PicoChess stand alone chess computer has born

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:49 pm

I have started a little project based on Stockfish, a DGT board and DGT XL clock, and ARM based systems to build a standalone chess computer.

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:49 pm

Here is the first video of the little beast playing stand-alone :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt4b85_pichess2_tech
And a previous video showing the config modes (running on a desktop computer) : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt2eul_pichess_tech

Stockfish runs fast on this ARM device (http://store.cloudsto.com/rikomagic/rik ... etail.html), and there is a lot of space for the hashtables (1GB RAM). As far as I know, I now have the world's strongest dedicated chess computer at home

I will publish sd card images for the 802MK II in the next days ; but if you want to build it yourself here is the source code : http://www.picochess.org

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:49 am

This looks very interesting!!

Like!

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:31 pm

Thanks Brutus

I just released the first version of PicoChess (v0.1) for MK802II ARM devices.
It's an image file that you need to put on a 8GB micro sd card ; instructions and download link are on the website (http://www.picochess.org).

4 opening books by Gabriel Leperlier are included, you can choose skill level and thinking time, and taking back moves is supported.

I hope you will enjoy it

Brutus · Post by **Brutus** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 7:45 pm

Hello Jromang!
Thx. for your upates, i'll watch your developements closely but have to wait for the HW bought beeing shipped to me.

Any plans for getting different engines loaded within this device?
- Brutus

Bryan Whitby · Post by **Bryan Whitby** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:36 am

Jromang
Once someone comes up with a USB fix will your Raspberry PI project be working?
Bryan

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:13 am

I have no plan to get other engines on this device for now - I'm a Stockfish fan

But porting any UCI engine should not be too difficult (why not Hiarcs ? It already runs on the Revelation boards

)

Yes the project will have to wait someone to fix the USB on raspberry pi to have PicoChess working on these devices. But I already works on MK802II, and I think the processing power gain (5 times faster), the added RAM, and the smaller form factor worth the price difference !

shiv · Post by **shiv** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:05 am

jromang wrote:I have no plan to get other engines on this device for now - I'm a Stockfish fan But porting any UCI engine should not be too difficult (why not Hiarcs ? It already runs on the Revelation boards )

Yes the project will have to wait someone to fix the USB on raspberry pi to have PicoChess working on these devices. But I already works on MK802II, and I think the processing power gain (5 times faster), the added RAM, and the smaller form factor worth the price difference !

The project works fine for me on Mac OS X. I needed to run ./stockfish dgt /dev/cu.usbserial.**

The level changing with the queen did not work for me like the video mentions. I am going to get the mk 802 device soon to test this out. This looks like a great project. Thanks!

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:12 am

The v0.2 is available on http://www.picochess.org
New features :
-Fits on a 4GB micro SD card
-Stockfish uses 512Mo for hastables (instead of 32Mo in v0.1)
-New opening books by Gabriel Leperlier, Olivier Deville, and Marc Lacrosse (https://github.com/jromang/Stockfish/bl ... uthors.txt)
-The near mate hanging bug should be solved
-Displays version number at startup
-Changed fixed time per move values

Have fun

Bryan Whitby · Post by **Bryan Whitby** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:56 am

Have you spoken to Matt as he seems to have no problem with his USB coding.

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:34 pm

USB works fine on raspberry pi...except with some FTDI serial converters. Unfortunately, the DGT board is based on this

It seems Matt does not use this converter, so no problem for him

But I have some hope for the future : https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/88

jromang · Post by **jromang** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:22 pm

Code: Select all

PicoChess v0.05 available on &#91;url&#93;http&#58;//www.picochess.org &#91;/url&#93;

New features &#58;
-No more beep when launching search
-New opening books &#58; 'Pro' update by gabriel lerperlier and
'Performance' by Marc Lacrosse
-Displays computer remaining time in fixed time control mode
-*Highly experimental* blitz time controls &#58;-&#41;

Have fun!

compguy · Post by **compguy** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:22 pm

I have decided to jump into this fun project. Just ordered a Rikomagic MK802 II today. Already have a DGT Bluetooth board and XL clock.

Eric

red_potatoes · Post by **red_potatoes** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 3:20 am

compguy wrote:I have decided to jump into this fun project. Just ordered a Rikomagic MK802 II today. Already have a DGT Bluetooth board and XL clock.

Fun is exactly right. I don't think I've ever had so much fun playing against a chess computer. For me the simple user interface has a lot to do with this. Tap a few squares with the extra white and black queens to set time control, strength, and opening books - and then just play. Computer moves and time remaining are displayed on the clock. No computer monitor or laptop fan to distract you

How will it work with a bluetooth board - will you need to plug a bluetooth adapter into the MK802?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:26 am

Bluetooth is present on the rikomagic. However, the project does not currently work out of the box with a Bluetooth dgt board as it does for the USB DGT board. Do join the mailing list for picochess and post when you get the rikomagic. It should not be too hard to support Bluetooth but requires some changes to the code.