UCI driver for Saitek chess boards

[mclane]

what we would need would be a device driver that
is a little UCI without a chess program. or maybe a chess program that is also capable to send signals to the UCI device.

the OSA instruction manual with detailed COMMANDS of the Leonardo / Galileo and Renaissance chess boards of Saitek can be found and downloaded here:
http://alain.zanchetta.free.fr/docs/Sai ... ableUS.pdf

with this documentation you can see WHICH commands have to be send to make it do this and that.

I have 2 ideas...

1.make the connection with the UCI engine.
press the button ANALYSIS on the saitek board or let the software make it via
sending the command "!analysis".

now you can make a move to on the leonardo without the build in engine computing.
this moves should be made in the UCI engine. this way one could e.g.
login on playchess and use the dedicated chess computer chess boards
Leonardo/Galileo/Renaissance as an INPUT DEVICE to play chess on playchess.

another idea:

2.NOT pressing analysis the dedicated chess computer could e.g. automatically
play on playchess against programs there.
the UCI engine just makes the communication.

IMO these 2 things would be really nice.

the question is: what is easier to realize, writing an UCI engine that parses and communicates with the saitek boards or implementing code in e.g. Arena to directly use the chess boards (as beeing done with the NOvag Citrine).

IMO the UCI idea is more useful. this way you could do this in ALL kind of GUIs.

Saitek Renaissance:

[sje]

There is some work already done for interfacing the Saitek protocol to xboard. See:

http://tim-mann.org/extensions.html

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Back nearly twenty years ago I interfaced my Saitek Galileo to a Macintosh Plus via the serial link with my old program Spector in control. I wrote some code to have the Galileo attempt to play through its entire opening book to help build Spector's opening library.

The little project worked, but I had a problem with the link randomly hanging a day or two after a run was started. The system would get into a state where both machines were expecting input and I guess it was the Saitek's fault but it's been too long ago to recall the details.

[mclane]

sorry, there are plenty of links on this page. which device do you refer.
i do only see a device driver for the saitek PC-board. this is a parallel
chess board and has nothing to do with the saitek dedicated chess computers using the serial device.

maybe you can help me with finding the link you talk about.

[sje]

There's a helpful page on Saitek serial communication at:

http://digilander.libero.it/violini/

[mclane]

thank you for your hint .

you refer to:

Paolo Violini has written a standalone program called Maecenas that lets you play against Crafty using a Saitek Kasparov Renaissance or Leonardo sensory chessboard. The Galileo model may also work. The program does not use xboard or WinBoard -- it talks to Crafty directly. Unfortunately it currently requires the Crafty-specific "output long" command, so it won't work with other xboard/WinBoard-compatible engines. The version you can download is for Windows, but Paolo also has a version that runs on Linux. If you need the Linux version and it hasn't yet been added to the download when you look, email him to ask for it. I haven't tried this program, since I don't have a Saitek board, so please don't send questions about it to me.

as the text says itself, this is neither an UCI engine nor is it possible to
do what its useful.
as far as i understand paolo violini wrote an engine that calls crafty and you can use the boards as INPUT device.

IMO it would make more sense to make an UCI version, because MANY GUIs can UCI. and it would even allow to connect playchess with saitek board, or e.g. as i said to allow autoplay of saitek programs on playchess or the other way arround allow ANY engine you wish (e.g. rybka or hiarcs) to use the saitek wooden boards as INPUT/OUTPUT device.

[sje]

Actually, I don't use UCI although Symbolic has all the programming hooks in place. Perhaps if I had the source to a UCI server so I could build it on Mac OS/X and Linux, then I could get motivated to get the Saitek Galileo out of storage and try some coding.

[mclane]

thank you. IMO its worth the effort.
there are many peole having the saitek dedicated chess computers
Leonardo / Galileo / Renaissance.

we have MANY GUIs all supporting UCI.

we KNOW the commands to program the SAITEK OSA DEVICE.

all that is needed is to write a parser that connects the output/input
of Saitek / UCI crossover.

[sje]

I'd probably try an straight xboard interface first; there are plenty of people using xboard or can run an xboard/UCI software adapter.

--------

How strong was the Saitek Galileo? I'm guessing approximately 1850 elo; maybe someone has a more accurate number.

[mclane]

the program IN the galileo, without additional program, is not that strong.
maybe 1600 or less.
but as you know you can plug in additional modules.
some 8 bit 6502 modules with kaplan engine (e.g. 8 Mhz analyst program with D+ or D++ engine) and you can plug in frans morsch H8 Brute-force module (kind of fritz clone with 128 MB hash) and the most expensive one is the SPARC module with 20 mhz Sparc and 1 MB hash tables.

schachcomputer.info says:

Code: Select all

Sparc                                                                                2225 ELO
brute force                                                                          2018 ELO
8 mhz Analyst with D++                                                               1940 ELO
6301Y 10mhz that is in Renaissance and the other boards                              1514 ELO

[sje]

I suppose that if I get an OSA/xboard interface working, I could connect the Galileo to FICS and see what kind of rating it could earn. I'd have to convince the FICS administrators to give me a separate account for the Saitek.