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Subject: Collector's Corner..The Year In Review

Author: Steve B

Date: 07:16:36 12/25/05


2005 will be well remembered as a year that brought the dedicated computers back
into current vogue

there are several reasons for this which i mention below

Resurrection

clearly the high mark of the year and perhaps of the decade
in May, Dutchman, Ruud Martin (the developer), released  25 Limited Edition
,numbered units .
over the course of the last 6 months, 4 Engines have been incorporated into the
modules bringing the Elo to over the 2500 "Magic "barrier

with its release it smashes two titles previously held by two very rare
computers

the Tasc R40 NO longer is the strongest dedicated computer having its rating
eclipsed by more then 125 points
the Fidelity Elite Premiere is no longer the only unit to contain more then one
engine with the Res now containing 4 and more to be added in the future

the developer plans on releasing more units in 2006 but plans are not yet
finalized

Web sites
while just a few years ago there was only 1 web site devoted to the old
computers,today there are many more as collectors start to show their
collections on-line in increasing numbers
also  new sites have appeared in 2005 complete with forums ,and information

a brief run down of notable sites follows:

1.As the first dedicated chess computer site in the net ,Austrian Kurt Kispert's
 site remains the Premiere site on the net due chiefly to its two active forums
and wealth of information..

the buy/sell forum  remains today the main meeting place for collectors to offer
and exchange computers

www.schachcomputer.at

2.while the www.schachcomputer.info site was created a few years ago,in 2005 it
reached worldwide recognition as a site for testing and rating the high-end
dedicated units
with its own Active  and Tournament rating lists it is more accurate and up to
date then the SSDF lists which haven't tested dedicated computers for many years
now
it is also the Official site for the Resurrection

3.Member and top French Collector ,Alain Zanchetta's site www.zanchetta.net not
only features photos of his collection ,but in 2005 has become an invaluable
resource for all collectors with over 70 Downloadable manuals in several
languages

4.Wiki Encyclopedia...
http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Spezial:Allpages

in 2005 ,Wiki had grown by leaps and bounds with information and photos of many
dedicated computers
quickly becoming THE main source for technical information such as specs and
program info on the old computers
contributions to the Encyclopedia are made by collectors worldwide

5.New for 2005 , from the USA ,Ismenio Sousa's site..www.chesscomputers.org has
a wealth of information tailored primarily towards the new collector or for
those interested in beginning to collect

there is also an active forum which is frequented by Experienced collectors from
Europe who are always willing and able to answer questions

what makes this site unique, is that in addition to showing his collection,
Ismenio was a new collector himself not long ago and he set up a site to "ease
the way" for those new to the hobby and interested in the old computers ,posting
much information he found hard to come by when first starting his collection

6.Individual collections:
i can recommend two very good sites..

the Overtom collection:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~tluif/chescom/Engindex.html
a splendid collection of Portables and Handheld computers is offered by this top
Dutch collector

from Germany,Member Martin Slowik's Collection of High-End Computers
http://home.arcor.de/mars-chess/

New for 2005  Martin's photos are the finest quality images that can be seen
anywhere on the net

other significant developments for 2005

CCC

there has been a noticeable increase in the number of postings  related to the
old computers on these pages
of course whenever a new Engine comes along,the number of dedicated computer
postings are Eclipsed manifold but true aficionados of the hobby know how to
weather these temporary set backs

my collection..
new for 2005 .i posted some photos of my computers..no real significance to this
but it kept me busy and off the streets


2005 Regards
Steve










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