Chess Computer Vintage (Hardware and Software)

[AlexChess]

I know that I wish there were more dedicated as UCI engines, but I am thankful for what few we have. CB-EMU and Tasc-EMU are great, but not that good for engine vs engine matches (timing issues), and even dedicated as UCI engines have some hiccups. I tried to get the Lyon32 rom to work following Ed's template, but had no luck. I could not even get Ed's Mephisto III Glasgow to work.

Well, in CB-Emu there's a subfolder MessChess that includes WinBoard and Arena, and in both GUIs you can run more than 300 old chess computers as UCI versions without any problems (even in engine matches) - there are hundreds of members in our 'Schachcomputer.Info' forum who are already doing this since a long time.

Regards,
Franz

Cool! On your site I have also found LTC2 that I was using 30 years ago to test the strengh of dedicated che computers and first PC DOS programs like Rebel, MChess and Hiarcs 7... https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... CT_II_Test

[AdminX]

I know that I wish there were more dedicated as UCI engines, but I am thankful for what few we have. CB-EMU and Tasc-EMU are great, but not that good for engine vs engine matches (timing issues), and even dedicated as UCI engines have some hiccups. I tried to get the Lyon32 rom to work following Ed's template, but had no luck. I could not even get Ed's Mephisto III Glasgow to work.

Well, in CB-Emu there's a subfolder MessChess that includes WinBoard and Arena, and in both GUIs you can run more than 300 old chess computers as UCI versions without any problems (even in engine matches) - there are hundreds of members in our 'Schachcomputer.Info' forum who are already doing this since a long time.

Regards,
Franz

Yes, I know. Still I have timing issues with certain time controls. It may be the GUI I am working with (Banksia).

[F.Huber]

Cool! On your site I have also found LTC2 that I was using 30 years ago to test the strengh of dedicated che computers and first PC DOS programs like Rebel, MChess and Hiarcs 7...

Hmm? LTC2?
There are CB-Emu, Tasc-Emu and a collection of almost all DOS chess programs (in a virtual DOS machine) on my website, but I don't know anything about a LCT2 test!?

[F.Huber]

Yes, I know. Still I have timing issues with certain time controls. It may be the GUI I am working with (Banksia).

Well, I think the main misunderstanding is, that of course all those old chess computers don't know anything about time controls of the used GUI.
IOW, you can't use the GUIs time control - you have to set the wanted time via 'Level' in the GUIs engine configuration separately for each engine that you use! And for this you have to know, what these levels mean, i.e. you certainly need to look at the programs manual.

[AlexChess]

Cool! On your site I have also found LTC2 that I was using 30 years ago to test the strengh of dedicated che computers and first PC DOS programs like Rebel, MChess and Hiarcs 7...

Hmm? LTC2?
There are CB-Emu, Tasc-Emu and a collection of almost all DOS chess programs (in a virtual DOS machine) on my website, but I don't know anything about a LCT2 test!?

https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... CT_II_Test

I have tried it with Stockfish 14 dev 220821 and it solves all in seconds, I remember that with '90 computers 35 epd tests were solved after hours ... (if solved)

[AlexChess]

Sorry F.Huber, not on your web site, I was thinking that you are a https://www.schach-computer.info admin

I have owned also this nice Kasparov portable : https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... mpion_2080 (with plexiglass cover) . It was quite strong (1700 Italian ELO, the wiki says 1922 ELO) thanks to Frank Morsch (Fritz author) engine.

[F.Huber]

Sorry F.Huber, not on your web site, I was thinking that you are a https://www.schach-computer.info admin

Aah, ok. No, I'm not an admin there, just a normal member.
I'm only admin of my own website https://fhub.jimdofree.com/

[mclane]

Dedicated chess computers and fossil software is an interesting thing.
In the moment i a watching the colossus 4 version of the acorn Electron.
The electron has only 32 kb ram, so martin Bryant uses the display memory as ram too.

You can see the program computing on the screen.

The resources of these machines were limited and the programmers fought with these limitations.

I find it very interesting to see how much strength they generated out of 8 bit cpus with 32-96 kb rom (some using bank switching)
And 4-8 kb RAM.

[towforce]

Sorry F.Huber, not on your web site, I was thinking that you are a https://www.schach-computer.info admin

Aah, ok. No, I'm not an admin there, just a normal member.
I'm only admin of my own website https://fhub.jimdofree.com/

This is wonderful!

Even better, I beat Boris!

[pgn][Event "Computer Chess Game"]
[Site "GRAHAM-PC"]
[Date "2021.09.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Graham"]
[Black "ACI Boris (rev. 00) (mess 0.220)"]
[Result "*"]
[TimeControl "1/86400"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ c6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. d4 Nxe4 7. O-O f6 8.
d5 cxd5 9. Qxd5 Nc5 10. Qf7#[/pgn]

I played one of my old machines, the Tandy 2150. I was too complacent and lost material.

I can confirm that it played the same style of chess as the original. I am impressed that you went as far as matching the buttons and the style of move selection!

Thank you for an unexpectedly good experience.

[F.Huber]

I can confirm that it played the same style of chess as the original. I am impressed that you went as far as matching the buttons and the style of move selection!

Well, it's not only a simulation but in fact an exact emulation of the hardware (based on the MAME/MESSUI emulator) and it uses the original ROMs, so the programs play the same way as the original devices.