Author: Timothy J. Frohlick
Date: 20:57:35 05/29/02
Go up one level in this thread
Mr. Theron, You are correct. Boris did have a single 256 Byte memory chip. You are also correct on the LED display but it looked like a mini neon. It did have NiCad batteries. It did not talk but it was advertized as a talking computer because it would make snide comments that scrolled across the display after you made a move. At $479.00 US which is about $2000.00 in todays deflated dollars it was not really mass market. It was marketed by a firm by the name of Chafitz,Inc. in Maryland,USA. I bought mine at a high-class department store in Fort Worth, Texas. Tim Frohlick On May 29, 2002 at 23:41:57, Christophe Theron wrote: >On May 29, 2002 at 23:32:36, Timothy J. Frohlick wrote: > >>Joshua, >> >>Boris,the talking chess computer originally came with its own NiCad battery pack >>(UPS) and operated also via a 120 volt wall transformer. It had a red mini neon >> display and a keypad for alphanumeric position entry. Boris came with a >>whopping 256 kilobytes of RAM and had an F-8 processor courtesy of Fairchild >>Electronics. You stored the plastic Staunton magnetic pieces in the walnut box >>that housed the electronics. I loved playing Boris when travelling in my >>Mustang convertible on the Baltimore-Washington Beltway back in the early 1980s. >> >>It was probably 700-800 ELO on a good day. I sold my Boris to a fellow from >>Georgia and he had it taken apart after two months. Maybe he thought there was >>a little man inside? >> >>Tio Timmy > > >256Kb of RAM? This must be a mistake. Wasn't it 256 bytes? > >Mini neon? I guess we call it LED most of the times... :) > >NiCad? Are you sure? At that time I'm not sure this technology was available for >a mass market product. > >And finally Boris as far as I remember was not talking. But the Chess Challenger >voice was. But that was 2 years later and from a different company. > > > > Christophe
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.