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Monsieur Plastique wrote:Famous last words Steve. I think I've seen more in my time than you have to be perfectly honest. And don't keep turning them over to check. You'll only hasten their demise. I just hope for your sake they never need to be opened because they will never be the same again once that has happened.
I'm not overstating things: I'm just relaying facts.
you might have seen more via your connection to Parkers retail business but you certainly haven't been collecting longer then me
for all i know the batch Parker got in Australia was defective or something
all i can say is from my personal collection and experience
no cracking and no LED defects after heavy use after 20 Years
kinda goes against your overarching statement that sooner or alter All GM's will be defective
Monsieur Plastique wrote:I have no idea of who Parkers is but I have seen the problem in units imported directly from overseas as well as units imported into Australia.
I meant Peter Parr ..from Chess Discount Sales
but i guess you already knew who i meant
look its not like i dont like to admit it when i have computers that become defective
one only has to read the forum where there is a thread currently active(dredged up after 5 years) where i go into great detail about some of my defective computers
its just that i dont see these defects you are discussing in the GM at all after ....
Well think of the GMs like Volkswagen group 6 speed dry clutch transmissions. VW never wanted to admit fault despite the failures. It took them years (in this country) to finally own up to the bad engineering. But this did not mean they all failed despite the bad engineering. Many people were lucky, but luck is not exclusive of there being an inherent issue.
Sorry, I figured out later you must have meant Parr. I was thinking of Parker as in the games manufacturer.
So far as the GMs go, if you own one that works, avoid transporting them as much as possible (even within the house), do not use them often, keep them under a reasonably well controlled environment (temperature and humidity) and they don't do in a reed switch, then you may well be lucky and won't ever encounter issues.
But sadly I have only ever seen two types of GM - the ones that already have issues or the ones that do once they've undergone a repair. The problem as I say is the housing is simply insufficiently engineered to withstand the torsional stresses of it's own weight. Think of it like Brock Lesner trying to get around the streets with the legs of a straw weight. That's why I have nicknamed them the Pizza Box. Because that's about how well engineered they are. Structurally, for a machine like that, nothing less than a cast aluminium internal frame (or steel as a second choice) will do - it's just covers too much of a surface area and is too heavy. The thin fibreboard on the bottom cannot redefine the laws of physics and to make matters worse, the securing method (self-tapping screws without any sort of additional washers to spread the load - is what causes the hairline cracking to start. Even then it is bad engineering practice to structurally bond too completely different materials like plastic and fibreboard together due to their differing reactions to temperature and humidity. At worst they should have had the thing on a steel plate base but I suppose that would have cost more dollars in manufacturer and shipping.
And the problem is magnified because these things use reed switches which as we all know have a finite service life. Possibly over the next decade well-used GMs will start to need replacements fitted as we are more and more commonly seeing with the (vastly better built) Mephisto machines. Once you pull apart a GM, the chances of it ever going back together with absolutely no damage, no cracking and perfectly working LCD displays are not terribly high.
So far as your own situation is concerned, I'm not really sure it is typical to be honest. You take extreme care of your machines and because you have so many, they don't get the sort of heavy duty use, nor the duty cycles that other machines might get - say for example a collector who only owns a handful of machines and uses them on a daily or at worst weekly basis. you tend to more rotate your machines and many may get little more than yearly checkovers. I'm sure your GMS are not out on the table 365 days per year and being used for many blitz games each week.
Chess is like painting the Mona Lisa whilst walking through a minefield.
So far as your own situation is concerned, I'm not really sure it is typical to be honest. You take extreme care of your machines and because you have so many, they don't get the sort of heavy duty use, nor the duty cycles that other machines might get - say for example a collector who only owns a handful of machines and uses them on a daily or at worst weekly basis. you tend to more rotate your machines and many may get little more than yearly checkovers. I'm sure your GMS are not out on the table 365 days per year and being used for many blitz games each week.
Actually as i mentioned in my first post i did use the GM's heavily over the years
in fact it was my favorite day to day computer .. as i have mentioned here many times over the years...to be honest though i have been using them far less recently but thats only because my interest in playing chess in general has diminished a bit as i grow older
been playing the game (in one form or the other )almost every day since the early 1970's
perhaps other members will join the discussion and share their experiences with the GM
This set reminds me of the chess pieces for the Multitech CC009, aka the CXG Computachess III. Very elegant pieces, allthough for serious game playing I still like the "common" Staunton pieces the best.
Some of the early dedicated units featured authentic Pacific Game Co. magnetic (2&1/4” king) Cavalier sets. Being that Peter Auge of Novag was in the Hong Kong based toy business, I believe that most or all of the Novag Cavalier magnetic pieces were knock-offs. This fact notwithstanding, the earlier sets were much better crafted in my opinion. I once insisted that my retailer allow me to swap the included pieces with those of an earlier model before agreeing to purchase the unit.
The early Fidelity units CC 10, CC 3 & VCC included a very standard Staunton French lacquered wood magnetic set that is probably more to your liking.
Hi John,
It is not really a question of liking, but think of a situation where you are under stress and really want to beat your opponent, then you do not want to be distracted by thoughts like "Wow, that knight really is beautifully crafted!", because you could forget going for the kill
But that is hardly actual for me right now, my last really serious competition games date from somewhere in the early seventies...
(Oh, but I almost forgot I did play some simultan matches against my colleagues in 1980, still going strong )
This set reminds me of the chess pieces for the Multitech CC009, aka the CXG Computachess III. Very elegant pieces, allthough for serious game playing I still like the "common" Staunton pieces the best.
Some of the early dedicated units featured authentic Pacific Game Co. magnetic (2&1/4” king) Cavalier sets. Being that Peter Auge of Novag was in the Hong Kong based toy business, I believe that most or all of the Novag Cavalier magnetic pieces were knock-offs. This fact notwithstanding, the earlier sets were much better crafted in my opinion. I once insisted that my retailer allow me to swap the included pieces with those of an earlier model before agreeing to purchase the unit.
The early Fidelity units CC 10, CC 3 & VCC included a very standard Staunton French lacquered wood magnetic set that is probably more to your liking.
Hi John,
It is not really a question of liking, but think of a situation where you are under stress and really want to beat your opponent, then you do not want to be distracted by thoughts like "Wow, that knight really is beautifully crafted!", because you could forget going for the kill
But that is hardly actual for me right now, my last really serious competition games date from somewhere in the early seventies...
(Oh, but I almost forgot I did play some simultan matches against my colleagues in 1980, still going strong )
Those were the days regards,
Paul.
Wow, Paul, you go way back!
I didn’t even start playing chess in earnest until Bobby Fischer claimed the World Chess Championship for the United States in 1972.
I was very young back then, so I joined an after school chess club where they organized non-rated kiddie tournaments for us. First prize was typically a schach book.
As a teenager in 1977, I joined the U.S.C.F. and played mostly park chess until joining The Manhattan Chess Club in 1980. Being exposed to all the great players of the day really spurred my interest to new heights, and I began playing in many tournaments both small and large throughout the US. Now – after a 15 year hiatus – I’m back to playing in tournaments again and lovin’ it!
Cyberchess wrote:
You’re Never Too Old Regards,
John
Hi John,
Quite right! And recently I do play tournaments, but let my chesscomputers do the hard work . In the Netherlands and Germany every year a few tournaments are played, each tournament dedicated for a specified maximum strength, which varies with the year. We always play at 30s/move, because about five or six rounds have to be played at one day.
Lately a new tournament type started: playing with an external clock, 30 minutes game. Because using an external clock you are allowed to vary the comp's thinking time, which gives a lot of possibilities, but also a lot of stress...
But mostly these tournaments are like reunions of dedicated chesscomputer lovers.
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