If you can supply this with custom made chess nixies, and a nixie chess timer I'd be very tempted to buy a set! Not sure about a kit though, it looks like a lot of work to assemble and I already have so much spare time left..... For myself it's not really important if it can or cannot be hooked up to a computer, won't be using that feature anyways. IMHO a nixie chess game doesn't need the features of a modern chess computer.
Michel On Saturday, June 23, 2012 7:25:50 AM UTC+10, Tony Adams wrote: > > I'll try to reply to most of the pints in one post to prevent > cluttering the thread up, but first of all - you are all a bunch of > feature creeps! ;) > > I did consider one large coil but couldn't see it being possible to > provide even coverage and avoid hotspots or overdriving the displays > if it wasn't fully loaded - it may be possible but I didn't explore > that. > > Power efficiency, the loaded drivers deliver 70%+ of the input to the > display, the figures only look bad as unloaded they still use quite a > bit of power. Probably 10W could be saved by switching off the unused > squares but it adds to the complexity and would prevent another idea I > have from working. > > Any kit will be exactly that, you'll be thrown a bunch of machined > paxolin discs and a roll of copper wire - reminds me of a clock case > 'kit' I bought many years ago which consisted of some paper stencils > and 2 sheets of plywood..... well it won't be that bad :). > > As for modifications that would turn it into an electronic chess game > I've had the following ideas, along with a few hints offlist from > Dekatron42: > . > The base coils are currently driven in rows of eight, they're also fed > in rows of eight via 8x 2R2 fusible resistors. If I rearrange them to > be supplied in rows and driven in columns this should work: > > The starting positions are known, or at least can be assumed. > The controller will need to keep a map of the piece positions and > track each movement. > > When a piece is picked up or put down there is a change in current > through that row resistor, the controller can detect it then scan > through the columns to find out which square has changed. As all the > pieces are mapped it will know what was on that square and which > squares will be valid for it to reappear on. > > When an increase is recorded across one of the resistors it can scan > again to see which square is now occupied. If it detects it's on a > valid square the game continues, if not it will stay in a loop waiting > for a legal move to be made or end the game depending on programming. > > For the computer to make a move it will indicate it by only driving > the coil under the piece to be moved and the destination square. > As you know which moves are valid for that piece it will be easy to > find that square and the piece will light up. Again if it's not moved > to the correct square the controller can detect it and halt the game > until it is. > > As all the pieces are mapped by the controller it doesn't need to > identify them and swapping them for another piece or attempting to > cheat will only halt the game or confuse the human player. > > To make this work I'll need to change the current row/row arrangement > to row/column, add ADC lines from each resistor and add a 12v switch > to each row of 8 coils. It'll need a larger microcontroller and a few > spare pins will be needed to allow external programming. I really > don't want to end up bogged down with more modifications though so if > I do make these up as a kit I'd just supply the board with the above > mods, basic always-on software and a means to program it externally. > It's then up to the end user to do the rest. > > - and chess piece Nixie tubes would be just incredible expecially if > they're made as plugin replacements. > > Tony. > > > On Jun 22, 6:17 pm, jb-electronics <webmas...@jb-electronics.de> > wrote: > > Actually, I am just as well interested in the custom made chess Nixie > > tubes, Ron ;-) > > > > Jens > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Absolutely stunning! I be interested in a kit!!!! > > > > > Sent from my iPhone -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/Tw9cSC5i8o8J. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
