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.Attachment 123993
which I was given as a present [second-hand]
it has been given, and still gets, a lot of use - every few years, as today, it needs taking apart and cleaning and piece of sellotape at top left second pic replacing [that is old tech :D]
so what is it - not difficult I'm thinking... but bonus points for the make....and the year of manufacture [give or take a couple]
Frankly I'm puzzled, handrawn, i was thinking it could be a calculator but the speaker doesn't seem right for that. then I thought it could be an electronic dictionary, or game. If it is a calculator I have no idea which one.(certainly not a TI) none of the ones I owned do not make a beep or any other kind of sound.
I would hazard a guess at Othello/Reversi around 1986, made by Digital.
Acorn
It looks like it might have an 8 x 8 grid. Is it some kind of pocket chess game?
that it is larry :)Quote:
or game
spot on with the date, but Othello/Reversi it is notQuote:
Othello/Reversi around 1986, made by Digital
have a cigar Jono [you don't need to smoke it]...Quote:
Is it some kind of pocket chess game?
anyone any idea of the make.....
1986 Kasparov Pocket Chess Electronic Computer Game
it was the 12 switches for the type of chess piece that threw me - I miscounted!
The two banks of LED paired pins is the clincher.
I recall a very techie training course in 1984 where we were given parts of PCBs to determine original function.
I think I even played against the beast in a shop in Gloucester and won. I thereafter shunned all computer games as not up to much.
Acorn
model is spot on.... but we still need the make... and as it's you, the chip number .... :)
OK.
Saitek Karparov MK 14 coach or SciSys Pocket Chess Model No. 114.
Chip is HD44868 with 5 kBytes ROM & 80 Bytes of RAM:
Attachment 124001
Hard to work out but I think your Serial # is A18345.
Attachment 124002
Acorn
:D almost a full house there, but as you say serial number not easy to guess...
Attachment 124010Attachment 124011
the top label that has mostly worn away was the QA: 'PASS OK'
I am impressed by how long it has lasted, the icons above the button strip have faded [and btw the photo above is pre-clean :)], but the strip itself [neoprene?] is as good as new and apart from a slight crack in the cover it is fine - not bad for what I understand was 250 Fr when new and when such things were not cheap and this would have been an inexpensive model
I really like this device because on a challenging setting it can take hours to decide a move, so I am not tied to it when I should be doing other things; also I find it easier to think the move patterns as opposed to a flat screen [2 or 3D]
I understand that the program on the chip is by Julio Kaplan, but i have no verification of this...
http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/pocket_chess.html
What is fascinating is the shear volume of designs that erupted all in a decade.
Glad you still enjoy it,
Acorn
nice link - thanks for the confirmation
one of my dreams is to build a valve hifi amp, like I built from scratch as a kid [well no, better hopefully :D] - kits are available at a reasonable price for what they are - but I have to get other half to agree to where it should go - no room in my studio which already has digital monitor equipment, excellent, but valve sound is something special
Go on, you know you want to: http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.ph...html?showall=1.
Acorn
ah Nice I like that
and you just have to have a class A - keep you warm those winter nights...
but good though the 300B may be, I have a long standing love of the KT88, so I was thinking something along these lines: https://inlowsound.weebly.com/125-wa...amplifier.html
though I would settle for the 65W version :)
has to be monoblock of course... and then there are the speakers to consider...... <sigh>