DGT Pi clock/computer

Hi all,

What does everybody think of the new DGT Pi clock/computer?  It apparently works with the DGT electronic board and you can spar against it using several different engines built directly into the clock.  It looks like you make a move by simply moving your piece and  that automatically starts your "opponents" clock (ie the DGT Pi) and then when it makes a move it displays the move on the clock (stopping its own clock).  When you make its move on the board it starts your clock again.  I might have this all wrong but, based on my assumptions, it looks pretty cool (although expensive).

Thoughts?

Laser

I have tested the DGT Pi and it works exactly as you described. 

For me it is not worth €269 however. Something like €100 would be more appropriate. 

The feature set is rather simple. For instance, you can let it analyze the position while your playing both white and black. It can show the evalution in centipawns or the best move, but not at the same time! 

What I do like about the DGT Pi are the eight builtin engines, some of which are not very well known. These are not the strongest engines and therefore better suitable to play against. One of these engines has different "personalities" while another can be set to a specific Elo rating. 

Hey Laserswift

I own a DGT Pi but have not used it extensively. Still here my (yet not to profound) findings.

What I like:

• Good support by DGT: I had a question regarding the exchange of the SD card (with Linux Image/Picochess on it, and I got a good answer (with pictures) within minutes.
• Easy to update (if you use a prepared image, can be found here: http://picochess.com/picochess-images/
• No need to connect to a computer to do engine assisted analysis.

What I don't like

• A bit awkward to handle (with the 5 input buttons)
• display is not really readable
• there is no possibility to set different time settings for the human and the cpu player in a game
• The available sound settings ("yes", "no", "sometimes"): what the heck is "sometimes"?
• the documentation in general is not the best.

Conclusion:

If you have a computer and with Software with DGT support (like Chessbase) you don't need the DGT Pi.

Having written my first experience with the DGT Pi about a year ago (see above), this week I decided to buy one for myself anyway! I still had to pay €269, so I had to change my mind about that. Now I think that, if you already own a DGT e-board, adding a DGT Pi makes the whole set more valuable and more useful. 

In the mean time, DGT has provided an update version of the software with some good improvements. I haven't tried this yet, but I certainly will in the near future. 

What I didn't discover last year was the fact that I can use the e-board & Pi completely wireless. This is quite important to me: I can take the board & clock to a different room, to the garden, or anywhere else I would like to play. Last year I thought a 230V power outlet was required for the DGT Pi computer, but it appears to be working with a simple USB powerbank too. My e-board uses Bluetooth, but it also works with an USB-board, in which case you only need one USB-cable to connect the board with the DGT Pi.

Another good thing to mention: it is really "plug & play" and it works smoothly out of the box. 

Hi...n, you can have decent performance for sure on a 2D application. However, if you plan to run on the original Pi OR on the Zero W (or WH) then you may have a slow system because even the Pi desktop itself runs slow on these devices, never mind having a full OpenGL game running over top of it.

turnkey pcb

Hi ! Does any body know how to set "Game time " and "Move time"? My problem is that I am not able to set them separately.....one effects the other.....what am I doing wrong?In other words :  How do I set the computer ( DGT Pi ) to a 10 or 15 minutes game, with computer having a maximum of 30 seconds to make a move. Many thanks in advance !

I would like to know if one can use the DGT Pi as a chess computer on its own whilst making the moves on a normal non DGT board? I know the DGT won’t be able to register the moves and a move mistake on the board would not be identifies by the Pi. Still interested to know though.

Forget that question, just realised there is no way to enter one’s move into the Pi without the DGT board.

Nope. The chess computer only works with a dgt board. Without a dgt board you can still use it as a normal dgt clock

A question to those that have the entry level DGT smart board and the DGT pi.

Looking at the instructions, it would seem that if one simply wants to record a game played OTB that the DGT board has its own memory card that you can use to review the game once back at the computer - or is it only the wooden DGT boards that have that functionality?

If the plastic board does have the functionality to record games, does it also have an internal battery so that just the board and chessmen are needed to record a game?

I did not see in the Pi instructions if it was possible to save an OTB or against the Pi game to memory card to review on a computer - additionally, can one review a game directly from the Pi using a DGT board?

Ok, I think have managed to find an answer. The Smart Board (entry level) does record OTB games played when not plugged into another device. It does require power so would use a mobile charger like those used for phones if the board was being used in a library or park picnic table (where wall sockets may be unavailable or out of reach).

This information I have ascertained from the blurb on DGT’s website.

Do you mean the games are recorded as long as the board is powered and keeps them in non-volatile memory until later retrieval into a PC via USB cable ?

It’s really hard to get to the bottom of the precise mechanics without owning the board but that is what the description on DGT’s website suggests (suggests being the operative word).

The ofter question would be, can it save more than one game or does it reset its memory if a new game is started?

Sorry, what I mean is that the description “suggests” the board can be unplugged for later retrieval of played games given the words “for later analysis or publication” are used but again hard to tell really.

I have a DGT smartboard. There are two ways to reconstruct games played otb. 

With DGT LiveChess and with DGT RabbitQueen. But I have allot of problems reconstructing the games. With DGT Live Chess there are allot of fragmented games included and it is difficult to find the latest complete games played on the board. DGT RabbitQueen works somewhat better to reconstruct games. But there are also allot of errors. Like changing a lower case letter to a upper case letter. Like '9.bxc3' becomes '9.Bxc3' so the game can not be read by Fritz or Chessbase. I bought the DGT Smart board to record games. So I hope that DGT can fix this with a software update. I like to hear from other DGT Smartboard users if they have the same problem. Or if there is something wrong with my Smartboard.

 

I did wonder how the smart board, used on its own, would know when one game had started and another had ended. I concluded that a start position would trigger the board to create a new file and all the pieces being removed would cause it to save that file.

However, I was/am perplexed how the board would deal with a position being set up on the board with various variations being explored.

Anyway, your experience sounds like more effort than I can be bothered with so I do not regret not going down the DGT smart Board route to record OTB games with friends.

I'm experimenting with the software Acid Ape for android to record games played on a DGT board. It works but I think a DGT chessboard with Bluetooth will work better. Because than you can easily connect and disconnect the board.

I want to disconnect the DGT board from within the app Acid Ape, to replay a game without getting these error messages because the position doesn't match the position on the DGT board. Also if I want to make some moves on the board without the moves being recorded.

The same way I want a button CONNECT. To easily connect the DGT board again if I want to record the next game. These buttons only work for a DGT board with Bluetooth connection, for the moment in Acid Ape. 

Removing the USB C cable from the DGT Smartboard allot will damage the USB port in time.

I'm looking for a magnetic USB cable to connect the DGT Smartboard to my android tablet. Maybe some cable from volta charger.

Hi everyone - I just thought that I would post this for Australian users of the DGT Pi Raspberry computer. All care has been taken but no responsibility will be taken.  

I live in Australia, and none of the adapters provided with the DGT Pi Raspberry are suitable for use in Australia. This was not a problem, as I knew this before I bought the computer and digital board, and I made sure I carefully read the power requirements before the computer arrived. Fortunately, the manual had a good description of the technical specifications of the computer so I was fairly sure of what power adapter I needed. However, just to double check, I took the manual and the computer to an Australian national electronics chain store (JayCar Electronics) to double check. They were very helpful and confirmed what I had worked out.

 

So, I have been using the 5.1V 2.5A Switchmode Power Supply for Raspberry Pi.  They are available online in Australia or at the more than 200 JayCar stores nationwide.

 

Everything has been working totally fine.

 

As I said - all care but no responsibility is taken with this, but it may help other people. Always get independent advice before connecting to power. Enjoy your computer! They are amazing!

As the saying goes, good products are not cheap, and cheap products are not good. Although the price of this computer is expensive, it must use a very good circuit board, just like our cup. Isn't it all circuit boards? As far as I know, the circuit boards produced by FS Technology are of first-class quality. Maybe DGT Pi uses the parts produced by FS Technology.

https://www.fs-pcba.com/

Hi everyone, 

I'm interesting to buy a DGT SmartBoard and maybe a DGT Pi.  I'm looking for a solution to play online games on famous website but I want to avoid to look the laptop screen for each moves of my opponent. Do you know if it's possible to have the display of the moves directly on the DGt Pi using the SmartBoard (or USB e-board) ? I think the voice extension on Chrome is not a viable alternative

Thank you by advance for your help.