Hi Franz

Many thanks indeed for the new update which I have just downloaded and tried.

All I have to do now is just press the corresponding square on my SolusChess board and it automatically updates.

Regards

Bryan

Nice!!

Hi Bryan,
yes, this works of course, because your board is just sending the right key codes for this square.
But I don't think, that this is easier than using the PC keys, because you still have to use the PC keyboard for scrolling through this list and pressing [Enter], so you would always have to switch between the PC and your Solus board.

There's one thing about your Solus board, that I still don't understand - in CB-Emu there's a difference for capture moves between devices with pressure sensory boards and (most) magnetic sensory boards:
for pressure sensory boards you need only 2 mouse-clicks for capture moves in CB-Emu (one for the source and the second for the destination square), but if you make the move on your Solus board, you first lift the source piece, then the destination piece and finally put the capturing piece on the destination square.
So in this case the board sends actually 3 events (i.e. key codes) to CB-Emu, but CB-Emu is only expecting 2 clicks!?
How do you solve this problem, i.e. how do you execute capture moves on your board for such a device with a pressure sensory board?

Regards,
Franz

Hi Franz

For me it is a lot easier to input the squares by my board because doing it via the keyboard quite often results in errors due to you having to type two inputs nearly simultaneously. When you are as old as me your fingers don't work the same as when I was younger say in my forties or fifties 😀

Now how to make a capture using the SolusChess board.

Say I play against the Fidelity Designer 2325, to capture a piece only takes two presses of the board as the destination square automatically removes the captured piece.

If however I play against the Fidelity AG v10, to capture a piece takes three presses because the destination square doesn't automatically remove the captured piece.

It works exactly the same as using a mouse.

Regards
Bryan

Hi Bryan!
Hmm? Now you are confusing me!?
From what I've seen on the Internet this SolusChess board is a magnetic (but not a pressure) sensor board, so you don't need to 'press' any square, but just take away a piece from or put it down to any square.
And usually a magnetic sensor board sends a signal for both events (lifting a piece or putting it down). So if the Solus board sends a keycode for both events, then CB-Emu will be just as confused by capture moves as I am now by your explanation.

Maybe a simpler question would explain, what exactly the Solus board is doing:
If you simply lift a piece from a square (on your board), does then the corresponding piece on the CB-Emu screen become marked (grey/highlighted)?

Regards,
CBF

Hi Franz,

SolusChess code interprets any change in the matrix of magnetic sensors, in order to send only the correct move (origin/destination square), also solving special situations such as castling, captures in any order, en passant, etc. It is designed to play against any chess program that allows the entry of moves via keyboard, on any hardware/software platform. That's why I decided to emulate a USB keyboard. The version used by Bryan is a simplified version and right now I can't remember what changes I made.

Regards,
Gerardo

Hi Gerardo,

I still don't understand how this should work with CB-Emu (as keyboard emulation) - let's take a simple example:
There's a white pawn on e4 and a black pawn on d5 and white makes the move e4xd5.
On the Solus board you have to do the following to execute this move:
1) lift the white pawn on e4
2) lift the black pawn on d5
3) put the white pawn on d5

So which keys does the board now send to CB-Emu?
a) either 3 keys: E4 D5 D5
b) or only 2 keys: E4 D5

Since the Solus board doesn't know which program is running in CB-Emu, both of these methods a) or b) will lead to problems in CB-Emu, depending on whether the emulated program expects 2 clicks/keys (for a pressure sensor device) or 3 clicks/keys (for a magnetic sensor device).
So in fact I can't imagine how such capture moves can work for Bryan (for BOTH kinds of emulated machines in CB-Emu)!?

Regards,
Franz

Hi Franz

First of all my special Solus Chess board isn't an auto sensory board but uses tactile switches and I think this is where the confusion lies.
It is probably my fault as I have referred to it as a sensory board instead of a tactile switch board. So pressing down on one of the boards squares is like pressing two computer keyboard keys together or just clicking on the screen with a mouse.


First photo is of one of my tactile switches that lies underneath my very flexible plastic board.

The second photo is the wiring diagram that I used for the switches that connect to the Teensy USB Developement Board that contains Bergers code.

The third photo is the underside of my board showing the wiring and Teensy Board and how simple everything is.

Regards
Bryan

Hi Bryan,
aah, now everything is clear - I thought it would have magnetic sensors, because this is what I've found on Gerardos website about his Solus board.

So if you really have to press down the piece on the square, then it's clear that you can of course choose between 2 or 3 keys being sent to CB-Emu depending on which chess program you're using.

Regards,
Franz

Hi Franz

I'm glad you now understand and sorry for the confusion.

I have just made a quick video showing the board in action.
https://youtu.be/54_qcyHMNVI

Regards
Bryan