Gavon is here.....

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Wardy
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Gavon is here.....

Post by Wardy »

Last Friday I received the Gavon package from Josu :-)

Unfornately I was on my way out for a long weekend so it's only tonight I've been able to test it.

The package was in a very solid box and internally there was plenty of protection for the Pi, the Adafruit display and the rather smart 2600mAh rechargeable battery. A European mains USB adapter was also supplied but isn't much use to me, my phone adapter works just fine.

Josu emailed me the latest version 0.45 tonight which adds the choice of a warning light when the dgt board doesn't match the internal memory view, plus the ability to retrieve the dgt serial numbers. The update was easy using a windows pc to drop two files on to the micro sd card.

Soldering on the adafruit display is very professionally done.

Menu layout is logical and easily mastered and a number of engines have been compiled and included of which I've gone straight for Stockfish 3.32. New engines are promised, including one due very soon.

The display glows green when it's the players turn, red when the computer is thinking and white while accessing the menu.

Currently happily playing a game at 40/2hrs :-)

Biggest issue so far seems to be finding a case to take the combined Pi and screen.

Any specific questions? Please ask!
Wardy
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Post by Wardy »

First couple of quirks have surfaced, Josu is on the case.
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Post by Wardy »

A few more quirks.

If you like being part of a project then this is the one for you.

If you want a polished final article I'd wait a bit until we find all the wrinkles first.

For the most part it works great, you could play a whole game and not hit one of the things I've found.
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Paul

Good to hear that your Gavon arrived ok and I'm sure Josu will sort out your problems that you are experiencing.

There are very limited Adafruit 16x2 LCD Kit cases/housing out there, so I converted a case I already had.

Photo below of Gavon connected to my SolusChess board.

Bryan

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Wardy
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Post by Wardy »

Bug squashing is already underway :-) to be fair I am deliberately trying to break the software, I like to try and help chess developers wherever I can.

Nice case, I was thinking I'd need to do something similar, just need to spot a suitable case.

Tempted to get another pi and try picochess too, once their rewrite is complete.
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Post by ifekali »

Very cool!

I'm testing a similar open source project (Stockfish Pycochess) on Pi with PiFace Control & Display:

http://www.bestchessmenever.com/blog/fi ... ss-02.html

-Izmet
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Post by Wardy »

Gavon has been updated and removed all the bugs :-)

Further development is under way, Josu is working very hard on this.

I might try picochess too....... Might even be worth a match at some point 8)
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Izmet

Great video as always.

Pycochess is PicoChess but running on the Raspberry Pi instead of the Rikomagic.

I've followed this project with great interest and it's good to see the new Piface display instead of the usual DGT chess clock.

BTW.... Izmet, I really enjoyed your 'Magnetic Chess Board' video!

Regards
Bryan
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Post by Wardy »

And the updates keep coming......

If you have a USB dgt or solus board then it's well worth the minor cost of a Pi and the Gavon software. At the rate that Josu is working it won't be long before it has features to rival equipment many times its cost. As it is it's a pleasure to sit down and play in silence.... Recommended!
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fourthirty
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Post by fourthirty »

Wardy wrote:If you have a USB dgt or solus board then it's well worth the minor cost of a Pi and the Gavon software.
Thank you for the information Paul. May I ask the approximate cost for the system? I could not find it on his website.
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Post by ifekali »

Chessmaster Ireland wrote:Pycochess is PicoChess but running on the Raspberry Pi instead of the Rikomagic.
To clarify:

PicoChess runs on Rikomagic, Mac OS X, Odroid AND Raspberry Pi. See http://www.picochess.org.

Pycochess is a rewrite of above, but in python instead of C++ (No recompiling, makes autoupdates possible.) with additional support for PiFace Display & Control. (At this point it doesn't output to the XL clock at all, but should in the future.) The PiFace is inexpensive but does not have that cool colored backlight move indicator (great idea, BTW) like Gavon.

Some new features are added like support of standalone operation (no DGT board required) and planned support for game databases.

-Izmet
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Post by ifekali »

Alternative move input available on Pycochess 0.21:
http://www.bestchessmenever.com/blog/fi ... input.html

-Izmet
Wardy
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Post by Wardy »

Great video, are you sure we don't have share an ex-wife?!

Gavon also supports alternate keyboard input. It also supports selectable elo where the engine supports this rather than levels.

The book selection looked much better than Gavon currently. Are you able to import your own books? What formats are supported?
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Post by Wardy »

fourthirty wrote:
Wardy wrote:If you have a USB dgt or solus board then it's well worth the minor cost of a Pi and the Gavon software.
Thank you for the information Paul. May I ask the approximate cost for the system? I could not find it on his website.
Josu sells them on eBay, I think mine came across as about £100. It would be cheaper to source the hardware and build it yourself and just get the software from Josu..... I'm just impatient!
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Wardy wrote:
fourthirty wrote:
Wardy wrote:If you have a USB dgt or solus board then it's well worth the minor cost of a Pi and the Gavon software.
Thank you for the information Paul. May I ask the approximate cost for the system? I could not find it on his website.
Josu sells them on eBay, I think mine came across as about £100. It would be cheaper to source the hardware and build it yourself and just get the software from Josu..... I'm just impatient!
I built my own because I had a spare Raspberry Pi and SD Card but I would recomment buying one from Josu as the price difference between building your own and having one built is very little plus it does away with all the delicate soldering that you will have to do which is quite tricky if your not an experienced solderer.

As a rough guide, it will cost you about £80/£90 to build based on the following prices.

£30..Raspberry Pi
£21..Adafruit LCD Kit
£20..Gavon software
£9....Backup Battery Unit
£5....SD Card
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