
	NOVAG CHESS COMPUTER DRIVER

This is a user space driver for Novag Chess Computers.
It works with ChessDB and EBoard, but these currently require you to apply
a patch to their source code.

ChessDB is great to analyze your games. You may introduce a game, go
backwards, introduce or try variants, and you may do all this from your
Novag chess computer!

EBoard allows you to play games with other people over Internet, and of
course, you may play using your Novag chess computer! The LEDs on the board
show your opponent moves. You may also play against an engine like GNUChess
or Crafty.


Supported chess computers
=========================

- Novag Citrine

Please, if you own another Novag chess computer, contact me, whether it
works or not. Thanks!


Get the driver working
======================

- To compile it, just run make.

- Copy novagdrv somewhere in your path (eg. /usr/local/bin).

- If the COM device you are using is not /dev/ttyS0, then create a file
  named .novagdrvrc in your home directory. Insert something like
  "device=/dev/ttyUSB0" (without quotes).

- Test it. Connect your chess computer. Run novagdrv. Make some moves on
  the board. You should see the moves on the terminal. If not, you maybe
  introduced a wrong device in ~/.novagdrvrc.

- Kill the driver (control+C).

- Now, jump to "CHESSDB" or "EBOARD" sections!


CHESSDB
=======

- You need Tcl/Tk (version 8.0 or higher) development packages.
  For example, on Debian or Ubuntu, install tcl8.4-dev and tk8.4-dev.

- Download ChessDB-3.6.18.tar.gz from:

	http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=184864

- Uncompress it:

	tar xzvf ChessDB-3.6.18.tar.gz

- Apply the patch:

	cd ChessDB-3.6.18
	patch -p1 < .../ChessDB-3.6.18-novagdrv.patch
	(replace "..." with the path to novagdrv source)

- Compile it:

	./configure
	make
	sudo make install
	(if sudo does not work, become root and run make install)

- Run chessdb. Click on Tools -> Novag Chess Computer. Enjoy!


EBOARD
======

- You need GTK2 development packages.
  For example, on Debian or Ubuntu, install libgtk2.0-dev.

- Download eboard-1.0.3.tar.bz2 and eboard-extras-2.tar.gz from:

	http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11164

- Uncompress them:

	tar xjvf eboard-1.0.3.tar.bz2
	tar xzvf eboard-extras-2.tar.gz

- Apply the patch:

	cd eboard-1.0.3
	patch -p1 < .../eboard-1.0.3-novagdrv.patch
	(replace "..." with the path to novagdrv source)

- Compile it:

	./configure
	make
	sudo make install
	(if sudo does not work, become root and run make install)

- Install extras:

	cd ../eboard-extras-2
	./configure
	sudo make install

- Run:

	eboard -novagport /dev/ttyS0
	(change ttyS0 for your device)

- Connect to FICS. Prepare your board and issue a command like this:

	seek 20 0 white
	(change white for black if you want to play with black pieces)

  Wait until FICS finds an opponent for you :-)


Known issues
============

These machines are not designed to be used the way we do, so this driver
is implemented by using a lot of tricks. So, there are some issues which
are difficult, if possible, to fix.

- When your opponent captures a piece, the destination slot will only blink
  for a moment. If you miss it, you may have to look at the screen.

- It takes one second or two since your opponent moves until the LEDs begin
  to blink, so I don't suggest playing very fast games.

- When your opponent moves, you will see an error on the LCD. Just ignore it.
  This error is the trick we use to make LEDs blink, and if you think for
  a while, you'll notice that this explains both previous issues :-)

- When you are checkmated, the final move is not shown, so you don't know
  the game is over. I recommend enabling sound events in EBoard.

- To play with black pieces, you have to turn your chess computer around.


Contributing
============

Contact me at:

    Maximiliano Pin <mxcpin --AT-- gmail --DOT-- com>


Distribution
============

  CVS repository and new releases may be found at:

    http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/novagdrv


Copyright
=========

  Copyright (C) 2007 Maximiliano Pin

  This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  (at your option) any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  GNU General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

