This Corona isn't working according to the seller:
[url=http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SAITEK-CORON ... 461064c341]
What's the betting that it doesn't work because the substitute plastic pieces aren't able to activate the reed switches? The original Corona pieces are felted wood with an oriented magnet in each base.
It's in nice order otherwise and with its 100,000 opening moves makes a good competitor. A set of correctly magnetised pieces may be all it needs.
Saitek Corona
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I'm watching that auction myself. Have not placed a bid yet. I see there
are 7 bidders so far. I'm not sure whether or not those are the original
pieces. They seem to be a matching set. Steve might be able to tell us
if the pieces are original.
Note the seller described the unit as "sensory touch", and says she is
pressing "buttons". Are the buttons the controls, or are they the squares
she is pressing? No good pressing the squares, sweetheart, the board is
auto sensory. I notice nobody has contacted her, maybe they see her
ignorance as an asset.
A pity the original box is missing.
L
are 7 bidders so far. I'm not sure whether or not those are the original
pieces. They seem to be a matching set. Steve might be able to tell us
if the pieces are original.
Note the seller described the unit as "sensory touch", and says she is
pressing "buttons". Are the buttons the controls, or are they the squares
she is pressing? No good pressing the squares, sweetheart, the board is
auto sensory. I notice nobody has contacted her, maybe they see her
ignorance as an asset.
A pity the original box is missing.
L
The original pieces are in wood with a 6.5cm king (2.5 inch). By now it's almost certain that the white pieces have darkened a bit making it a little hard to tell black from white sometimes. Especially the pawns.Larry wrote:I'm watching that auction myself. Have not placed a bid yet. I see there
are 7 bidders so far. I'm not sure whether or not those are the original
pieces. They seem to be a matching set. Steve might be able to tell us
if the pieces are original.
Note the seller described the unit as "sensory touch", and says she is
pressing "buttons". Are the buttons the controls, or are they the squares
she is pressing? No good pressing the squares, sweetheart, the board is
auto sensory. I notice nobody has contacted her, maybe they see her
ignorance as an asset.
A pity the original box is missing.
L
As much as it hurts a New South Welshman to be corrected bySmackerel wrote:
The original pieces are in wood with a 6.5cm king (2.5 inch). By now it's almost certain that the white pieces have darkened a bit making it a little hard to tell black from white sometimes. Especially the pawns.
a mere Victorian, in this case I must stand corrected.
http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/in ... tek_Corona
A safe bet that the pieces are the problem. The shipping is a bit
steep, but the Corona is a beauty, and in this case in fine condition.
nice day...
Larry
Greetings gentlemen,
Hi, my name is 9R and I am a chessoholic.
And I'm greatly enjoying my second day with the HIARC FORUM!!
This is just great, and imagine my surprise reading this discussion??
I am the winner of this Corona in question, and am looking forward to answering these questions here.
The board is still in transit . .
And yes, I noticed the sellers mistake regarding the "touch" sensor board.
I was in no hurry to correct her, and I hoped that the true beauty of this board would go unnoticed by others. I was stunned to see it, and feel lucky getting it for the $155.50! thanks for not bidding.
I wondered about the "put pawn H7" prompt as well. Obviously the problem has to be one of two things, the piece or the reed switch. But if the pieces were all wrong, the prompt would have been "put rook H8". I believe this Corona is like the Renaissance board, where when a new game is selected, the game scans the squares starting with H8, and then proceeding with H7, H2,H1, G8, G7, G2 etc expecting to find pieces there.
Therefore I suspect the reed switch as the problem.. but this will be resolved soon enough.
Certainly I would be very pleased if it's just a bad pawn. I kinda figured that if it was a bad piece, they would've noticed that by setting up the board a second time (figuring putting the bad pawn on a different square), the prompt would've changed to say D7?
I have intentions of using different pieces.
Hope this doesn't come across as gloating?
Until next time,
9R
Hi, my name is 9R and I am a chessoholic.
And I'm greatly enjoying my second day with the HIARC FORUM!!
This is just great, and imagine my surprise reading this discussion??
I am the winner of this Corona in question, and am looking forward to answering these questions here.
The board is still in transit . .
And yes, I noticed the sellers mistake regarding the "touch" sensor board.
I was in no hurry to correct her, and I hoped that the true beauty of this board would go unnoticed by others. I was stunned to see it, and feel lucky getting it for the $155.50! thanks for not bidding.
I wondered about the "put pawn H7" prompt as well. Obviously the problem has to be one of two things, the piece or the reed switch. But if the pieces were all wrong, the prompt would have been "put rook H8". I believe this Corona is like the Renaissance board, where when a new game is selected, the game scans the squares starting with H8, and then proceeding with H7, H2,H1, G8, G7, G2 etc expecting to find pieces there.
Therefore I suspect the reed switch as the problem.. but this will be resolved soon enough.
Certainly I would be very pleased if it's just a bad pawn. I kinda figured that if it was a bad piece, they would've noticed that by setting up the board a second time (figuring putting the bad pawn on a different square), the prompt would've changed to say D7?
I have intentions of using different pieces.
Hope this doesn't come across as gloating?
Until next time,
9R
Congrats on the good buy. Let us know if the board is ok. I'm trusting9RX wrote:
I am the winner of this Corona in question, and am looking forward to answering these questions here.
you know how to replace a bad reed switch, a job you learn how to
do blindfolded on Fidelity machines. It's not so easy on Mephisto
boards, don't know about Scisys/Saitek units though. I've got the
lesser Stratos, a downmarket variant of the Corona, for the less well
heeled buyers of yesteryear. It only has coordinate lights and pressure
squares, but a neat machine nonetheless.
all the best,
Larry
Gentlemen, The CORONA has arrived . .
..drum roll please...... IT IS PERFECT !!!
And it is beautiful . . I am very pleased!
The problem of course was with the pieces that the seller provided.
Clearly not the original pieces. Most of the pieces would trigger the reed switches.
Some had to be placed exactly on the squares. And some didn't work at all.
The seller is obviously not the original owner, nor had any idea about this board.
If the seller had tried setting the board up again, there's no doubt that the prompt would've been different.
btw Larry, there was an Saitek ASTRAL board that sold on eBay just about three weeks ago
that seems to be identical to the Corona, except it's a 'touch sensor' game. I really regret not pursuing it!
It went for cheap. I think the shipping costs to me were more costly than the board itself.
This makes up for that, but still you think about it.
LUCKY CORONA,
9R
..drum roll please...... IT IS PERFECT !!!
And it is beautiful . . I am very pleased!
The problem of course was with the pieces that the seller provided.
Clearly not the original pieces. Most of the pieces would trigger the reed switches.
Some had to be placed exactly on the squares. And some didn't work at all.
The seller is obviously not the original owner, nor had any idea about this board.
If the seller had tried setting the board up again, there's no doubt that the prompt would've been different.
btw Larry, there was an Saitek ASTRAL board that sold on eBay just about three weeks ago
that seems to be identical to the Corona, except it's a 'touch sensor' game. I really regret not pursuing it!
It went for cheap. I think the shipping costs to me were more costly than the board itself.
This makes up for that, but still you think about it.
LUCKY CORONA,
9R