Interfacing the Novag Citrine
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:09 am
Interfacing the Novag Citrine:
I have managed to get a working connection between a Macintosh and the Novag Citrine. At the moment, most interaction is done manually.
For the physical connection, I have a Keyspan serial/USB adaptor model USA-19QW connected on the USB side to a USB port on the Mac and on the serial side connected to the DB-9 serial connector that came with the Citrine.
(Kudos to Keyspan for building an adapter that still works fine after nearly seven years of use. And even more kudos for continuing to provide timely and free driver software upgrades for both Mac and Windows platforms. If you need a serial/USB adapter, then these are the guys that you want.)
On the Mac side (also Unix/Linux), the manual command for initiating a connection is:
where /dev/cu.KeySerial1 is the line, 57600 is the bps speed, and the last option says "echo input". I haven't tried other speeds although I note that the Novag Super VIP, which uses a close if not identical protocol, tops out at 9,600 bps.
Once the Mac side is running, the Citrine is powered up (or reset). At this point it may take a couple of inputs to the cu program to get things running. The "I" (identification request) command is useful here. With my Citrine, the "I" command produces:
which I guess that the UCB means "Universal Chess Board" and the version is nine revisions past the first release.
The protocol doesn't use SAN or FEN and is a bit inconsistent with its coordinate algebraic with most moves in the "e2-e4" / "d5xe4" format but with castling using O-O or O-O-O.
Board display:
Some moves, as they are played:
More to come.
I have managed to get a working connection between a Macintosh and the Novag Citrine. At the moment, most interaction is done manually.
For the physical connection, I have a Keyspan serial/USB adaptor model USA-19QW connected on the USB side to a USB port on the Mac and on the serial side connected to the DB-9 serial connector that came with the Citrine.
(Kudos to Keyspan for building an adapter that still works fine after nearly seven years of use. And even more kudos for continuing to provide timely and free driver software upgrades for both Mac and Windows platforms. If you need a serial/USB adapter, then these are the guys that you want.)
On the Mac side (also Unix/Linux), the manual command for initiating a connection is:
Code: Select all
cu -l /dev/cu.KeySerial1 -s 57600 -hOnce the Mac side is running, the Citrine is powered up (or reset). At this point it may take a couple of inputs to the cu program to get things running. The "I" (identification request) command is useful here. With my Citrine, the "I" command produces:
Code: Select all
ID. UCBII V1.09The protocol doesn't use SAN or FEN and is a bit inconsistent with its coordinate algebraic with most moves in the "e2-e4" / "d5xe4" format but with castling using O-O or O-O-O.
Board display:
Code: Select all
Position Board
. aa bb cc dd ee ff gg hh
.8 br bn bb bq bk bb bn br 8
.7 bp bp bp bp bp bp bp bp 7
.6 :: :: :: :: 6
.5 :: :: :: :: 5
.4 :: :: :: :: 4
.3 :: :: :: :: 3
.2 WP WP WP WP WP WP WP WP 2
.1 WR WN WB WQ WK WB WN WR 1+
. aa bb cc dd ee ff gg hh
Code: Select all
M 1 e2-e4
M 1, c7-c6
M 2 d2-d4
M 2, d7-d5
M 3 e4xd5
M 3, c6xd5
M 4 c2-c4
M 4, g8-f6
M 5 b1-c3
M 5, e7-e6
M 6 g1-f3
M 6, f8-e7
M 7 c4xd5
M 7, f6xd5
M 8 f1-d3
M 8, b8-c6
M 9 O-O
M 9, O-O
M 10 f1-e1
M 10, e7-f6
