Kaaren danielsen

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Fernando
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Kaaren danielsen

Post by Fernando »

As far as you can know someone just interchanging some mails and taking a look at one of his pages, my impression of Kaaren is of a nice, amiable guy, BUT he has not posted a thing here...Instead Ron Nelson resulted to be a cantankerous kind of guy, always looking at any disparagement, etc, BUT he posted a good chunk
So, what the conclusion is....?

Theophrastus regards
F
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Steve B
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Re: Kaaren danielsen

Post by Steve B »

Fernando wrote:Instead Ron Nelson resulted to be a cantankerous kind of guy, always looking at any disparagement, etc, BUT he posted a good chunk
I don't think that's a fair statement Fern
you have to remember that when Ron first posted here in Dec 15 he was reading threads and posts ..with all sorts of opinions about his programming ..some even stating he was not the programmer for any Excalibur computers let alone or the GM /Mirage etc etc
I imagine ..at first..he was a bit insulted at many of the posts here ...

over time ..as he continued posting.. he set the record straight and I thought he was a very helpful ,posted a wealth of information ,very obliging and answered many questions fired at him

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Steve
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Fernando
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Re: Kaaren danielsen

Post by Fernando »

Steve B wrote:
Fernando wrote:Instead Ron Nelson resulted to be a cantankerous kind of guy, always looking at any disparagement, etc, BUT he posted a good chunk
I don't think that's a fair statement Fern
you have to remember that when Ron first posted here in Dec 15 he was reading threads and posts ..with all sorts of opinions about his programming ..some even stating he was not the programmer for any Excalibur computers let alone or the GM /Mirage etc etc
I imagine ..at first..he was a bit insulted at many of the posts here ...

over time ..as he continued posting.. he set the record straight and I thought he was a very helpful ,posted a wealth of information ,very obliging and answered many questions fired at him

Good Man Regards
Steve
Dear Steve, I never said Ron had no reasons to become somewhat harsh in occasions, but harsh he became. Far of me is the purpose to degrade this great guy. He contributed a lot and it is a pity that after putting things straight he disappeared again. Perhaps I am also trying to provoke Kaaren to come here in force instead of just signing as a member.

tactical regards
Fern
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

Steve is right, I know I was the biggest antagonist questioning Excalibur and the programs. It is not surprising to me that when Ron came to the forum to set the record straight. He must have felt his back was to the wall.

But wow what an impact he made, we know more about Excalibur, the programs and how and where they were made than we know about any of the other manufacturers.

He certainly did set the record straight and add to that his overall record keeping of hardware used and where it was produced was incredible for which I am very appreciative.

If you read into everything that he wrote, you have to really admire him, he was especially in the later years as it became tougher and tougher to survive in a declining market, a one man champion for chess computers at Excalibur, doing everything he could to keep Excalibur moving forward and survive with interesting and creative designs and all those programs recreated to fit into all those different hardware they used. While everyone around him was pulling the rug continuously from under him and repeatedly being short changed by his employers.

It must have been really tough and often frustrating for him.

For sure there are still a few questions that I would like to ask, but it is really unimportant when compared to the wealth of information provided by him in his short Hiarcs stay.

I can only wish him the very best and my sincere thanks for sharing so much with us.

Best regards
Nick
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Hi Nick

I have been in touch with Ron a few times since his departure here and I think that I might be able to shed some light about the unreleased Fidelity Master 2400. Have a read below and see what you think? I might be adding two and two together and getting five but maybe my assumption is correct. I suppose we will never really know.

In the Fidelity Product Guide 1992, one of the new chess computers that was never released was the Fidelity Master 2400.

The Master 2400 was supposed to be a RISC program, 128 ROM/RAM and running at 12 MHz in a modified black 'Designer' housing.

If you look at the Fidelity Wiki site, you will see that there is no programmer associated with it but I think that it might have been Richard Lang?

Why Richard Lang, well one of Ron Nelson's last projects at the German bought Fidelity was to design a ARM2 processor for the Designer 2400. He did the hardware and software test program and built a prototype and sent it to Germany but after that he knows nothing about who's program was supposed to have used in production.

Richard Lang once told me that H+G once asked him for a ChessGenius ARM program around the same time but by then he had started with PC’s and so refused.

Putting two and two together I think that the Fidelity Master 2400 was originally destined to have the ChessGenius ARM software?

Questionable regards
Bryan
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

Chessmaster Ireland wrote:Hi Nick

I have been in touch with Ron a few times since his departure here and I think that I might be able to shed some light about the unreleased Fidelity Master 2400. Have a read below and see what you think? I might be adding two and two together and getting five but maybe my assumption is correct. I suppose we will never really know.

In the Fidelity Product Guide 1992, one of the new chess computers that was never released was the Fidelity Master 2400.

The Master 2400 was supposed to be a RISC program, 128 ROM/RAM and running at 12 MHz in a modified black 'Designer' housing.

If you look at the Fidelity Wiki site, you will see that there is no programmer associated with it but I think that it might have been Richard Lang?

Why Richard Lang, well one of Ron Nelson's last projects at the German bought Fidelity was to design a ARM2 processor for the Designer 2400. He did the hardware and software test program and built a prototype and sent it to Germany but after that he knows nothing about who's program was supposed to have used in production.

Richard Lang once told me that H+G once asked him for a ChessGenius ARM program around the same time but by then he had started with PC’s and so refused.

Putting two and two together I think that the Fidelity Master 2400 was originally destined to have the ChessGenius ARM software?

Questionable regards
Bryan
Hi Bryan,

It is possible. At the same time in 1992 the Travel Master (Frans Morsch) also came out. So a change from Spracklen was already happening.

Now a Morsch ARM2 would have been interesting too. We know that both Morsch and Lang worked on Pocket PC's a few years later so both were working on ARM technology at a later date.

This might have been just as interesting for Frans Morsch to pursue to compete with his countrymen Ed Schroeder and Johan de Koning.

Actually with an ARM2 a Mephisto Gideon might also have been in the works for that ARM2 Fidelity unit. This might be the most likely since it already existed at TASC. Ed Schroeder's Mephisto Risc was also in the works in 1992. I would say most likely Ed Schroeder?

ps. Mephisto Genius came out in 1993 so it would have had to have been a Vancouver or an upgrade from Vancouver if it were a Lang? Johan de Koning had already sided with Saitek so he would be the least likely.

At that time Mephisto was probably very cost conscious and with the Designer 2400 perhaps not being ready on time, decided to go with Mephisto Risc instead and therefore dropped Designer 2400, especially if both would have been too identical if Ed Schroeder's program were to be the only RISC program that they had. My money is on Ed Schroeder for the 2400 that was dropped because of Mephisto Risc.

Best regards
Nick
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