All kind of upgrades...

[berger]

Hello,

Note: This Topic has its origins here

There is a good reason to choose precisely the Par Excellence or Designer 2000 programm, and not another... but I think this is no the place to talk about that matter.

I am curious to know the reason.
Please, enlighten us

Well, as I mentioned in the other thread, Yovan and I have collaborated with the MAME/MESS development team in the emulation of several Fidelity chess computers. My main work has been the reverse engineering, where Yovan has also helped, but he has also contributed by analyzing the code, as he is an expert in 6502 assembler code, and he is extremely methodical, too. We've both learned a lot.

The Par Excellence program IMHO marked a turning point. The program of Fidelity computers after Par Excellence with 6502 microprocessor (e. g. Designer models) is basically the same! Depending on the Designer model, somewhat faster (6MHz instead of 5MHz), some changes in the opening book, incorporation of a Display, etc. But insignificant changes in the chess engine.

I don't remember the exact details now, but I'm going to try to get Yovan to come here in order to explain this subject in detail...

Regards,
Berger

[CHVL]

The program of Fidelity computers after Par Excellence with 6502 microprocessor (e. g. Designer models) is basically the same! Depending on the Designer model, somewhat faster (6MHz instead of 5MHz), some changes in the opening book, incorporation of a Display, etc. But insignificant changes in the chess engine.

II am not surprised.
It seems to be the same story for the Elite Avant-Garde. All the models from the v2 to the V4 have a same software with minimum variation in the hardware (size of the memory, opening library. processor speed). I was looking to the variations from the V9 to the V10: the speed of the microprocessor and the size of the memory were the main variations.

It is why for Fidelity it was easy to do upgrades of the EAG. Also Bucke and Braid were not in trouble to create a V11 by increasing the speed of the microprocessor and keeping the same chess program.

Best,

Maurice