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blaubaer
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Post by blaubaer »

Hi Nick
spacious_mind wrote:Yep, it was my Mother's favorite movie too :P
with focus on Omar Sharif, I believe.... ;-:
Regards, Michael
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

Here is another Checkers Computer.

Applied Systems/Chafitz Modular Game System Borcheck Championship Checkers, 1981

Image

This is a modular game computer which Chafitz/Applied Systems Inc developed and sold in the early 1980s.

This particular Modular Game System computer was specifically made for the game Borcheck as you can see from the number notation on the chess board.

Chafitz/Applied Concepts Inc., also made a number of chess programs for the Modular Game System as well as its slightly more expensive brother the Great Game Machine. The modules in most cases were interchangeable between the two systems. An Othello/Reversi module was also available named Odin and a Blackjack module named Las Vegas.

You can see more of the chess modules for the Modular Game System and Great Game Machine here:

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/modul ... ystem.html

I believe Borcheck was written by David Slate who worked closely with Larry Atkin. Together they were the authors of the Northwestern University 4.7 Computer Chess program. Winners of the World Computer Chess Tournament 1977-1980. Winners of 8 North American Computer Chess Championships between 1970 and 1979. Two of the world’s authorities on machine intelligence at that time.

Image

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/commo ... s_7_0.html

The Checker version from David Slate distributed by Odesta, was available on Apple II, Commodore 64 and Atari 400/800 computers.

The Applied Consepts Inc/Chafitz Inc. Modular Games Systems run on a 2 MHz 6502 processor therefore Borcheck Championship Checkers will probably be just a little stronger than the above mentioned home computer versions.

Here are two games that I played with Borcheck against Fidelity Checker Challenger Model ACR. Both computers played on Level 3.

Game 1

1. Fidelity Checker Challenger ACR - Applied Concepts MGS Borcheck Championship Checkers
Level 3, Pelham, Alabama [2], 09.04.2017 (Spacious Mind)

1.11-15 23-19 2.10-14 19x10 3.06x15 22-18 4.15x22 26x10 5.07x14 25-22 6.12-16 31-26 7.16-20 29-25 8.02-07 22-18 9.14x23 26x19 10.09-14 25-22 11.08-12 22-18 12.14x23 27x18 13.20x27 32x23 14.07-11 21-17 15.01-06 18-14 16.03-07 23-18 17.06-10 30-26 18.12-16 19x12 19.11-16 26-23 20.16-20 23-19 21.20-24 18-15 22.24-27 15x06 23.27-31 06-02 24.07-11 12-08 25.11-16 19x12 26.04x11 12-08 27.31-26 08-03 28.11-16 17-13 29.16-19 13-09 30.19-23 09-06 31.23-27 06-01 32.27-31 02-06 33.26-22 14-10 34.22-18 10-07 35.31-26 07-02 36.26-22 03-07 37.22-17 07-10 38.18-14 28-24 39.14x07 02x11 40.17-13 11-15 41.13-17 15-10 42.17-21 24-19 0-1

Fidelity Model ACR did not play bad at all, but you can tell that Borcheck is quite a bit stronger.

Final Position

Image

Game 2

2. Applied Concepts MGS Borcheck Championship Checkers
- Fidelity Checker Challenger ACR
Level 3, Pelham, Alabama [2], 09.04.2017 (Spacious Mind)

1.11-16 22-18 2.16-19 24x15 3.10x19 23x16 4.12x19 18-14 5.09x18 21-17 6.06-09 27-23 7.18x27 31x15 8.02-06 28-24 9.07-10 24-19 10.10-14 17x10 11.08-11 15x08 12.06x24 32-28 13.04x11 28x19 14.01-06 25-21 15.06-10 21-17 16.09-13 26-22 17.03-08 29-25 18.08-12 25-21 19.11-16 17-14 20.10x26 30x23 21.05-09 19-15 22.16-19 23x16 23.12x19 15-10 24.19-24 10-06 25.09-14 06-01 26.24-28 01-05 27.14-18 05-09 28.18-23 09-14 29.23-26 14-18 30.26-31 18-23 31.28-32 23-19 32.31-27 19-15 33.27-23 15-10 34.23-18 10-07 35.18-15 07-02 36.15-10 1-0

Final Position

Image

Quick and easy win for Borcheck.

Final Score

Applied Concepts Inc/Chafitz Borcheck Championship Checkers = 2 Wins
Fidelity Checker Challenger Model ACR = 2 Losses.

Best regards
Nick
yoyo_chessboard
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

hi

i have opened the Fidelity Checker Challenger CR ( 2levels)


here are the photos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskXw97Z5

in fact i am a bit disappointed :
i expected to find at least a Z80.
in fact there is a NEC D546 which is a 4 bits CPU with:
2000 by 8 bits ROM
96 by 4 bits RAM


Nick, as you have an 'advanced' checker challenger.
do you know what is inside ?
Last edited by yoyo_chessboard on Mon Apr 10, 2017 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:hi

i have opened the Fidelity Checker Challenger CR ( 2levels)

here are the photos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskXw97Z5

in fact i am a bit disappointed :
i expected to find at least a Z80.
in fact there is a NEC D546 which is a 4 bits CPU with:
2000 by 8 bits ROM
96 by 4 bits RAM


Nick, as you have an 'advanced' checker challenger.
do you know what is inside ?

regards.
Hi Yoyo,

I wouldn't want to open it. It is the same design as CC1 and CC3 therefore very difficult to open. I would guess it has the same processor too which you can see here from the CC1.

https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... Challenger

Best regards
Nick
yoyo_chessboard
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

spacious_mind wrote:
yoyo_chessboard wrote:hi




Nick, as you have an 'advanced' checker challenger.
do you know what is inside ?

regards.
Hi Yoyo,

I wouldn't want to open it. It is the same design as CC1 and CC3 therefore very difficult to open. I would guess it has the same processor too which you can see here from the CC1.

https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... Challenger

Best regards
yes it is the same processor.
my checker challenger is even simpler than CC1/3

and to open it , just four plastic parts to bend.

it is a pity !
i am unable to insert a photo in my message.
fhub
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Post by fhub »

yoyo_chessboard wrote: i have opened the Fidelity Checker Challenger CR ( 2levels)
...
in fact i am a bit disappointed
I've now also made the 10x10 Dame Challenger working in CB-Emu
...
and in fact I'm not disappointed about it ;)
(although it was harder to implement than any chess module)

Image

Franz
yoyo_chessboard
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

Hi Nick,


look at that Ebay auction :
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Reversal-for-Ata ... 2204693654

i expect you did'nt paid yours that price !

do you have any way to dump the reversal tape ?

here are some infos , that you probably already have.

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-40 ... _4360.html

regards.
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:Hi Nick,


look at that Ebay auction :
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Reversal-for-Ata ... 2204693654

i expect you did'nt paid yours that price !

do you have any way to dump the reversal tape ?

here are some infos , that you probably already have.

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-40 ... _4360.html

regards.
Hi Yoyo,

Wow, amazing price. I hope he sells it :) Then maybe I will sell mine!

I have the Atari tape version and the C64 5.1/4" floppy disk version. I don't know maybe I have to read up see how I can dump it some day.

BTW. The Fidelity Reversi is definitely Spracklen it has the same 9 levels with same times for the levels. Difference is only that in the computer game you have 3 options: Beginner, Intermediate and advanced.

ps.. The Atari version was adapted to Atari by Dan and Gerry Kitchen and the C64 version was adapted by Alex Ford. So depending on the success of the adaptation the Atari may play slightly differently to the C64 version.

Best regards
Nick
yoyo_chessboard
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

hi

i have found an already dumped reversal binary (for atari 400).
in it you find that :
REVERSAL...BY...DAN & KATHE SPRACKLEN....ATARI TRANSLATION BY...DAN & GARRY KITCHEN....
COPYRIGHT (C) 1981 HAYDEN BOOK CO INC...ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

it has the 9 levels as in the fidelity reversi.
but what isn't clear (to me) is from what version of fidelity :
it is the first version with only the 9 levels
or the second with the 9*2 levels (with expert mode).
the notice suggests it is with the expert levels but not very sure of that.

regards.
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:hi

i have found an already dumped reversal binary (for atari 400).
in it you find that :
REVERSAL...BY...DAN & KATHE SPRACKLEN....ATARI TRANSLATION BY...DAN & GARRY KITCHEN....
COPYRIGHT (C) 1981 HAYDEN BOOK CO INC...ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

it has the 9 levels as in the fidelity reversi.
but what isn't clear (to me) is from what version of fidelity :
it is the first version with only the 9 levels
or the second with the 9*2 levels (with expert mode).
the notice suggests it is with the expert levels but not very sure of that.

regards.
Hi Yoyo,
Yes, the Atari version is from 1981. The C64 version is from 1983. Both versions however before you start the game ask you to choose B -Beginner, I -Intermediate or A - Advanced which is the championship level.

The Apple version is I think from 1980 but it has the same 3 choices. I think what happened with Fidelity is that maybe on the first Reversi, they just used the one choice and in the later Fidelity expanded it to the two choices.

All three computer versions have these levels:

1 - 2.5 seconds
2 - 5 seconds
3 - 10 seconds
4 - 15 seconds
5 - 30 seconds
6 - 1 minute
7 - 3 minutes
8 - 10 minutes
9 - 30 minutes

Fidelity Reversi has:

H1 - 1 second
H2 - 3 seconds
H3 - 5 seconds
H4 - 15 seconds
H5 - 30 seconds
H6 - 1 minute
H7 - 2 minutes
H8 - 4 minutes
H9 - Infinite

So some of the levels are different.

Best regards
Nick
fhub
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Post by fhub »

Hi,

here's a new CB-Emu version as Easter present ... :)

What's new:
1) new module Fidelity Sensory Challenger 8 (SC8)
2) reworked artworks for many modules (especially the old Mephisto machines)
3) two new (non-chess) board games: Fidelity Dame & Reversi Sensory Challenger

The new Dame and Reversi modules can be found in the left column of CB-Emu under 'Board_Games'.
As usual it's recommendable to read the instructions for these 2 new devices in the file 'Info_BoardGames.txt'.

Important note for the Reversi Challenger: the sensor keys of this machine are responding VERY slowly,
so for all mouse clicks always hold down the mouse key until you get the confirmation beep from the module!

Link for CB-Emu: (info about the necessary ROMs in the file 'ROMs.txt'!)
http://www103.zippyshare.com/v/X9UC7cnF/file.html

If anyone uses the 2D-artworks, here's the link for the new Artworks2D package (includes also some changes):
http://www107.zippyshare.com/v/DuXlrvST/file.html

Regards,
Franz
yoyo_chessboard
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

Hi Fhub

thank you for your Easter gift.

this afternoon i have finalised the upgrade of my fidelity reversi board.
it is now running at 8 Mhz instead of the 1.8 Mhz in standard.

so i played a game between 'your' reversi in CB-emu against 'my real reversi at 8 Mhz at level H3 for each (5 seconds per move).

"CB-Emu reversi" had the blacks and started.
"real reversi board" the whites
the result is 47-17 for "real reversi board 8 Mhz", with 3 corners and 2 full borders.

the 8 Mhz reversi had no pity for its junior brother.

here is the board final situation :

http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/uQXTmjOg/file.html

regards.
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:Hi Fhub

thank you for your Easter gift.

this afternoon i have finalised the upgrade of my fidelity reversi board.
it is now running at 8 Mhz instead of the 1.8 Mhz in standard.

so i played a game between 'your' reversi in CB-emu against 'my real reversi at 8 Mhz at level H3 for each (5 seconds per move).

"CB-Emu reversi" had the blacks and started.
"real reversi board" the whites
the result is 47-17 for "real reversi board 8 Mhz", with 3 corners and 2 full borders.

the 8 Mhz reversi had no pity for its junior brother.

here is the board final situation :

http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/uQXTmjOg/file.html

regards.
Hi Yoyo,

If you get something like DropBox, you should be able to I think save a picture in dropbox and show it here by using the Image commands.

Best regards
Nick
yoyo_chessboard
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

Hi spacious_mind

i tried several times to do what you suggest but i didn't manage to have an image in the preview window.

so i never submitted such embedded images :
here is a trial :

regards.

all trials erased
Last edited by yoyo_chessboard on Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:17 pm, edited 9 times in total.
fhub
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Post by fhub »

yoyo_chessboard wrote: the 8 Mhz reversi had no pity for its junior brother.
Yes, that's clear - it's like making a race between a Ferrari and a VW (Volkswagen). ;)

Of course I could also make a Reversi version in CB-Emu with a much increased speed (probably even much more than 8 MHz), but that's not the sense of an emulator.

Regards,
Franz
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