Author: Darrel Briley
Date: 12:30:27 08/13/05
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Steve,
I'm not entering the summer giveaway contest; my knowledge of dedicated units is
too limited. Besides, in this case I'm already the proud owner of the prize
model.
I believe I purchased it in 1985 for about 98.00 from Service Merhcandise. This
was the second, and the last dedicated unit I bought new. I still have the
original box, packing material, and manual. I had to replace the Fidelity
adapter I'd purchased with the computer at some point. I'm also missing the
white king (my son was very young at the time, so I've always assumed he ate
it). I used a penny as a substitute for the longest time when I was still
regularly playing the unit. There is also one LED (the g file indicator) that
works intermittently. When it stops working I simply have to touch it to get it
to light up.
In a sense, it was this computer that led me to PC chess. My brother had an
AppleII GS at the time and had a version of Chessmaster (2000 or 3000? Not
sure) installed on his computer. We played a few games between the two, and it
became clear the dedicated unit was no match for his program. Also, there came
a point when I myself could almost always beat the Excellence, at any time
control. The openings were fairly limited (although much more extensive than
any computer I'd owned before), and the endgame play was pretty weak, but again,
much better than anything I'd purchased before.
I have many fond memories of this computer; it gave me a lot of great games. I
learned a lot from playing it. Hmmmm...maybe I'll get it out and crush it one
more time...for old time's sake?
Nostalgic Regards,
DB
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