Excalibur Chess Products Ron Nelson designed/programmed

[spacious_mind]

Nick

Also Portal Chess which is the Chess Station that can be seen here.
http://www.todocoleccion.net/juegos-ant ... ~x16492259

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Yep, you found another one there.

Regards
Nick

[spacious_mind]

An Ivan II showed up on Ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ivan-The-Conque ... SwL7VWmXjb

No Box Regards
Steve

At that price the seller can sit on it for life He probably reads here and thinks we are all nuts lol

Best regards

[Bryan Whitby]

Nick

Also Portal Chess which is the Chess Station that can be seen here.
http://www.todocoleccion.net/juegos-ant ... ~x16492259

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Yep, you found another one there.

Regards
Nick

Nick

When I was asked to test the Novag 2Robot I mentioned to Jeannine Auge that Excalibur had just released the Phantom Force.
She said that she knew this and actually had one on her desk and if my memory serves me correctly, she also said that they (Novag) had considered releasing the Phantom Force as a Novag produced.
Maybe Ron can confirm this?

Bryan

[Cyberchess]

Nick

Also Portal Chess which is the Chess Station that can be seen here.
http://www.todocoleccion.net/juegos-ant ... ~x16492259

Bryan

These units have the oddly shaped LCD chess pieces – like those of the Star Sapphire.
These pieces must have been designed to give the portable units an effective 200 ELO point rating increase with human opponents.

Why couldn’t basic chess piece outlines have been used instead?
The knight, for instance, could have been a basic profile of a horse’s head (as in The Godfather).

I make you a chess set...

You Cannot Refuse Regards,
John

[ChessChallenger]

Well here is my Excalibur Timeline.
I added a few from my Fidelity days, since they don't seem to be correctly described on some of the Chess Computer history sites.
This is comma separated text, which you should be able to import into a spread sheet.

1/11/2016,,Ron Nelson Chess PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CHRONOLOGY,,,,
,,,,,,
YEAR,Model #,PROJECT,MCU,DATE,COMMENT,Factory
2005,410X,e-Chess Express,Chipmast ET50C014,5/20/2005,ET50C014 65c02 14 KBbyte ROM 160 Byte Ram 2.2 MHz,Wide Concept Limited (WCL)
2005,410X-RS,e-Chess Express (Radio Shack 60-2742),Chipmast ET50C014,5/20/2005,ET50C014 65c02 14 KBbyte ROM 160 Byte Ram 2.2 MHz,Wide Concept Limited (WCL)

2007,410K,LCD Keychain Chess,Chipmast ET50C014,,ET50C014 65c02 14 KBbyte ROM 160 Byte Ram 2.2 MHz,Wide Concept Limited (WCL)

Hi Ron,

I have gone through my collection and updated my website information for Excalibur. Everything matches really well.

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/excalibur.html

Except I do have a problem finding information on ET50C014. Do you have more information on the spec sheets for the above as I cannot locate information on ET50C014 anywhere. A few years ago I had opened up Excalibur e-Chess Express Model # 410X-CS-RS and I believe I saw the description PIC18F452.

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/e-chess_express.html

The Datasheet for PIC18F452 is here:

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/D ... 39564c.pdf

What is confusing with PIC18F452 if it were the correct datasheet is that it could be either 10 MHz or 2.5 MHz in speed?

Best regards
Nick

I sent Steve the Chipmast datasheet, hoping he could forward it to you.

Chipmast is a Twain Chinese chip maker (you can find them with Google), and to view their chip offerring you must get a password. To get a password one must be or work with a Chinese consumer goods manufacturer.
They only supply chip die for BLOB ChipOnBoard assembly.

I used a PIC chip as a USB controller. I don't think the PIC chips were ever available for COB assembly.

[ChessChallenger]

Hi Ron,

I bet you didn't know that you also have a chess computer that was sold by Novag under their Perfect Chess brand.



http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/touch.html

Since about 1980, everything that Novag produced was attributed to David Kittinger (which is of course not necessarily 100% correct) so this is a first since 1980, naming you as author for the above Novag chess computer.

Best regards

Yes, I did. It was Novag's Spanish distributor who also bought my Chess Station and Gametime II Chess Clock which they packaged and sold under the Novag brand.

[ChessChallenger]

Nick

Also Portal Chess which is the Chess Station that can be seen here.
http://www.todocoleccion.net/juegos-ant ... ~x16492259

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Yep, you found another one there.

Regards
Nick

Nick

When I was asked to test the Novag 2Robot I mentioned to Jeannine Auge that Excalibur had just released the Phantom Force.
She said that she knew this and actually had one on her desk and if my memory serves me correctly, she also said that they (Novag) had considered releasing the Phantom Force as a Novag produced.
Maybe Ron can confirm this?

Bryan

No, I had never heard of any interest in my Phantom by Novag.
But as I recall the factory I selected and worked with for Phantom , Wah Shing, later did the design and manufacturing for Novag's 2Robot.

[Bryan Whitby]

Thanks Ron, that's cleared that up.

[Steve B]

I sent Steve the Chipmast datasheet, hoping he could forward it to you.

Email has been forwarded

Paasing the Baton Regards
Steve

[spacious_mind]

I sent Steve the Chipmast datasheet, hoping he could forward it to you.

Chipmast is a Twain Chinese chip maker (you can find them with Google), and to view their chip offerring you must get a password. To get a password one must be or work with a Chinese consumer goods manufacturer.
They only supply chip die for BLOB ChipOnBoard assembly.

I used a PIC chip as a USB controller. I don't think the PIC chips were ever available for COB assembly.

Thanks, I have updated the pages.

Best regards

[Bryan Whitby]

Ron

Can you remember why Excalibur never released this robot?
Plus whatever happened to the prototype the university made for Excalibur?
What was your personally involvement with it?

Bryan




Excalibur Electronics press release.

Like a real human opponent, Robotic Chess talks and moves its own pieces! All other chess computers require you to make moves for both armies. But now Excalibur Electronics after years of research and a partnership with the University of Hong Kong brings you the world’s most sophisticated chess computer! Its 500-word speaking vocabulary, powerful play, teaching features, and more than 100 selectable levels make this the choice for chess players of any strength from masters to beginners!
◦Large 500 word speaking vocabulary
◦Uses speech to give encouragement, chess information, comments and hints to help improve your playing skills.
◦Sound can be disabled by a button
◦Super strong chess programs capable of beating over 99% of all chess players.
◦Rating estimated to be over Grandmaster playing strength
◦Opening book library contains standard chess openings
◦100 Levels of Play Beginner to Master rated
◦Extended Teach Modes - For beginners or Experienced players
◦Hint feature
◦Takeback move function- lets you experiment and change a move
◦Save game feature
◦Includes instructions for the following languages; English, French, German,
◦Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish
◦Powered by 4 AA batteries
◦A/C Adapter Optional
◦Board Size 24x24

[ChessChallenger]

Ron

Can you remember why Excalibur never released this robot?
Plus whatever happened to the prototype the university made for Excalibur?
What was your personally involvement with it?

Bryan




Excalibur Electronics press release.

Like a real human opponent, Robotic Chess talks and moves its own pieces! All other chess computers require you to make moves for both armies. But now Excalibur Electronics after years of research and a partnership with the University of Hong Kong brings you the world’s most sophisticated chess computer! Its 500-word speaking vocabulary, powerful play, teaching features, and more than 100 selectable levels make this the choice for chess players of any strength from masters to beginners!
◦Large 500 word speaking vocabulary
◦Uses speech to give encouragement, chess information, comments and hints to help improve your playing skills.
◦Sound can be disabled by a button
◦Super strong chess programs capable of beating over 99% of all chess players.
◦Rating estimated to be over Grandmaster playing strength
◦Opening book library contains standard chess openings
◦100 Levels of Play Beginner to Master rated
◦Extended Teach Modes - For beginners or Experienced players
◦Hint feature
◦Takeback move function- lets you experiment and change a move
◦Save game feature
◦Includes instructions for the following languages; English, French, German,
◦Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish
◦Powered by 4 AA batteries
◦A/C Adapter Optional
◦Board Size 24x24

No, Excalibur never produced that robotic chess.
The unit design concept was done by DAKA, a Hong Kong based design and manufacturing company. Excalibur bought a few of their products, a vertical rotating CD Case storage unit was one, so Shane asked them if they could make a robotic auto sensory chess unit.
They started working on it and presented that photo rendering of their concept.
I was to supply my Grandmaster H8 software & chip to communicate with their robotic chip they would design.
I was skeptical of the size factor, since Shane insisted it be Grandmaster size.
DAKA worked with a University of Hong Kong professor in their robotics area to build a prototype hand to pick up and move pieces.
We went there for a demo when the prototype was finished and it worked "OK".
When Daka started quoting the units high cost, Shane started losing interest, and the product development died.

[Bryan Whitby]

Thanks Ron
Shame it never went into production as the design is excellent.

[spacious_mind]

When Daka started quoting the units high cost, Shane started losing interest, and the product development died.

That was a wise decision. Novag's arm that looks similar if not exactly the same had all sorts of problems. Probably only one in about 20 works because robotic arm failure.

Best regards

[spacious_mind]

Hi Ron,

Here is a computer that I found recently that I had not seen before. Unfortunately I know little about it.

Excalibur Model 119E-CS







It is confusing because as you know Model 119E is Chess Express. However it resembles much more the Model 169-E2 Travel Kingmaster II and Radio Shack's Travel C&C Model 60-2219.

It didn't have a manual so I am not really sure what's inside it.

The photos are almost to scale being about 3/4" smaller than the actual chess computer. Actually the last photo (back of computer) is exactly to scale.

Best regards