picochess v0.9n – Revelation2 Pi Mode

Finally the revelation II chess computer got a massive update concerning its emulation of DGT-XL clocks. For long i asked the developer Ruud Martin to update his rev2 to the newer DGT-3000 chess clock. And this is done now. Actually he not only updated to DGT3000 clock, no…he moved ahead and you can now enjoy a complete 11 chars display like the DGT-Pi would offer! Great news isnt it?

To reach this goal on the picochess side you need this version. Picochess will recognize if you have such Revelation2 and activate the 11chars automatically. If it stays with 6 chars (XL-mode) your Revelation is probably not upgraded (for sure you need a new firmware v3.25 upwards). You can find this firmware on DGT’s webpage in its “support” section.

Off-Topic: This firmware also includes some other missing engines Ruud promised to do. So, its really worth to get your hands on it.

In addition to the revelation stuff i did the following:

  • bugfix brain mode returning “engine error”
  • documentation updates
  • bugfix voice menu (first displayed value wasnt the safed one and more)
  • included some x86_64 engines for easy usage on non ARM systems
  • new spanish voice “Santiago”
  • new dutch voice “DirkJan”
  • improvement on DGT-Pi shutdown (wQe1) with remote engines activated – Work in progress
  • bugfixes on modes kibitz & ponder for various events like checkmate, startup, takeback
  • bugfix remote engines on level setup (the level settings weren’t transmitted correctly)

The title picture was given from Al Cooper to me. He was helping me to test this new firmware on his Revelation. Thanks!

48 Comments

  1. I have question. How to use remote engines via a local network. What do I have to do on my Pc with the ubuntu system. On my Raspberry, I activated server in the ini file on port 8080. Tutorial needed.

    • Hi Raphael,
      only the first 8 engines are supposed to work on all features of picochess (well, rodent3 still have a problem with “alternative move” – as i posted somewhere else already).
      I should remove these old engines from around 2015 anyway. Thanks for pointing me to this “issue”.

  2. I understand, a customer of “Topschach Benny”, he also told you, in the box would be an RP2?
    Jürgen says PicoChess works, even Galjoen, but Galjoen at me works just as bad 😉

  3. Hello!
    Im about to buy the DGT PI chesscomputer, but I have questions about the voiced move anouncements.
    Are the move notation short or long?
    Are there any videos (or audios) showing this feature?
    Is there (or plans for future) any female (english) voice? (like Arena 3.0)
    Thank you!

  4. Hi Sven,
    the voices are in SAN format so for example “Nf3” => short.
    You can search for “picochess” on youtube.
    There is already a female voice (Christina) for all languages incl. english.

  5. ok, thanks!
    I still cant update the SD-card as it shows up in my win8.1 pc as a 69 Mb H:(boot) and nothing else (no 8Gb). The write32image refuse to write the image due to small amount of space?!

    • I managed to write the image to the SD card using another application, so its all working now.
      I have one question regarding the voice. The sound of the voice is too low and is often distorted. I have read in the manual (Make picochess sound better):
      “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
      If your output from the RPi audio jack socket is quite low and buzzes a lot add the following line to /boot/config.txt audio_pwm_mode=2 Afterwards type sudo reboot.

      To make the volume instantly louder (it will also be kept after the reboot) type amixer sset PCM,0 90% Obviously the percentage can be set to any number, but 100% is too loud.
      “””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
      Can someone please guide me throught this, I have no experience on programing and stuff like that, Im just an old chess player that recently bought a sensor board and the DGT PI 🙂

    • Claudia was deleted on v0.9b cause this engine is NOT stable. You can install it on your own or ask the developer of it to produce a stable engine. As long its often crushing, there is zero chance to return. Sorry.

  6. Hi Jurgen, if the Revelation II is not upgraded with the new firmware and DGT Pi is 0.9n version, bluetooth is recognized by picochess? I am trying to do that but Rev II bluetooth is not recognized.

    • It should work even with old rev2 firmware (on old XL display then). Nevertheless you should try an older version of picochess (prefered) or take a look in the log file if picochess really connected to your rev2 (=if connected but still not work, its prob. not a hardware problem). Just to sort things out.

  7. Hello , is there anyone in or close to Belgium who can help me by using whatsapp or Messenger or even Viber to help me to upgrade from version 0.9e to 0.9n ?? I dont understand any of the ini settings, how to get voice activated or even to update. I am a complete novice and would like some help. I am a great chess fan though please contact me at cajudos@gmail.com I am completely stuck 😉 thanks in advance Carlos Any help is highly appreciated !!!!

  8. Hi Carlos,
    the easiest way to update if you dont know linux and cant wait for a new image is:

    – pull in a cable between your router & raspPi/DGTPi and during “picochess” is displayed at startup press the middle button. In this update menu you can choose at least “v0.9m” select it, and y have at least 0.9m.

    An alternative: y can ALSO ask for help on the picochess forum (url see my posting 26.Feb from above)

    Voices y can turn on with the standard menu. What problem y have there?

    Hope that helps y (abit) further

  9. Hi, i subscribed this side to Test it for a week, i paid through Paypal and it is activated, why do i have no permissiion to The v.09p page. Thank you for Picochess and your work.

    • Hi Markus,
      it was an old setting, cause i had to restrict this text to higher levels that time. But i fixed it now. Sorry.

  10. I stumbled against a problem.
    It is concerning the clock on the PiCh server. I managed to get PicoChess working on a RP with the 7″ touchscreen. However, the screenclock resets itself after every move to the original startvalue in the time- and the Fisher-mode. In the Fisher mode the extratime is nicely added. So if I start with 90 30, after every mover 30 seconds are added but for every move the remaining time is 90 minutes again. So I get more time over and over than when I started.
    Is this a bug or is it because no DGT-clock is attached? (The DGT e-board is attached of course!!)

    • Hi,
      this is not a bug – this setup (=only board, no clock) is not supported. You need to have none or both. I maybe change this, but not too soon.

  11. Well, I’ll kindly ask you to change it. I am sure the configuration with the PI-touchscreen will soon become more popular, so more people will stumble against this feature. It is good not to be dependent on DGT-clocks and seeing your moves on a screen is a very nice feature.I really think it will let grow this post-0.9n community!

  12. Of course I will support you in this and other features and will change my monthly “membership” in a yearly. Is it the easiest thing to do that to use the donate-button?

  13. Thanks for the new keyfile, Jürgen. I installed version 0.9r without a problem over a system with a working version 0.9n. I also installed the new engines Al Cooper provided. The whole system seems to work like a charm.
    As I told a week ago, I am using PicoChess with a PI-Touchscreen on the local server. The problem of that configuration is that I can’t use the clocks of the screen: they are resetting themselves after each move. I wrote that already.
    However, is it possible that internally the clocks are working fine? After a couple of games I noticed that at the end of a game the engine made quick moves and started to make mistakes, as if the engine didn’t have much time left. So, I thought, altough the screen doesn’t show the left-over time rightly, the internal clocks were doing their jobs just correctly. (But maybe those moves were just random mistakes. I am a weak player, just playing level 5 on Stockfish 9. But it gives me much fun!)

  14. Please dont install the R files over the N files => since they have different names you end up with a mixture of N&R inside the picochess folder which shouldnt work (or at least risk to not work).

    BTW. y should switch over to the hidden place – i dont think, non-club members are interested in (maybe) R problems.

  15. Actually it is an issue – I personally don’t see it as a problem – with the n-version. That is why I wrote it here. (Maybe the issue is also related to the r-version. I honestly don’t know. I couldn’t test that yet because I installed the r-version on my touchscreen system just today.) The remarks about the r-version need to be seen loose from the clock issue. Just as a compliment to the fine work of Al Cooper and you. But I admit I maybe wasn’t clear enough in explaining that. Sorry for that.

    BTW: I did move the old picochessfolder safely away. I exactly followed your instructions but on a working system.

  16. Bonjour,
    Where can I find a documentation updates for picochess v0.9n – Revelation2 Pi Mode?
    I’m not a computer scientist I just use your version by copying the image on a micro SD card that’s all. I would like to know what’s new in this release like engines or other features.
    Thanks for your help.
    In view of your work it seems perfectly normal to pay you but I do not know because of my knowledge very low in computer (56 years old) install the other paid version. I only know how to do it when I have an image file.
    Eric Ghersengorin

    • Hi Eric,
      in this moment there is no image for versions >0.9N. You need to type some linux commands to get it working. For this i provide a howto-file what you have to do. If members need help with it, i help (for example by Skype 1:1 if needed) and until now everyone got it working -> its not that hard but its not as easy as burn a sd-card.
      What is new (in 09P & 09Q) y can see in the “picochess-club” article.
      Jürgen

  17. Bonsoir,
    thanks a lot for your answer. Where can I find your “picochess-club” article?
    I searched on the internet, and found a “google group” but no explanation of the updates. I have windows 10, and my english is very poor. I do not want to waste your time because I have so little computer knowledge. Maybe you’ll create simpler tools for neophytes like me.
    best regards good luck for your project that I will follow all the same with great attention.
    Eric ghersengorin

    • Hi Raphael,
      yr sentence leave alot of questions unanswered for example: Where y got it from? What y did? What is the exact problem?

    • Please answer with more then 1 sentence!
      I told y, i have 1000 questions, and i still dont know what y tried, how experienced y are, etc. Does the RaspPi boots up? …, …

      This way, im not able to help y (cause i dont want to always ask for the next small info => costs me too much time).

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