Tasc Sb20 smartboard - parallel to USB converter

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Adam2000
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Tasc Sb20 smartboard - parallel to USB converter

Post by Adam2000 »

Hello guys i'm new here and i have à question.

I just got a Tasc sb20 board and found out they only work on win 95 and 98 with a parallel port.

Is it possible to use a parallel to USB converter to connect my board to smaller laptops or other devices with Windows 95/98 installed?

Would be great and sounds possible. But is it possible?

Does anyone has experiance with this or other tips?

Thanks

Adam
jarek
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Post by jarek »

Hello,

Parallel 2 USB - I did not hear of a working solution.

Parallel 2 Express Card
see e.g. this interface
http://www.delock.de/produkte/G_66220/m ... anguage=en

However, please do more research as I haven't tried it yet (although I bought this adapter recently to use with Mephisto PC Modul).

Jarek
Adam2000
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Post by Adam2000 »

Hello Jarek, i did not even know there was a pc module for the mephisto.

Also interesting to know but probably hard to find these mephisto modules.

Thanks for sharing!

Adam
Adam2000
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Post by Adam2000 »

For the people that don't know what i am talking about...

here is a link:

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/usb-to-parallel
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chesspcmac
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Location: Richmond, Virginia

Post by chesspcmac »

Hi Adam: I just bought that cable and I think that's the right cable. I will try once I get the TASC software that comes with smartboard. I never got them. So if you can send them to me I would appreciate it very much. My email is miguelunibe@yahoo.com. Then I could try to see if the cable works or not. Im in the middle in installing windows 95 on my old laptop.


Thanks

Tasc regards

Mike
"Sir, the slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is insufferable"

Henry Thomas Buckle
Adam2000
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Post by Adam2000 »

Hello chesspcmac,

i also just got the smartboard and i did not get the original drivers with it.
So i am in the middle of trying out everything i find on the internet.

I found a link with some great information and drivers on this link:
http://lefouduroi.pagesperso-orange.fr/smartboard.htm
but non of them worked for me. I think i am doing something wrong and you have more luck or someone else have more info.

However i found a link that worked for me and i could play with my Tasc sb20 board. It is a demo version of the chess program "Chessica".

You can download it for free here:
https://archive.org/details/Chessica_1020

Just connect the board and go to file/smartboard and you are ready to go.


I'm still looking for the original drivers but so far no luck.
As soon as i have more luck i will let you know.

Maybe there are other readers that have the original drivers files.

And please keep me updated!

Adam
jarek
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Post by jarek »

Hi guys,

please let me know if you get the Parralel -> USB interface to work.

Jarek
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chesspcmac
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Location: Richmond, Virginia

Post by chesspcmac »

Adam thanks for the information


Never enough information for the TASC regards


Mike
"Sir, the slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is insufferable"

Henry Thomas Buckle
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blaubaer
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Post by blaubaer »

Hi Adam,
Adam2000 wrote:I found a link with some great information and drivers on this link:
http://lefouduroi.pagesperso-orange.fr/smartboard.htm
but non of them worked for me. I think i am doing something wrong and you have more luck or someone else have more info.
these drivers/files definitely work under Win98 on a pc with parallel port! I made several tests until now...
Adam2000 wrote:
However i found a link that worked for me and i could play with my Tasc sb20 board. It is a demo version of the chess program "Chessica".

You can download it for free here:
https://archive.org/details/Chessica_1020

Just connect the board and go to file/smartboard and you are ready to go.
Which is your setup with this demo of Chessica? Do you use a Win98 pc with parallel port?

USB to parallel adapter are very special; I already made tests with a eprom burner that needs a parallel port - I didn't succeed; express card to parallel adapter are also available and could help but you always have to test every single setup. There are several protocols at the parallel port and not every adapter understands every protocol...

All you need is time and luck...

It's my experience that, if you want to avoid frustration, there's only one way and that is to use a real parallel port!! So contact eBay and buy a used pc with Win98 and parallel port. There are lots of offers out there because several old software need a parallel port...

Regards, Michael
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blaubaer
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Post by blaubaer »

Hi,
Adam2000 wrote: However i found a link that worked for me and i could play with my Tasc sb20 board. It is a demo version of the chess program "Chessica".

You can download it for free here:
https://archive.org/details/Chessica_1020
you can buy the full version of Chessica in the net, look for example here:

https://www.stappenmethode.de/software/ ... d-chessica

http://www.amazon.com/Tasc-Chess-CD-Tut ... 1879479877

Regards, Michael
Erik Stillum
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Post by Erik Stillum »

I found a link with some great information and drivers on this link:
http://lefouduroi.pagesperso-orange.fr/smartboard.htm
but non of them worked for me. I think i am doing something wrong and you have more luck or someone else have more info.

Chessica was Tasc's own version of Fritz and no driver was needed. The drivers made it possible to play with Genius 3, Mchess, Wchess etc in a DOS environment. As far as I remember it does not work with chess programs for Windows. However I think some of the windows programs had the driver incorporated (Genius 5 or 6), but I am not shure... I also think some of the Winboard programs at the time worked with the smartboard...



Best Regards

Erik
jarek
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Post by jarek »

Hi guys,
did you try Chessmaster 5500?
It is supposed to be working with SB.
There is even a paper leaflet on Tasc SB in the boxed version.
Jarek

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