Novag Citrine serial cable

TracySMiller · Post by **TracySMiller** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:15 pm

I recently acquired a Novag Citrine from a seller on eBay. It works great, and I'm enjoying playing with it. Unfortunately, it did not come with the serial cable that connects the Citrine with a PC, and I want to play around with that feature. Do any of you know where I can buy the type of serial cable I might need for this?

Larry · Post by **Larry** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:16 am

TracySMiller wrote:I recently acquired a Novag Citrine from a seller on eBay. It works great, and I'm enjoying playing with it. Unfortunately, it did not come with the serial cable that connects the Citrine with a PC, and I want to play around with that feature. Do any of you know where I can buy the type of serial cable I might need for this?

Hi Tracy, check your private messages
regards...Larry

paulwise3 · Post by **paulwise3** » Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:41 pm

Hi Larry,

I am having exactly the same problem. Could you send me some info about it too?

Thanx in advance,
Paul

Post by **Alain** » Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:35 pm

Everything is here: http://tervo.ca/chess/sapphire.htm

Best regards,
Alain

TracySMiller · Post by **TracySMiller** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 4:03 pm

Thanks for the info, Alain. Not being a tech savvy person, though, I'm a little uncertain what to do with this information. Is this telling me that I can use a 6-pin telephone cord to connect to the Citrine? If so, then I'd need something to connect to my computer, because my computer doesn't have a standard telephone outlet. I'd need some kind of adapter to go from RJ11 to USB. Or, would I need an intermediate cable to first adapt the RJ11 to serial, and then adapt the serial to a USB to connect to my computer.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't understand the electronics involved.

Post by **Alain** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 4:31 pm

TracySMiller wrote:Thanks for the info, Alain. Not being a tech savvy person, though, I'm a little uncertain what to do with this information. Is this telling me that I can use a 6-pin telephone cord to connect to the Citrine? If so, then I'd need something to connect to my computer, because my computer doesn't have a standard telephone outlet. I'd need some kind of adapter to go from RJ11 to USB. Or, would I need an intermediate cable to first adapt the RJ11 to serial, and then adapt the serial to a USB to connect to my computer.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't understand the electronics involved.

yes, you most likely need two cables or one cable and one adapter as I have never seen a schema with direct RJ11 to USB connection:
1. this page shows how to make the "custom" cable that used to be available from Novag and translates from telephone-like plug on the Citrine to a standard DB-9 serial.
2. then from DB-9 to a modern computer, you can either use a serial to usb adapter or a serial to Bluetooth one.
Note that not all such adapters are equivalents: I have several of them at home and some did not work well with Windows 8, and others (some BT ones) were really a pain to change the communication speed.

paulwise3 · Post by **paulwise3** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:10 pm

Thanx Alain,
Now I have to find someone who can make that for me

I have some ideas...

blaubaer · Post by **blaubaer** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 5:01 am

Hi Paul,

I could make some tests with adapters I have available and build a cable for you. Which software do you want to use, Arena?

See here for some info in German!

Regards, Michael

blaubaer · Post by **blaubaer** » Tue Apr 05, 2016 3:59 am

Hi,

it's a RJ12 (not RJ11) to DB-9 or better DB9 cable!

Regards, Michael

blaubaer · Post by **blaubaer** » Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:36 pm

Hi,

Alain wrote:Everything is here: http://tervo.ca/chess/sapphire.htm

I just analyzed my cable - 2 from RJ11 (correct RJ12) is connected to 6 at DB-9 connector (not 8!).
Regards, Michael

TracySMiller · Post by **TracySMiller** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:50 pm

Got my cable (Thank you, Larry!), and got my Citrine hooked up to my aging laptop and it works great. It's so amazing to be able to play against any of the hundreds of UCI engines out there, with their wildly varying styles and strengths. I can now play against Stockfish, if I choose the masochistic route, on a real board. Just minimize the Arena window and it's like the computer isn't even there. I'm sure using a DGT board, or a Phoenix system, would be a better experience, but this is a good, less-expensive solution.

Also, nice to have Arena record your game for you, which makes analysis so much easier.

The only thing I haven't really been able to do, and this may be a limitation to the way Arena and the Citrine talk to one another, is be able to match the Citrine itself against a UCI engine using Arena. I don't know if anyone has done such a thing. I tried, but it's like the Citrine board gets confused and stops sending moves.

Post by **Alain** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:01 pm

TracySMiller wrote:The only thing I haven't really been able to do, and this may be a limitation to the way Arena and the Citrine talk to one another, is be able to match the Citrine itself against a UCI engine using Arena. I don't know if anyone has done such a thing. I tried, but it's like the Citrine board gets confused and stops sending moves.

Yes, this requires a different approach.
I had written and published (although I don't know where it's available now) a set of "UCI Engines for Novag Computers" which should be used instead.
I'll try to find it this weeks.

Alain

ome911 · Post by **ome911** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 11:34 pm

Hi Alain,
Did you get a chance to locate the Novag UCI engines ?
Regards,
Enzo

Post by **Alain** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 1:22 pm

You can download them from here:
http://alain.zanchetta.free.fr/softs/Al ... .Setup.msi

After installation, you have to add them as engines in the GUI, they will be installed here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Alainza\UCI Drivers for Dedicated Machines\

And no, I don't know how to connect a NOVAG to an MacBook Pro. I have no apple hardware (I need jack plugs

).

Alain

ome911 · Post by **ome911** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 9:59 am

Thanks Alain

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Novag Citrine serial cable

Novag Citrine serial cable

Re: Novag Citrine serial cable