Fidelity Excel 68000

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Larry
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Fidelity Excel 68000

Post by Larry »

[fen]8/8/8/8/1K6/B3N3/8/1k6[/fen]

I'm wondering if the hash tables on my Excel 68000 are even working.
Could someone out there with a Fidelity Excel 68000 please set up the
above position and tell me their solving time? It is white to move and
mate in four.
The level must be on 'infinite', ie, level e8
My Excel took 15 seconds. Seems like a long time.
No hurry, any time in the next 10 minutes is fine. :wink:
L
PS. Edited solving time from 16 to 15 seconds.
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Hi Larry
i can confirm that the Excel 68k will announce the mate in 16 Seconds on the Infinite level
however,when set to the "Mate in 4" level it announces mate in 9 seconds

Real McCoy Regards
Steve
Larry
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Post by Larry »

Thanks Steve. It's probably the ideal machine for casual fireside chess,
while your wife is wasting time watching some romantic rubbish on TV.
It's not over the top with playing strength, but has the light on every
square and the good old fashioned 'bedside clock' LED display, that does
not lose it's contrast with time. I bought mine from a chess retailer in
Sydney as a bare board, paid peanuts, and had to melt a couple of
solder joints.
Just a little bit of trivia on the Excel 68K... it was the first with the new
68000 processor and the first with hash tables. Big things were expected
of it, but it disappointed, outrating the earlier Par by only a few points.
Still, a nice machine and a joy to use.
In the golden years of dedicateds, people would take a problem chess
computer in and trade it on a new one. It would be normal in those days
for owners to not bother keeping the machine complete, ie, the box and
styrofoam shapes would be thrown out with the rubbish and the game
itself set up and left on the coffee table. A pity. I bought an Excel Mach3
the same way from the same seller.
Morsch hash tables are way better than Spracklen hash tables. Set up
the same position on the Atlanta, start it thinking and you dare not blink
or you will miss the mate announcement.
L
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Larry wrote: Just a little bit of trivia on the Excel 68K... it was the first with the new
68000 processor and the first with hash tables.
L
Slight correction
you are right about the hash tables ..however...
the very first dedicated chess computer to use the 68k Motorola processor was the Mephisto Excalibur released several years earlier then the Fidelity Excel 68k

Historical Regards
Steve
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Fernando
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Post by Fernando »

Larry wrote:Thanks Steve. It's probably the ideal machine for casual fireside chess,
while your wife is wasting time watching some romantic rubbish on TV.
It's not over the top with playing strength, but has the light on every
square and the good old fashioned 'bedside clock' LED display, that does
not lose it's contrast with time. I bought mine from a chess retailer in
Sydney as a bare board, paid peanuts, and had to melt a couple of
solder joints.
Just a little bit of trivia on the Excel 68K... it was the first with the new
68000 processor and the first with hash tables. Big things were expected
of it, but it disappointed, outrating the earlier Par by only a few points.
Still, a nice machine and a joy to use.
In the golden years of dedicateds, people would take a problem chess
computer in and trade it on a new one. It would be normal in those days
for owners to not bother keeping the machine complete, ie, the box and
styrofoam shapes would be thrown out with the rubbish and the game
itself set up and left on the coffee table. A pity. I bought an Excel Mach3
the same way from the same seller.
Morsch hash tables are way better than Spracklen hash tables. Set up
the same position on the Atlanta, start it thinking and you dare not blink
or you will miss the mate announcement.


Big things were expected
of it, but it disappointed, outrating the earlier Par by only a few points.
Still, a nice machine and a joy to use...


It could be said that in fact the Spracklen never produced a better program than Par excellence as much any other after it was just a debugging and/ort a slight improvement of the very same program.

Par Excellence regards
Fern
L
Festina Lente
Larry
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Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Post by Larry »

Fernando wrote: It could be said that in fact the Spracklen never produced a better program than Par excellence as much any other after it was just a debugging and/ort a slight improvement of the very same program.
Just overclocked and/or a stronger processor.
As far as I know, the Excel68K did not have a Designer equivalent.
The reason for it's disappointing strength was given as a program
incompatible with the later motorola processor. I'm guessing here, but
having to also run a display and 64 field lights(which the Par did not have to do) may also
have contributed.
L
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Post by Reinfeld »

Loving this thread. I'd say the Designer 2265 competes for similar pleasures. I go back to that machine all the time.

Poll: Designer 2265 vs Designer 2325 - which do you prefer?

- R.
"You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic and unreliable - but teach him, inoculate him with chess."
– H.G. Wells
Larry
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Post by Larry »

Reinfeld wrote:
Poll: Designer 2265 vs Designer 2325 - which do you prefer?
D2325 any day. I'm still seething after winning one a few months ago
only to have the seller take it off the market *after* I had won the auction.
To his credit, he did it before I had paid for it. He claimed he was selling it
for his brother, but the brother changed his mind. The real reason was he
did'nt like the price I had won it for.
L
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Reinfeld wrote:Loving this thread. I'd say the Designer 2265 competes for similar pleasures. I go back to that machine all the time.

Poll: Designer 2265 vs Designer 2325 - which do you prefer?

- R.
As a collector my reply would be
I would want both.. equally as much
in fact these are the only Designer models I own
never went in for that fancy Italian Designer ..strut down the runway.... type of look...in chess computers or clothing or food or anything else
wont see me ordering A Pasta dish with "light Pesto" sauce in a restaurant

I'm more of a Spaghetti and Meatballs type of Guy Myself Regards
Steve
Celadus
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Post by Celadus »

Reinfeld wrote:Loving this thread. I'd say the Designer 2265 competes for similar pleasures. I go back to that machine all the time.

Poll: Designer 2265 vs Designer 2325 - which do you prefer?

- R.
If you are collecting chess computers I suppose one would need both.
But if required only to play against I would choose the D 2265 because of it's elo level. I may not get beat up so much.
I have never understood why Fidelity machines don't have long term memory to save a game in process. Almost all other make of chess machines have this option. This is a big weakness.
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ricard60
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Post by ricard60 »

I have a designer 2100 and it can win in any postion with B+N+K against K it can do it in the weakest level. What i believe is that it has this type of endgame in the ROM.

Bishop and Knight regards
Ricardo
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Fernando
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Post by Fernando »

wont see me ordering A Pasta dish with "light Pesto" sauce in a restaurant

I'm more of a Spaghetti and Meatballs type of Guy Myself Regards
Steve[/quote]


You should not mention food in the presence of starving people like me.
Fern
Festina Lente
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