Resurrecting the Super Constellation

[sje]

Resurrecting the Super Constellation:

No, I'm not writing about building a physical clone, although that would be interesting. Rather, I'm talking about the widely available MESS emulator which can be found in the better Linux package manager lists. This project appears to be an offshoot of the MAME emulator used for playing classic video games.

Well, some clever code copiers made binary images of numerous classic dedicated chess computers from Novag, Mephisto, and maybe other manufacturers. The MESS emulator was adapted to run the pirated software. I saw a video of a Novag Super Constellation emulation, complete with artwork, lights, sound, and the use of the mouse instead of finger presses. It really worked, and maybe someday I'll get a copy running on my fast Linux machine.

Now, is it legal? Maybe not. But as none of the units have been available for sale in many years, I can't see how using the emulator does much harm to anyone. Each person must make their own decision here, I suppose.

http://www.mess.org/

[Don]

Resurrecting the Super Constellation:

No, I'm not writing about building a physical clone, although that would be interesting. Rather, I'm talking about the widely available MESS emulator which can be found in the better Linux package manager lists. This project appears to be an offshoot of the MAME emulator used for playing classic video games.

Well, some clever code copiers made binary images of numerous classic dedicated chess computers from Novag, Mephisto, and maybe other manufacturers. The MESS emulator was adapted to run the pirated software. I saw a video of a Novag Super Constellation emulation, complete with artwork, lights, sound, and the use of the mouse instead of finger presses. It really worked, and maybe someday I'll get a copy running on my fast Linux machine.

Now, is it legal? Maybe not. But as none of the units have been available for sale in many years, I can't see how using the emulator does much harm to anyone. Each person must make their own decision here, I suppose.

http://www.mess.org/

It may be legal due the number of years that have passed - I think that is true of copyrights isn't it? Or it may be that David Kittenger can tell us if we ask. He may refer us to Novag. Is Novag still in business?

Don

[sje]

In the United States, the usual time span on copyright is the author's lifetime plus 75 years after death. There are numerous exceptions, limitations, and varying interpretations.

What was once Novag is now a different company (but also in Hong Kong) and they haven't been making chess computers for some years. The Obsidian and the Citrine models (essentially the same CPU/program) were the last of the last.

[sje]

See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKfPHX6Bo40

[fern]

Luckily I have the real thing. Nothing compare to the physical touch. The same reason I prefer paper books to Kindle

From the caverns regards
Fern

[sje]

Luckily I have the real thing. Nothing compare to the physical touch. The same reason I prefer paper books to Kindle

I had a real Super Constellation, bought soon after they first went on the market circa 1984. I'd still have it if I hadn't taken it apart for experiments, later forgetting to put it back together. That's why I have an Obsidian now.

But the Obsidian, even with a much more powerful CPU, cannot match the old Super Constellation in some aspects. The old machine could execute a KBNK mate in blitz speed while the Obsidian can't. When playing against Symbolic and its tablebases, the Obsidian will drive the defending king into the wrong corner and can't make progress after that, at least at blitz speeds. I'll guess the difference between old and new here is the much larger program of the Super Constellation allowed for having more chess knowledge.

The Kindle is festooned with DRM, advertisements, and spyware. I would not use one if it were free.

[fern]

I bought Kindle just for one reason: I was capable of downloading a book that was not anymore in presses and never would return to them. So Kindle was a means to get it. There are also some other benefits: to get at 0.00 bucks many classics that, also, are not available in paper. Beyond that, I still prefer to buy in Amazon, receive the fragrant package, to unpack it, and all that felicitous protocols.
I am jus finishing a book that was published in 1906, so here and there, in the middle of the yellowish and fragiles pages, I meet a signas of some that read it a century ago, a brother in sould already dead but saying to me he was moved by the same line as me.
It a Joseph Conrad book about his travel and experiences in the sea or about the sea, a poetic masterpiece....
BTW, I just mated Par Excellence. A beautiful game by me, one in hundreds...

Fern.

[sje]

Four ideas:

1. Instead of running a Super Constellation with an effective clock speed of 4 MHz (the original), run it a hundred times faster as would be easy with modern hardware. How would its strength compare with modern programs run at the same 400 MHz speed?

2. Connect the emulator to an interface program so that it can then play on an ICS, or against other resurrected dedicated chess computers.

3. Hack the program's opening book code to access a million move external book instead of the original 24 K ROM book.

4. Add tablebase support. Use a solid state drive for speed.

[mephisto]

Here you can read 64 pages about the MESS Computer Chess project.

http://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/f2 ... -1448.html

Bryan