picochess v0.9q – License version

Howdy registered users! This is my second post with restricted access. Update May 2020: Its now freely available 😉

The main design goal for this version was to continue with the v0.9p license system. On v0.9p there was the first part with license on time = as long your subscription is valid. This version Q allows to license on a version number too. The main advantage is that you dont need to have all the time iNet access. The disadvantage is that you can only get ONE version not updating/downgrading during yr subscription time.  I post something about the license system lateron in detail (for now see the former post). So far the good news. But right now this new system (version based) is only available to year subscription persons.

Following things are also updated/improved:

  • “set pieces” working again on new game position
  • several small changes on multi clocks when exiting the menu or display some messages on one clock only (example: “takeback”)
  • display better license info on update menu

Please be aware that this needs for example some linux (copy) commands etc. If y have no idea of linux please do NOT download these files, ok? No refund if y did – esp not if y have a month plan only. For 6,00€ y cant expect i solve all yr problems but i will try to help y (as i did in past too)! If you already have the former v0.9p version working updating to this version is alot easier now (=fewer commands to type).

You can no longer download this package (closed on Feb 2019)

33 Comments

  1. Dear Jürgen,
    how are the character abbreviations set in the web server? Language is set to German, short notation. Output language for moves in the DGT3000 is German, but the web server shows moves in English. See, e.g. “SF3” within DGT3000, the web server shows “Nf3”. This was fine in the old V09N, here was the output “Sf3”.
    Manfred

  2. Hi Jürgen,

    I just became a registered user and downloaded the v0.9Q version. I’m waiting for a new bigger SD card to arrive tomorrow so I won’t be able to install it now, however I’ve noticed the zipped size is just 2.5 MB. But the size of the zipped v0.9N version is 1.23 GB. Is this difference caused by the software program used to compact the files? The difference seems too big.

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  3. Just noticed this: “Please be aware that this needs for example some linux (copy) commands etc. If y have no idea of linux please do NOT download these files, ok?” So, another question: since I’m using an Apple computer and ApplePi-Baker to install the images, is there a way to install this version Q like the N version?

    Thanks,
    Roberto

    • as i posted just now, please take a look at the HOWTO. If y cant get it done, i try to help y. But i dont have an apple myself, since macos is based on linux, it should be straight forward. There is no ready to burn image like from time to time with old versions, im sorry.
      Jürgen

  4. Ouch! I just read all the comments from this version and prior version, and learned that you don’t provide the IMG file anymore. :’-( I probably wouldn’t have bought a one year subscription if I knew that before. (but keep in mind I love what you do!) However, since I’m a member now, is that possible to have an IMG file from version Q? Based on the comments, I believe many others will benefit from that as well. 😉

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  5. Hi Roberto,
    in general, i prefer people ask me before all questions cause refunding money is time consuming, aehmm.

    If y think, y cant get it to work, i can release y, if y promise me to not tell anyone what y can read with membership now and y not download other packages, ok? I only charge what im charged (=paypal) myself (= one time exception, grin). I want users be happy, not make money.

    I can assure y, that until now, NOONE payed and not get a working version. I try my best to bring anyone to the goal – and i had alot of people not working with linux before.

    Jürgen

    • Thanks for your answers, Jürgen! Just read them I’ll try your instructions tomorrow. I’ll insert the SD card on my Mac Book and perform the commands.

      Note: It’ll be a brand news SD card, with no Picochess installed, and I’ll follow the instructions related to “SETUP (if y never had a >=0.9P version before)”. If I’m missing something, let me know please.

      Thanks,
      Roberto

  6. Jürgen, I just managed to make version 0.9N work. However, using the SD card on my MacBook, I see the “boot” device (my SD card) and no OPT directory. When you say: “copy the downloaded 0.9R file (for example: v0.9r-0764.tar.gz) to yr rasp (i would copy it to /tmp folder on yr rasp – but its up to y)” you’re referring to the SD card from the DGP PI, but installed in the computer, right?

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  7. When I enter the Boot directory, this is the content I see: .fseventsd config.txt
    COPYING.linux fixup.dat
    LICENCE.broadcom fixup_cd.dat
    LICENSE.oracle fixup_db.dat
    System Volume Information fixup_x.dat
    bcm2708-rpi-0-w.dtb issue.txt
    bcm2708-rpi-b-plus.dtb kernel.img
    bcm2708-rpi-b.dtb kernel7.img
    bcm2708-rpi-cm.dtb overlays
    bcm2709-rpi-2-b.dtb start.elf
    bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb start_cd.elf
    bcm2710-rpi-cm3.dtb start_db.elf
    bootcode.bin start_x.elf
    cmdline.txt

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  8. Roberto,

    you must LOGIN to yr running rasp using “ssh”. Means, y type commands in yr mac but they running on the rasp. On my linux i have to type something like “ssh dgtpi” give user (pi) and password (picochess), thats similar on windows or mac (i guess). So, please take a look for mac’s version of SSH.

  9. Oh, ok! So, to connect the DGT PI to the computer, I kept the connection from the DGT PI to the chess board and using another cable I connect the computer to the DGT PI, correct?

  10. You have many ways. You can
    1) using yr mac and open a ssh connection
    2) you can put a keyboard & monitor on yr rasp using this alone
    3) you can use a linux (or maybe a mac system) to manipulate the sd card directly

    3) is complex (to explain!), so i asked y to use 1), but as said 2) also easy. Depends what is easiest for YOU.

    So, first y get a “shell on rasp” (this black text console running on RASP! first asking you for username/password)”. Then y type these commands, and when y done, y can connect yr board, and give it a try. So at first, y dont need DGT Hardware connected.

  11. Since I only have a laptop, I think option 3 is the easiest and what I first had in mind (SD card in my computer). So, just double checking, to apply the steps I’ll have to boot the SD card from my computer and SSH, right? I’m no Linux guy, so I’ll have to research on how to do that. If you have more information on how to do that via SD card plugged to my computer, let me know please. Once I figure that out, any future updates will be much easier 🙂

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  12. yes…but it explains it for windows (putty).
    You can f.e. try this:
    https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-raspberry-pi-lesson-6-using-ssh/using-ssh-on-a-mac-or-linux (or search @google for “ssh mac rasp” or similar)

    The SD card has 2 partitions, one is this BOOT formatted in FAT and the important one is formatted with EXT3. You need to reach this ext3 one, and for example old windows has no idea of this ext3 file system => so, y wont see this partition. No idea, how advanced macOS is, therefore i said, its abit more complex.

  13. Jürgen, I’m taking notes of everything I’m doing, so that we can share with other folks facing the same issue. Also, I have now a better understanding of the problem and what to do.

    Goal: I need to mount the EXT3 partition from the SD card in my MacBook, so that I can install the 0.9R version following your steps.

    Quick summary: I was able to mount the partition! I used a software (ext4fuse) to do that, however, it mounts the partition as Read Only. So, I’ve been trying to use another software (fuse-ext2) but I’m having problems to compile it. To solve that I’m installing XCode (latest version) and will try it again. I spent hours installing/trying these tools still I’m not very optimistic, but I will continue. If you have other software / approaches on how to mount the EXT3 partition on a Mac, let me know. I considered installing a Ubuntu VM, but changed my mind after learning of some problems with SD cards. However, it might become my Plan B.

    Any tips on how to mount the EXT3 partition via Mac are welcome!

    Wish me luck 🙂

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  14. After more research I’ve learned that the Paragon Software can be used for that. And there is a trial version. So, if I continue to have issues with fuse-ext2, I’ll use the software.

    Roberto

  15. Roberto,
    y choosed the stony way (this readonly is btw. a known problem). Its alot simpler to just use ssh & scp!
    I dont feel good, if y spend hours trying some solution, compile with xCode, buy some software, whatever – with ssh y prob. would be finished already.
    But on the other hand, y can learn something, so good luck.

    Jürgen

  16. With ssh & scp I must connect the Mac to the DGT PI via cable (mine doesn’t have WiFi), but I don’t remember seeing an Ethernet cable port in my DGT PI. I remember seeing an HDMI plug. I’ll keep that in mind if my tests fail and check the hardware again.

    It’s been a great Linux learning 🙂

    Roberto

  17. Installed. But when I test I get this:

    python3 ./picochess.py

    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File “./picochess.py”, line 27, in
    import mcp
    ImportError: dlopen(/Volumes/Untitled/opt/picochess/mcp.so, 2): no suitable image found. Did find:
    /Volumes/Untitled/opt/picochess/mcp.so: unknown file type, first eight bytes: 0x7F 0x45 0x4C 0x46 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x00
    /Volumes/Untitled/opt/picochess/mcp.so: unknown file type, first eight bytes: 0x7F 0x45 0x4C 0x46 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x00

    Thanks,
    Roberto

  18. It didn’t work. The Picochess message never shows up. When I rolled back to 0.9N it worked again.

    When I ran python3 ./picochess.py using version 0.9N it showed errors, but it enter a loop, which seems expected.

    However, the same command on 0.9R lead to the errors below and the prompt, with no loop, so the process was not running like for verions 0.9N.

    File “./picochess.py”, line 27, in
    import mcp
    ImportError: dlopen(/Volumes/Untitled/opt/picochess/mcp.so, 2): no suitable image found.

    I feel that I’m close to make it work, but if I can’t fix the error, I’ll try the SSH + Cable approach.

    Roberto

  19. Sorry?
    these SO files (like mcp.so) WONT work on yr Mac. Y must start picochess on yr Rasp (by ssh, or by directly put the card inside the rasp slot after its prepared/@howto)

  20. I realized that and tested the SD card on the DGT PI. It showed the DGT 3000 screen (the clock only) but never showed me the Picochess version. When I use version 0.9N it shows the Picochess version after a few seconds of showing me clock screen. It seems to me that something minimal is off.

    Roberto

  21. log is like it was with older pico’s. You can also try to stop the pico service, and start it by hand (@howto)

    Jürgen

  22. Jürgen, I made it work! The problem is that I missed the step that says I should copy the INI file to the new directory.

    I’ll now send you an email to get the license, following your instructions.

    Also, I want to share the approach I used, in case others are struggling as well, including what DID NOT work.

    DGT PI – SD Card

    Goal: Mount SD Card EXT3 on a Mac. (not using cable to connect the computer to the DGT PI, so no need for SSH)

    1- Install Brew (just in case you need to easily download other softwares):

    ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)”

    2- Below are softwares I tried but DID NOT work for me. I’m sharing in case someone wants to give them a try, otherwise move to the next step:

    https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/13437/how-to-mount-a-raspbian-sd-card-on-a-mac

    https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-manage-ext2ext3-disks-in-os-x/

    3- Install these softwares (not needed, except if you want to try the softwares above):

    brew cask install osxfuse
    brew install ext4fuse

    4- Need to create fuse-ext2 (didn’t work for me, so if you don’t want to try it, go to the next step):

    https://github.com/alperakcan/fuse-ext2

    “Copy and paste this into a file such as /tmp/ext4/script.sh. Remember to chmod +x script.sh. Run it from that directory – ./script.sh”

    5- Mount Picochess (in my case I renamed the SD Card boot directory to PICOCHESS):

    sudo mkdir /Volumes/Mount-PICOCHESS

    sudo ext4fuse /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/Mount-PICOCHESS -o allow_other <<< Forget this, it's Read Only

    sudo /usr/local/bin/fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/Mount-PICOCHESS <<< I didn't make it work, since I was not able to generate the binary, but if you have the binary, just try this

    4a – If the fuse-ext2 doesn't work for you (my situation) you can use the trial version of Paragon software:

    https://www.paragon-software.com/home/extfs-mac/#how_it_works

    5- Downloaded 0.9R file per Jürgen instructions

    6- Follow instructions from:

    https://picochess.com/howto-install-private-picochess-versions/

    Note: Since you're now able to access the directories via New Finder Window, you can perform the operations via UI. Also, some of the commands used by Jürgen work for Linux but not necessarily MacOS, so I find the UI approach easier.

    7- It first didn’t work because I forgot to copy the INI file from the renamed Picochess directory to the newly installed Picochess directory. This step is listed in Jürgen's instructions, but it's easy to miss, so pay attention. 😉

    Note: I had version 0.9l before installing 0.9N and later 0.9R. When you start DGT PI with version 0.9i it shows the PicoChess version right away. The same doesn't happen with 0.9N and 0.9R. I first see the clock from DGT 3000 (I have the DGT PI with DGT 3000) and after a few seconds I see the message. If you are impatient you may turn it off thinking it's not working, so beware.

    Roberto

  23. Jürgen, I think my previous message was filtered by the span since I don’t see it published. It has all steps I tried to make it work (so no spam 🙂 ) I now will send you an email to get the license.

    Thanks,

    Roberto

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