DGT Electronic Board Driver 1.30

General information

The DGT electronic board driver collects positions from the board, analyzes them and sends them (together with additional commands like moves) to the program using this driver. Please note that it might be that not all commands are supported by your chess program.

The following commands are available:

Driver Settings

Position Tabsheet

The position tabsheet is useful for checking if your electronic board is showing the right position. And, if your chess program supports it, the squares that are not matching the current position in the chess program, are highlighted.

Diagram

Always shows the current position on the electronic chess board and the clock times.

Automatic rotation option

Normally you can leave this option checked at all times. It will automatically correct the position if you are playing with the electronic board connector on the right side, or you start with the white pieces on the top of the electronic board.

Rotate button

Clicking this button overrides automatic rotation and rotates the board. This option is useful if you start a game with a position in which the orientation of the board is not clear (for example, an endgame position with little pieces on the board). Note that these rotation settings have nothing to do with the flip function of your chess program. The diagram always shows "white on bottom".

Color-settings

Cutomize the colors by clicking on the little boxes, or choosing a preset.

Driver-settings

Choosing a preset will set all driver settings. Available presets:

Connect Tabsheet

Here you setup the COM port that your board is connected too. These settings are stored and will be automatically retrieved next time you use the driver, so normally you only need to set this up once. When the board is detected, and communication is OK, it will show "Board Found" and display its trade mark information. When a clock is detected, it will show "Clock Found".

Select port

Choose the COM port that your electronic board is connected to. The available ports on the system are automatically detected and enumarated here. Selecting "STOP" will stop all communication with the board. Selecting a port will initiate communication over that port, which should not take more than a few seconds.

Search available COM ports

Clicking this button rescans your system for available COM ports. This is only useful is you just installed an extra COM ports, for example if you plugged in a DGT USB board after starting the driver. The detected ports are enumarated on the left.

Search Clock

Click this button if you just plugged in a clock, or switched to an XL clock, and it was not detected yet.

Extra Tabsheet

For setting up proporties of the driver window itself, and the move reconstruction algorithm.

Stay on top

If this option is checked, this window stays on top of all other windows.

Remeber window position

When checked, the next time you open the dialog it will appear open in the same location on your desktop. Otherwise, it will open in the center of the screen.

Move now!

When checked, lifting a King and placing it back gives a "move now" instruction to the program user the DLL.

Offer Draw / Resign

When checked, placing both kings in the center issues an end of game command to the program using the driver.
1-0: Kings on e4 and e5 (the white center squares)
0-1: Kings on d4 and e5 (the black center squareS)
draw: all other combinations

Send move after delay

Amount of milliseconds to wait before a move is send to the program. This gives you some time to slide e.g. a bishop over the board. A setting between 500 and 1000 ms is recommended.

Use delay only for bishops, rooks and queens

If checked, the move delay will not be used when you play with a knight, king, pawn (unless it's on the 2nd/7th) rank, or when you slide a bishop, queen or rook to the edge of the board. This only works if the program that uses the DLL informs the DLL of the correct position, and there are no mismatched squares.
As extra, checking this option makes it possible to anticipate one move of the opponent ("premove"). If you guessed correctly, and you already played your response on the board, it will be send at once.

Allow max errors

If there is a difference between the position in the program, and the position on the electronic board, the different squares will highlight. If more than "max errors" squares are highlighted, no move reconstruction is done at all.

DGTXL Tabsheet

Several options for owners of a DGT XL clock.

Display Message Button

Shows the typed message on the display of the XL clock.

Display Time Button

Stops to display the typed message and shows the times again.

Piece settings

The symbols used to represent the pieces on the display of the XL.

Show announcements on the display of the XL clock

If checked, any difference between the DGT board position and the position in the program is shown on the display of the XL.

Make the XL clock beep immediately on a new announcement

If checked, the clock will beep when it shows a new announcement.

While announcing, beep after x seconds and repeat beep after x seconds

If the positions remain different, the clock will beep every x seconds.

Wait before announcing:

The amount of time (in milliseconds) to wait before actually instructing the clock to display the announcement. The idea is to prevent your own moves from being displayed.

Sound Tabsheet

If you like to hear the announcements, you can install a sound scheme. Selecting "none" disables vocal announcements.

Refresh List

Press this button to update the list. Only useful if you installed a sound scheme while the driver is running.

Test "Ne4xf6#"

Speaks the move Ne4xf6#.

Wait before announcing

Sets the amount of milliseconds to wait before the vocal announcement is played.

Speedup

Amount of millisecond truncate the end of each part of a move, to avoid delays while speaking a move. For each sound scheme, a different setting is optimal here.

Select conirmation sound

If you select a sound from the popdown menu, you will hear this sound when the position on the DGT board is synchronized with the actual position in the program using the DLL. You can add your own sounds by copying them to the \Program Files\DGT Projects\Sounds folder.

Select alert sound

If you select a sound from the popdown menu, you will hear this sound when the position on the DGT board is not synchronized with the actual position in the program using the DLL. So if there is a move form the opponent, and you lift the wrong piece, you'll hear it. You can add your own sounds by copying them to the \Program Files\DGT Projects\Sounds folder.

Download Sound Schemes button

Opens the website http://www.dgtprojects.com/downloads.htm, where you can download sound schemes.

About Tabsheet

Version and copyright information.

DGT Board Driver

Click the button to visit the website of DGT Projects at http://www.dgtprojects.com

Check for update

Click this button to check if there is a new version of the driver available for download at http://www.dgtprojects.com/download.htm

Get update

If an update has been found, you can click this button to download it. Before you install the new driver, you have to close any program that is using the driver.