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Subject: Re: BORIS Chess Computer

Author: James T. Walker

Date: 06:07:32 05/30/02

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On May 30, 2002 at 02:09:19, Uri Blass wrote:

>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?
>
>Is it possible to write a chess program with only 256 bytes of memory?
>
>I mean to a program that plays and not to a program that resigns in the first
>move out of book.
>
>Uri

The program was in ROM not RAM.  The RAM was an electronic "scratchpad" I
believe.
Jim



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