ACTS5%VAXSWD@rca.com.UUCP (02/23/87)
I recently bought Chess Master 2000 for the APPLE and it
plays pretty good. I have timed the program with my chess
clock and it does seem to make its moves as quickly as it
says that it does. At level six (90 sec/move) after four
games I have two wins and two draws against the program
which (for me) should be par for the course (I have a USCF
rating of 2213). My only complaints are that the program
is copy protected so it can't be customized, the games
can be saved to diskette but in a format unknown to dos 3.3
so the games cannot be analyzed more than one at a time.
It could be improved (maybe a future update) by allowing
it to be configured for extra memory (give it a monster "book")
and no copy protection for customizing. This last request
might seem wrong headed, but the reason they gave for copy
protection is to "protect the value of your investment"
and I found a copy for $ 29.95 !! (doesn't sound like a lot
to protect)
Maybe next year I will buy an accelerator card and really
have a monster chess player in my apple.
speeking of speed... Does anyone know offhand how fast
6502 instructions (as in ][+) take in microseconds?
I believe that ][+'s have a 2 Mhz clock with half the
time going to refresh the screen.
The question comes out of comparison between clones and
apples. I have heard that Mhz aren't the whole story
because a ][+ is much faster that a 4Mhz TRS-80.
(of course I would understand if the apple had troubles
since it only has one accumilator.)
Does anyone have any info on 6502 chips being made faster
than 6Mhz? I was reading about Computer Chess Championships
where a 20% difference in speed between two similar programs
would be fatal (the faster could think on the others time,
predict its move and reply instantly, building up a hugh
time advantage). There was talk of 6Mhz and 8Mhz machines.
Maybe even talk of 12Mhz.
Why is this important? Because they almost all use 6502 chips.
If chess computers can use them why can't we? (probably price.)
But imagine an accelerator card that would be 3.6 times
faster than Trans-warp. All you would need is a 16(?)Mhz 6502.
Craig (6502 maniac) Roll
(has anyone noticed that the mini-assembler is at f666?
is the 6502 the beast?)schumann@puff.UUCP (02/24/87)
In article <8702231546.aa00774@SPARK.BRL.ARPA>, ACTS5%VAXSWD@rca.com writes: > speeking of speed... Does anyone know offhand how fast > 6502 instructions (as in ][+) take in microseconds? > I believe that ][+'s have a 2 Mhz clock with half the > time going to refresh the screen. Not quite. The Apple ][+ has a clock speed of 1.023 MHz, and half of the cycle is used during memory and screen refresh, but this does not slow the 6502 at all. An LDA takes four cycles, or 3.91 microseconds. On the 8085, a Z-80-like cpu (no flames), it takes 13 cycles, or 3.25 mics. 18% diff! You can get the 6502 or 65C02 data sheet from an electronics distributor. > The question comes out of comparison between clones and > apples. I have heard that Mhz aren't the whole story > because a ][+ is much faster that a 4Mhz TRS-80. I think the TRS-80 uses interrupts, which slow it down, otherwise, it should be pretty close. > Does anyone have any info on 6502 chips being made faster > than 6Mhz? ... > ... There was talk of 6Mhz and 8Mhz machines. > Maybe even talk of 12Mhz. > ...Because they almost all use 6502 chips. > If chess computers can use them why can't we? Hard to believe. The fastest 6502 I know of is the 6502C (not 65C02), which runs up to 4 MHz, but the support chips are hard to get, if anyone makes them. > Craig (6502 maniac) Roll > (has anyone noticed that the mini-assembler is at f666? > is the 6502 the beast?) Its in the manual...... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "It... It's your hand Buckaroo" -- Akita Chris Schumann schumann@puff.wisc.edu