Who has a dedicated computer?

[Steve B]

Chafitz computers are some my very favorites including the Boris. One that I would love to get my hands on but is almost impossible to find is a Boris Handroid which basically is a Robot Boris. Not shure if Steve has one.

i wish
actually AFAIK only 3 prototypes were made and there is only one KNOWN owner today
im told this collector has refused all offers for his Handroid and is planning on donating it to a museum someday

http://alain.zanchetta.free.fr/videos/Handroid.AVI

Night At The Museum Regards
Steve

[Graham Banks]

I still have a TurboStar 432 that works great...it was one of my favorites.

The Turbostar always used to give me more problems than the Super Constellation. I used to play serious matches against them both (my OTB rating would have been around 1800 at the time).
Quite a contrast in playing styles of course. The Turbostar seemed to favour knights over bishops or perhaps it just seemed that way.

Cheers,
Graham.

[Graham Banks]

I know this is mainly an engine Forum, and perhaps a little off topic, but I was just curious about how many Members here still have a dedicated computer and if they still from time to time play with them.

Not off topic at all.

[Graham Banks]

Well as for me...
it was the Xmas holiday season 1977

i bought the very first chess computer that you could take home and play a game of chess with

My first two were the Chessmate (didn't show a brand name. You did tell me, but I've forgotten) and the Chess Partner 2000.
The Chessmate was the more solid of the two, but never castled, whereas the king safety awareness of the Chess Partner 2000 was non-existent.
The Fidelity Sensory 9 was my first decent dedicated, but my favourites were always the Novags (Super Constellation and Forte C).
I also owned a CXG Dominator and Mephisto Mega IV amongst others.
The only wood one I owned was the Saitek Leonardo with one of the Analyst modules.

I enjoyed playing the dedicateds, whereas I could probably count the number of games I've played against pc engines on one hand.

[rightrook]

The Turbostar seemed to favour knights over bishops

Yes, you are correct...I wondered why it would always make those funny exchanges.....(rather silly in my view...the way it was programed I guess)...



regards

Robert

[Spacious_Mind]

Greetings Nick...
I still have a TurboStar 432 that works great...it was one of my favorites.
Also some from Radio Shack and a Novag Aquamarine Premier Plus.
Also a portable..Mephisto Expert Travel set.

My first one was a Fidelity machine...the one that level 5 took 20 minutes to find a mate in 2... However, back in 1982 I thought it was great and worth the 99 dollars I paid for it at a Penny's store...when you won a game, all the lights would flash on and off....very unique...It had LED lights on each square.... So from then on "I was hooked"...

Most of my dedicated machines are now gone...sold on Ebay.

I enjoyed playing the Novag Solo....it was fun....however, I do not use them much anymore since all the great PC programs and free engines came out to use, and setting up a test position is now so easy to do on a PC chess program...



Best regards

Robert

Hi Robert,

Seems like the Turbostar is a popular machine here

RadioShack has a few decent ones, but they are are either from SciSys or Saitek mostly. The 2150 (Simultano), 2150L (Blitz), 2050 (Schach-Trainer), 2200 (GK2000) and 2250XL are all really good computers to play with. The 2250XL is a little unclear of origin. Based on BT Tests it most closely resembles the strength of Saitek Brute Force.

The Expert Travel is the best Travel Chess Computer available today. It plays great exept for in Endgames where if you can hang on then it gets beaten But for less than $100 it is a great chess partner. It is a rereleased and repackaged computer though. The Travel Champion 2100 and GK 2100 (Desktop version) where first. Then came Saitek Cosmos in the Travel range followed by the Expert Travel. In the desktop range you also had loads of rereleases.

Interestingly Saitek somehow developed a couple of Bugs that the earlier TC2100 and GK2100 did not have. The Expert Travel for example will start playing strange really weak chess if you have changed to Fun Level at some point, or even pressed through the levels with your direction keys (going past fun level). The only way to get it back to playing normal is to reset the computer. Another more interesting bug is the famous H-Bug. The computer if it has the Rook on it's start position on h1 or h8 and the pawn in front of it is gone at h2 or h7, it will sometimes instantly capture anything in its path along the h-column. When it happens it will invariably lose the game. It, happens rarely, but when it does, it is normally catastrophic. The current theory of why it does that sometimes seems to be that if the opponent plays a move that the program did not see coming in it's permanent brain then, the bug occurs and it instantly moves the h-rook up the h-column path!

Here is an example from a Saitek Centurion, but your Travel Expert will do exactly the same

This game happened a couple of weeks ago in a match where my Berlin Pro played the Centurion:

Event "iSchach"
Site "?"
Date "2010.02.07"
Round "?"
White "Mephisto Berlin Pro"
Black "Saitek Centurion 24 MHz"
Result "1-0"
WhiteElo "2280"
BlackElo "2162"
PlyCount "105"

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Bc4 e6 7. N1e2 Nf6 8. h4 Bd6 9. h5 Be4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. h6 Rg8 12. hxg7 Rxg7 13. Bd3 Nf6 14. g3 Nbd7 15. Bh6 Rg8 16. c3 Qe7 17. Qb3 O-O-O 18. Qa4 Bb8 19. Qc2 Bd6 20. Bxh7 Nxh7 21. Qxh7 Rh8 22. Qe4 Nf6 23. Qf3 Nd5 24. Rh5

[d]2kr3r/pp2qp2/2pbp2B/3n3R/3P4/2P2QP1/PP2NP2/R3K3 b Q - 0 24

This is the position in which the bug occurs in this game. Centurion now instantly plays 24. ... Rxh6 ???

Rxh6 25. Rxh6 Rg8 26. Qh5 Rg5 27. Qh4 Qd8 28. Rh8 Rg8 29. Qxd8+ Rxd8 30. Rh7 Rd7 31. O-O-O Nf6 32. Rh8+ Rd8 33. Rdh1 Bf8 34. R1h4 Bg7 35. Rxd8+ Kxd8 36. g4 Ke7 37. g5 Ne8 38. Kd2 b6 39. Ke3 Kd6 40. Rh7 Ke7 41. Nf4 Kf8 42. a4 Kg8 43. Rh1 Nd6 44. Nd3 Kf8 45. b4 Nc4+ 46. Kf4 a6 47. f3 Ke7 48. Rh7 Kf8 49. Rh2 Ke7 50. Ne5 Nxe5 51. dxe5 Ke8 52. Ke4 Ke7 53. Rd2 1-0

But still bugs included, the Expert Travel is still one mean dedicated travel chess computer!

Best regards

Nick

[rightrook]

I also had a Mondial and a Polgar 5 mg...
now there is some tough chess computers to win...I could hardly ever win a game against those...!!

[Spacious_Mind]

Well as for me...
it was the Xmas holiday season 1977

i bought the very first chess computer that you could take home and play a game of chess with

My first two were the Chessmate (didn't show a brand name. You did tell me, but I've forgotten) and the Chess Partner 2000.
The Chessmate was the more solid of the two, but never castled, whereas the king safety awareness of the Chess Partner 2000 was non-existent.
The Fidelity Sensory 9 was my first decent dedicated, but my favourites were always the Novags (Super Constellation and Forte C).
I also owned a CXG Dominator and Mephisto Mega IV amongst others.
The only wood one I owned was the Saitek Leonardo with one of the Analyst modules.

I enjoyed playing the dedicateds, whereas I could probably count the number of games I've played against pc engines on one hand.

Hi Graham,

I can't for the life of me figure out why you let all those great computers go ?? I am still looking for a Dominator and Mega IV

Analyst module too eh!

Thanks for joining in with your tale!

Best regards

Nick

[rightrook]

>>>The Expert Travel for example will start playing strange really weak chess if you have changed to Fun Level at some point, or even pressed through the levels with your direction keys (going past fun level). The only way to get it back to playing normal is to reset the computer.<<<

Hi Nick....Yes you are correct...I have had this very same problem with mine....

I have to get a pin and reset it.

Wow, you and Steve B really now alot about these computers!

regards

Robert

[Steve B]

Another more interesting bug is the famous H-Bug. The computer if it has the Rook on it's start position on h1 or h8 and the pawn in front of it is gone at h2 or h7, it will sometimes instantly capture anything in its path along the h-column. When it happens it will invariably lose the game. It, happens rarely, but when it does, it is normally catastrophic. The current theory of why it does that sometimes seems to be that if the opponent plays a move that the program did not see coming in it's permanent brain then, the bug occurs and it instantly moves the h-rook up the h-column path!

Hi Nick
i think the infamous H-Bug is level dependent
IIRC i dont think the bug rears its ugly head on any of the normal playing levels or the infinite level or any Tournament levels..etc.etc
i think the bug appears only on the fun and fixed ply levels?

Regards
Steve