GUIs and Novag Sapphire

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blaubaer
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Post by blaubaer »

Hi Berger,

nice work :lol: - as soon I've some time left, I will work on this project!

Thanks and regards,
Michael
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Berger
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Post by Berger »

blaubaer wrote: nice work :lol: - as soon I've some time left, I will work on this project!
Oh no! LOL xD
I hope I've sold a few units (to pay back my investment in time and components) before you make a better interface! :P

Sorry... At the moment this interface is not DIY... but it will be in the future.

Best regards,
Berger
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

Berger wrote:
blaubaer wrote: nice work :lol: - as soon I've some time left, I will work on this project!
Oh no! LOL xD
I hope I've sold a few units (to pay back my investment in time and components) before you make a better interface! :P

Sorry... At the moment this interface is not DIY... but it will be in the future.

Best regards,
Berger
Hi Berger,

Happy to help you recuperate your costs :) If you can message me with your price and Paypal info, I would be happy to buyer one.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could plug two Novag's and let them play each other while you sit back and watch soccer on TV !! :)

Best regards
Nick
kalatov
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Post by kalatov »

This looks like a very nice piece of work Berger. Although I've got this working with the adapter cable I made up I would be interested to know how much one of your boxes is as it is a physically neater solution.
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Berger
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Post by Berger »

spacious_mind wrote:Wouldn't it be nice if you could plug two Novag's and let them play each other while you sit back and watch soccer on TV !! :)
Yes, that would be great... if you like soccer! :roll:
Jokes aside, I don't think this is possible, because of the Novag driver operation: It doesn't work like a UCI engine. I think there can only be one Novag connected at a time.
kalatov wrote:This looks like a very nice piece of work Berger. Although I've got this working with the adapter cable I made up I would be interested to know how much one of your boxes is as it is a physically neater solution.

Thank you. I'll send you a private message to talk about money. :wink:

But... what Novag do you have connected with just a cable? Maybe a Star Diamond? It is the most similar in communications with Citrine, because the previous Novag models do not work with the Novag driver integrated in Arena.

Regards,
Berger
kalatov
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Post by kalatov »

Hi Berger,

No, I managed to get it working with my Sapphire. If you look back through this thread I've detailed how I did it. Basically I built an adapter cable from instructions I found online (link in one of my previous posts) which means you can connect models like the Sapphire and Super VIP which needed the Distributor directly to the PC serial port. I then used Alain's Arena UCB engine/driver for the Diamond (again linked in a previous post) so that the Sapphire appears in Arena as an engine. I can also then connect my Citrine as normal and can either have the two play or use the Citrine as a board to play against the Sapphire.

I can also play against the Sapphire just using the Arena interface and setting the serial port speed for the 'Citrine' to 9600 (and set that speed on the physical port as well of course).

Phil

Phil
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Berger
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Post by Berger »

Hi Phil,

But that's just great! Apart from being a more economical solution, it has the advantage of operating as a UCI engine. I'll try to test that method: I'm curious to see if computers like Super Nova and Super Forte C v1.2 works, too... because they send the moves in a different way (data format) than Sapphire, Diamond, Super VIP, etc.

And I apologize for not having read the thread carefully from the beginning. I got here after I built my interface... a friend sent me the link recently, and I only read the last posts. :oops:

Regards,
Berger
Last edited by Berger on Thu Oct 19, 2017 6:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
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scandien
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Post by scandien »

hello

interesting post.

when i am using the Alain's Arena UCB engine/driver for the Diamond, i get a message indicating that the process cannot access to a log file name log00x.txt because it is used by another process!


did you ever face this problem ?

best regards

Nicolas
kalatov
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Post by kalatov »

Berger wrote: And I apologize for not having read the thread carefully from the beginning. I got here after I built my interface... a friend sent me the link recently, and I only read the last posts. :oops:

Regards,
Berger
No worries, it's really interesting to see the work you've done on this. Although I probably can't justify buying one of your boxes as I've got this working a different way, your's is definitely more stylish! I look forward to hearing how you get on with the older models. So how do their communication protocols vary from the later machines?

Phil
kalatov
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Post by kalatov »

scandien wrote:hello

interesting post.

when i am using the Alain's Arena UCB engine/driver for the Diamond, i get a message indicating that the process cannot access to a log file name log00x.txt because it is used by another process!


did you ever face this problem ?

best regards

Nicolas
I'm afraid I haven't seen that message Nicolas. In my work when I'm trying to track down what processes are accessing which files (on Windows machines) I use a tool called Procmon. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysint ... ds/procmon

All the best

Phil
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Berger
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Post by Berger »

kalatov wrote:I look forward to hearing how you get on with the older models. So how do their communication protocols vary from the later machines?
Hi,

They're small differences like the use of ',' or '.' in the black move, the use of '@' at the beginning of command lines in some models, different behaviour in promotion, etc. But it's frustrating when you develop the code if you don't have all the Novag models with communications port to run the tests, so first I tested with my Novags, then I sent a prototype of the interface by mail to a friend for him to run tests with his Novags... I also traveled to a nearby city, where a collector let me run tests with his! :D

The most surprising thing, for example, is the behavior of Super Forte C. I don't know if there is a Super Forte C v3.6... because v1.2 sends a similar data format to Super Nova (using' @') but it doesn't accept the promotion in the same way (and Super Expert C v3.6 is totally different)

Regards,
Berger
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Post by jfppal »

kalatov wrote:...

Thinking about that gave me another idea. I remembered reading about some UCI drivers Alain had produced to make it easier to use Novags with Arena. Tracking them down elsewhere in this forum the link is [For now I can't post links] (thank you Alain) the one for the Diamond works, not surprisingly, a treat with the Sapphire. I can now have the Sapphire connected and running as an engine and then connect the Citrine using the built in functionality in Arena...

Phil
Hi kalatov,
I have a Sapphire too with its "Berger" interface. Unfortunately I was so far unable to use it as an UCI engine, via Zanchetta's drivers. I can only reach that functionality using the Arena built-in Citrine utility.
I would be very happy if you could explain in detail -for dumbs, please!- how to achieve such connection.
Thanks in advance,
Juan Francisco
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Post by jfppal »

jfppal wrote:
kalatov wrote:...

Hi kalatov,
I have a Sapphire too with its "Berger" interface...
Juan Francisco
Let us call it "a serial adapter"
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Berger
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Post by Berger »

jfppal wrote:Let us call it "a serial adapter"
You mean an adapter like the one kalatov made, i.e. equivalent to the Novag Distributor. :wink:

Regards,
Berger
kalatov
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Post by kalatov »

To have a Sapphire as an engine in Arena:

- You need either an original Novag Super Distributor or make up an adapter cable following the instructions from here: https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... eplacement. That's what I did. Even for a novice solderer it wasn't too difficult, the hardest part for me was ordering the kit from the German website!

-[EDIT] You need to have the Sapphire running off a mains adapter.

- You download and install Alain's UCB drivers and install the Diamond one as an engine in Arena (the Diamond being the desktop version of the Sapphire).

- You set up the Sapphire with the required level and connect it to your serial port via the adapter cable, making sure that the serial port is configured to 9600 baud. Mine is actually via a USB-Serial adapter.

- You start a new game in Arena which for me defaults to me as white and the 'Diamond' as black. When I make my first move a dialogue window pops up to ask me to confirm the engine settings, which is basically the level I set on the Sapphire. I haven't yet managed to set it up with the Sapphire as white and me as black but I'm guessing it should be possible.

Phil
Last edited by kalatov on Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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