later I was hired by the Saitek-Kasparov-Mephisto Italian importer. The HK Saitek CEO Mr. Winkler loved Italy very much and a lot of electronic chessboards were sold with Italian names: "Virtuoso", "Maestro", "Leonardo", "Reinassance"... When I met him I suggested improvements to the Maestro/Analyst 8 bit modules programmed by Julio Kaplan . We also organized the WMCC (World Microcomputer Chess Championship) 1987 in Rome, where Mephisto Exclusive Roma 68030 won, and sponsored computer chess events featuring Susan Polgar, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov )

[mvanthoor]

Really wonderful chessboard, better than Tasc R30! I want to search on Amazon something similar to your professional kit

You don't have to search. As said, this is:

- A DGT Walnut USB board
- Timeless pieces
- A DGT 3000 Limited Edition clock
- Raspberry Pi 4, in an Argon ONE case

I can provide you the image the Raspberry is running. You just flash the image to an SD-card, connect everything, boot the RPi, and you're off to play. If you want it a bit cheaper, you can go with the plastic SmartBoard and plastic pieces, and the normal DGT 3000. Same functionality, a bit less luxurious.

By the way: I don't have too many problems with "peripherals" connected to the chess board. In my case, it's only the clock and the Raspberry. Still, I think that I'm going to clean it up some more. My desk has a frame around it: the front is 8 cm tall, while the top is only 2cm thick. I'm going to velcro the Raspberry Pi to the bottom of the desk, in the left front corner (upside down), and run the cables through some cable guides. The cables will run to the back, and then one goes down the back of the leg into the wall outlet; the other cable will the run on the inside of the frame to where the connection of the board is. There it comes up onto the table to connect the board. Lastly, I'll replace the 3.5mm jack cable with a shorter one.

Then the setup will be exactly as you see them at big tournaments: clock connected to the board, and a cable running off to "somewhere", like this:



If it's good enough for the world's greatest chess players, it's good enough for me.

Also: I don't think DGT is going to make boards with LED's in them. They will never be used in tournaments. You'd need 61 or even 81 LED's, and they will make the board more expensive and thicker. This would be a home board only, and people have already been yammering about DGT's prices since 1997 when they first came out. You can also see it with the Certabo boards: they're beautiful, but they're also more expensive than DGT; their 36x36 board is already more expensive than DGT's 55x55 tournament board. (And they're not the standard; and the LED-versions never will be in tournaments.) Doesn't take away the fact that I still feel I want one of those 36x36 Certabo boards. They'd be great when travelling.