YoYo's Fidelity Serial Number Theory

[Larry]

Hi,

I just received a Fidelity Sensory Chess Challenger 6 - not a must for a collection, but I could not resist (mint cosmetic & working condition, complete with the original mains adapter, the set of chessmen, user manual, original packaging... all this for 5€ (yes, five!).
What striked me is: the box included a small sticker page from which the current S/N and model label came from, and providing 4 additional smaller labels for the S/N:



In addition to sharing an additional S/N, I raise the question: does anyone remind of Fidelity providing such stickers? Is it usual to find them?
I guess this was in forecast of further maintenance, do you think so?

Cheers,
Tibono

I had one of these, but was a rough one and when it broke down it went out with the rubbish. When I tried to fix it, on taking the back off I was surprised to see a removable module, same shape and size
as the Fidelity CB9/16 modules. I thought I’d got lucky but no, it’s
just how it was designed.
I’ve still got the box, on sale for $200

[Tibono2]

I’ve still got the box, on sale for $200

Hi Larry,
worth the price... inspired by the recent WTF ad you pointed out (an expensive Berlin Pro without the board ), don't forget to mention the offered article (the box, so, but don't write it this way) is technically fully functional
Cheers,
Eric

[plore90]

Hi,
my Chess Challenger 10 bought on Ebay have the follow S.N.
and i have tested is Version "B"
195588
Chicago site of Fidelity

[Bryan Whitby]

Unfortunately Yovan (YoYo) who this topic is about has I believe sadly passed away ☹️

[Berger]

Yes, I can confirm this.

We are left with all his contribution in the study of the Fidelity chess computers, which clarified more than one doubt, as well as his important collaboration with the emulation of some of these computers on MAME.

Best,
Gerardo

[kamoj]

I've tried to understand how to decode the serial number to date,
for the Fidelity devices "Made in Germany".
I couldn't find any info about it in this thread, or by searching internet.
(I found this similar question in this forum after searching for fidelity+serial+number)

I found some devices here:
(I'm not allowed to post links yet, so that have to wait)
Link 1 chesseval
Link 2 chesseval
Link 3 tradechess
Link 4 spacious-mind
and 2 of my own (The lowest - 762655 and highest - 764937 of the German serials).

This resulted in the table of Fidelity German serial numbers:

Serial# Description
-------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
762655 Elite A/S, 3.0 MHz, Prestige program?, (made in Germany, speaking English!) Mask-ROM date: MOSTEK@8332
763741 Elite A/S, Budapest, made in Germany, speaking German
763807 Elite A/S, Budapest, made in Germany tradechess
763842 Elite A/S, Budapest, made in Germany, speaking German
764631 Playmatic S, made in Germany GPS 764631 1983 Aug-83 MikeW 33178
764666 Elite A/S, Pre-Budapest, made in Germany, speaking German
764888 Elite Privat, made in Germany GEP 764888 1984 Dec-84 MikeW 33178
764937 Elite Privat, 3.579 MHz, made in Germany, speaking German. CPU date: 8420

There is at least one anomaly here:
The 764666 "Pre-Budapest" should have a number < 763741, or be a "Glasgow"?.

Can anyone help, or guess?

Thank you for your time,
Lars

[Tibono2]

Hi Lars,

here you can read: the pre-Budapest was sold until Autumn'83, so following the August'83 Playmatic S in the S/N list seems correct.
Maybe the first Budapest devices in the list are actually pre-Budapest? To have this correctly reported, you would need:
1) the owner is aware (several versions exist)
2) the owner wants to know
3) the owner knows how to distinguish
4) the owner reports the information

Hope this helps,
Tibono

[kamoj]

Thank you very much Eric, for your fast reply, and the link!
This seems to be an amazing forum with endless of information and helpful people.

I hope I can be of some help as well. I worked with chess computer for a number of years.
My last work was with the Leonardo/Galileo adaption of the Conchess/Plymate/Princhess,
but I've been away from the "business" since the WC with Y!89 in Edmonton.
Until the Corona changed the world and I started to play my old dusty machines again.

But your reply I got made me, like they say - "Still confused - but on a higher level"...
A. My early Elite A/S 3.0 MHz version is not mentioned at all.
B. I think all these owners are aware of your 1..4
(as shown in the links I could not post before.
https://hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php ... ial+number
http://chesseval.com/BrandBoard/FidelityBrand.htm
http://chesseval.com/WoodBoard/EAS.htm
http://tradechess.blogspot.com/2019/05/ ... as_22.html
http://spacious-mind.com/forum_reports/ ... rials.xlsx
http://tradechess.blogspot.com/p/fidelity.html)
C. Yes, the pre-Budapest was sold until autumn ´83.
But why would it be produced/have a serial number long after the Budapest versions?
Can you elaborate that so I can understand your reasoning please.
I know my very old Elite A/S has mask-ROMs, so not easy to change the firmware.
But I don't know which newer Elite A/S have EPROMS instead,
making it very easy to re-program to appear as older/newer than it is.
Which ROM memories are used in different Elie A/S?
D. I regret to hear that @yoyo_chessboard is no more among us, but appreciate his work,
as much as that of @spacious_mind, making his list of serial numbers available a.o.
Thank you, both even though are not here with us.
E. So there is no one that can explain the German serial numbers?
F. Mark Uniacke: Thank you so much for hosting this forum.

Best Regards to all computer chess enthusiasts,
Lars

Hi Lars,
here you can read: the pre-Budapest was sold until Autumn'83, so following the August'83 Playmatic S in the S/N list seems correct.
Maybe the first Budapest devices in the list are actually pre-Budapest? To have this correctly reported, you would need:
1) the owner is aware (several versions exist)
2) the owner wants to know
3) the owner knows how to distinguish
4) the owner reports the information

Hope this helps,
Tibono

[kamoj]

I want to add new info about my mysterious "Made in Germany" Elite A/S.
It should be noted that the first "original" Elite A/S were produced with 3 MHz!
Information that I've only found before on http://www.blitzchess.fr/fr/jeuxdes7fam ... y/eliteas/, until I just found this:

In MAME 0.234 2021-07-28 I found this:
"New working clones
...
Fidelity Electronics Elite A/S Challenger (original program) [Berger]"
And in CB-EMU:
"GAME: feas
Fidelity Elite A/S Challenger (Original, 3 MHz) (Fidelity Electronics 1983)
...
**** :MESSINFO: ****
0.220 [hap, Berger]
Elite A/S Challenger (original program), Fidelity Electronics, 1983"

My Elite A/S is running at 3 MHz and I have verified that the firmware is the same as
the one hap/Berger added.

So I'm certain I have an Elite A/S 3 MHz with S/N 762655 and "(original program)".

I still have doubts of the Elite A/S 764666 (http://chesseval.com/WoodBoard/EAS.htm).
How could it be a Pre-Budapest when it's serial number is much higher than the 3 Budapest
with 763741, 763807 and 763842?
Maybe if the owner of it could open it and take photos of the components inside,
we could get a better understanding.
Anyone know how the owner of http://chesseval.com is?

I hope one day we can decode and understand the Fidelity German serial numbers!
Maybe they are not even consecutive?

I started the guessing game here with my Elite A/S and the German numbers I've found:
762655
76 : Made in Germany
2 : Year 1982
655: Production number

The Elite A/S is placed in the http://www.chesscomputeruk.com/html/timeline.html at the same time as the Savant Royale -
January 1983 - so it can very well be produced in the end of 1982.
The Elite A/S was included in the Fidelity brochure from march 1983 (https://www.schaakcomputers.nl/hein_vel ... php?id=655), so production may have started in the end of 1982.

Then I opened the machine and looked at the production dates of the ICs...
Hmm... 8331! There was e.g. a component stamped to have been manufactured week 31 1983.
So my theory was just a guess, and I was wrong.

I hope this will be an inspiration for others that are more clever than me to continue this thread in Yoyo's memory.

Thank you for your attention.
PS
I learned one thing: My Elite A/S doesn't have Reed elements, but rather Hall Effects sensors!
That's positive, and maybe the reason it's still working perfectly!
Are all Elite A/S with Hall sensors, or only the German ones?

[Larry]

Not sure I should be asking this, but has anyone heard if Spacious-mind (Nick) is ok? Of course people
do tire of hobbies and move on, I’m just hoping Nick has not gone the same way as Yo-yo.
Larry

[Berger]

I learned one thing: My Elite A/S doesn't have Reed elements, but rather Hall Effects sensors!
(...) Are all Elite A/S with Hall sensors, or only the German ones?

Hello,

All Elite A/S use Hall-effect sensors instead of reed switches.

Best,
Gerardo "Berger"

[mrcdoc]

I still have doubts of the Elite A/S 764666 (http://chesseval.com/WoodBoard/EAS.htm).
How could it be a Pre-Budapest when it's serial number is much higher than the 3 Budapest
with 763741, 763807 and 763842?
Maybe if the owner of it could open it and take photos of the components inside,
we could get a better understanding.
Anyone know how the owner of http://chesseval.com is?

Hi Lars,
Chesseval .com is my website.
I will verify the numbers and info about my German EAS.
I am intrigued.

Hello Larry,
I hope you are doing well.

kr,
Maurice

[kamoj]

...
All Elite A/S use Hall-effect sensors instead of reed switches.
...

That's very nice.
I've changed more than a hundred reeds in the Avant Garde, Elite Privat and Conchess boards.
So the Elite A/S is a keeper
Thank you very much for the information,
and for bringing clearness into the Elite A/S original FW and Speed!

[kamoj]

...
Chesseval .com is my website.
I will verify the numbers and info about my German EAS.
I am intrigued.
...

Thank you Maurice, both for your reply and nice website!
It would be nice to learn a bit more about the German production and numbers.
My German Elite A/S speaks English, not German e.g.

[mrcdoc]

I verified the 3 German EAS. They all speak German.
- serial #763741 and Serial #763842 are Budapest.
- serial #764666 is definitely a modified computer and certainly not a Pre-Budapest.
The 3 computers have photos at http://chesseval.com/WoodBoard/EAS.htm.
Please, let me know how I could help you.
Maurice