Author: Mike Byrne
Date: 04:28:39 03/15/05
Go up one level in this thread
On March 15, 2005 at 03:12:46, Sirotovich wrote: >Dear Chess Friends ! > >I am thinking to buy a Pocket PC or a Plam. But I heard a lot of sad stories >about very bad performance of the batteries. Probably a lot of visitors here >have Pocket PCs and Palms of different brands. If you play Pocket Fritz, Genius, >Tiger, Hiarcs or any other chess program; or you just work with a chess >database, how long can your Pocket PC be alive before the battery becomes flat ? Any PDA will have a problem finishing a game that is game/2hours with pondering on. The secret in using a PDA for chess it to keep "pondering=off". The other secret is buy a the fastest PDA available so that you set it on a very short search time setting (say search time = 1 to 5 seconds) -- you willbe able to play many games with that setting beyond the 3-4 hour hour threshold with pondering=on. >I week ago I sent a question to ChessBase about their Pocket Fritz. I wanted to >know, if it is compatible with Smart Phones. They were not sure. > >And another routine question, please – Pocket PC or Palm, which one is better >for chess ? Is one better for chess than the other - not really. The PocketpC file format for saved games is probably more used to what you are using. Palms in general are more slimmer and lighter. Rather than using chess as the deciding criteria, you may wish to consider non-chess criteria - what else will you be using the PDA for? If you are a mdecial doctor or nurse, Palm is probably the answer as their tons are of medical/medicine pdb information files/databases that might be of interest. If you plan to sync up e-mail with MS Outlook, the Pocket PC might be a better choice. If you desire a specific chess program -- for example Hiarcs or Tiger - then you must go with a Palm. If your preference is PF2 (Shredder) or Ruffian, then you must go with Pocket PC. If your interest is primarily chess databases, the POcket PC is a better choice. There are several PPC chess playing programs that deal with variations within PGN files, I believe none of Palm playing chess programs handle variations. The best database program is CE Board and that comes with the Crafty engine. It also has the best possible price - free. If your interest is Chess Genius by Richard Lang, choose either PDA - he supports his program in both formats. If you want the strongest chess program, get a Palm PDA with an xscale processor and buy HIARCS - that combination is currently the strongest. The Zire 31 is the least expensive , witha 200 Mhz xscale processor -- refurbished they can be picked up for $110 from the PalmOne store or about $150 brand new. Paired with the HIARCS program and you will have TASC R30 killing machine :>). (I'm serious, it would play perhaps 250 to 300 points stronger than Tasc R30 - close to 2600 or more. PF2 is no slouch and is within 70 points or so of Hiarcs. The reason HIARCS is stronger than Pf2 is that the program wa optimized for xscale- PF2 was not optimized for xscale. Chess Genius is also optimized for xscale and will play very strong on a xscale machhine - but not qute as strong as PF2 (but pretty darn close). > >I would appreciate your answer. > >Best regards > >Anatoli
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.