On the DGT piece recognition chessboard

[sje]

Concerning the DGT piece recognition chessboard, the one I'm looking at is at:

http://digitalgametechnology.com/site/i ... d-usb.html

I don't like the other board styles because I don't like the added letters and digits labeling on the perimeter. And I don't care for painted pieces, so it's the Timeless set although I think the knight design could be better.

Drawbacks:

1) Cost; about US$800 with shipping

2) No on-board indicators.

3) Needs some Mac specific software to be written.

4) A better model with undoubtedly be introduced the day after I order the current model.

That being said, I just might put in an order come January.

[Tord Romstad]

Drawbacks:

1) Cost; about US$800 with shipping

2) No on-board indicators.

I actually think this is a good thing: It makes the board look a lot nicer. If you want to get the moves displayed, get a DGT XL clock and attach to the board. The clock can display the moves.

3) Needs some Mac specific software to be written.

Someone is already working on that.

4) A better model with undoubtedly be introduced the day after I order the current model.

A bluetooth model is supposed to be released some time next year.

Tord

[Karmazen & Oliver]

A bluetooth model is supposed to be released some time next year.

Tord

it´s a good JOKE... this coment exits since that novag start with novag citrine + arena chess GUI... then they say that a "neW" bluetooth... "fantasiosic" and don´t exits any real reference about that...

this was in 2007 ¡ and now say that in the next year...

I remember a song that say: ...in the year 2525... in the year 3535... forever.

bye. from Spain. Oliver

[Dirt]

I remember a song that say: ...in the year 2525... in the year 3535... forever.

By Zager & Evans.

[sje]

I'm a bit uncertain about the details of powering a DGT board.

In one report, the board is said to be powered over the wired serial link. In another report, there is a need for a wall wart AC power adaptor. Perhaps only the newer USB board can be powered over the link. Perhaps the AC adaptor is needed to retain memory contents.

My thought is that the lure of a wireless connection via bluetooth is somewhat lessened if the board needs to plugged into the wall; one more wired connection won't make much difference.

Now if the DGT board had a 802.11 (WiFi) wireless capability, I could connect it to my iPod Touch that has the same. The iPod could perform all the functions of the special DGT clock and then some.

[Cubeman]

I remember the announcement of Bluetooth with DGT over a year ago in 2007!! and got the impression that release was very soon.
I have a Bluetooth capable PPC and was eager to see if PGM would work with DGT.
Still waiting

[Cubeman]

The ideal setup would to have a battery powered DGT board with no cables needed.That way I could arrange a game with my friend and pretend I am listening to music (but getting spoken move announcements from Pocket GM) and kick his but every game.

[sje]

The Novag Citrine uses micro LEDs on square vertices (81 total) for square highlighting. The LEDs are barely noticeable when unlit, and would be even less noticeable on a regulation sized board like the DGT model.

This gives the idea of doing a little surgery on a DGT board to add a set of these LEDs along with an Atmel AVR microcontroller for driving them. The AVR itself would be placed in series between the DGT onboard CPU and the external serial link.

[Karmazen & Oliver]

I remember a song that say: ...in the year 2525... in the year 3535... forever.

By Zager & Evans.

yeah. ¡ It´s very surprise that this song is almost 40 years old¡ 1969¡ ... the words... are... fantastic. It´s a song very special.

thanks. and bye. from Spain. Oliver.

[sje]

Alternatively, a non invasive approach would be to have two strips of eight LEDs attached to the DGT board. One would be placed adjacent to the bottom rank and the other adjacent to the a-file. These would be removable for maintenance if needed and would be driven by an inline AVR.