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Monster Media 1994 #1
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GAMES
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CHESSCLK.ZIP
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CHESSCLK.DOC
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1993-11-18
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4KB
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70 lines
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CHESSCLOCK
==========
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Any serious chess player will sooner or later wish to own a chess clock.
Chess clocks, little hand made marvels of craftsmanship embedding two
distinct clock mechanisms in a wooden case, are indispensable for tournament
play, not to mention for 15-minute or 5-minute "blitz" games. Nowadays, they
are obtainable only at specialty shops, if at all, and cost upwards of $100
[a catalog lists Jerger (tm) wooden chess clocks at $134.95]. Little Swiss
clockmakers belong to a bygone era, and the "nifty" wooden chess clock you
end up spending a goodly sum for might well have been manufactured in a
Third World country and have only "fair" accuracy. Despair not.
This is a full-featured chess clock implemented entirely in software. It
boasts digital time displays, a visual move counter, separately settable
White and Black clocks with a setting range from one minute up to 99 hours,
an optional low-time warning, and an optional graphic "tick" indicator.
This program requires a VGA monitor (and card) and a 286 or better machine.
It has been tested on two 80386SX clones with VGA monitors, one with a Tseng
Labs clone graphics card and the other with a Trident graphics card. Any
generic VGA color monitor and card combination should work. It has not been
tested with a monochrome VGA display. It should work on the expensive
laptops with color VGA displays, but I cannot speculate whether laptop mono
VGA displays would give adequate results. I have made no effort toward
Windows (tm) compatibility. I would like to hear how it works on your
machine.
No special installation procedure is required. Just copy the file
CHESSCLK.EXE to a directory of your choice on your Hard Drive, or even onto a
working floppy. Type CHESSCLK to run it. The opening screen displays until
a key is pressed. The options screen asks for time to be allotted to White
and Black. You may choose a flashing "ticking" display (some players may
find it distracting). A "low-time" warning is the final option, giving a
brief buzz when either player's time winds down to a chosen interval.
Press a key when play commences. White's time begins counting down. When
White has moved, he/she presses a key (the SPACE BAR is handy) to begin the
Black countdown. Black in turn presses a key after having moved. A "bleep"
gives an audio notification if time runs out for either player.
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In the spirit of Open Access, I am including the C++ and C source code in
this archive for those programmers wishing to play around with and hopefully
improve this program. Feel free to modify, but please request my approval
before distributing a modified version. I would be interested in seeing your
"improved" models. Credit will be freely given for genuine improvements.
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This is Fairware. I am requesting a modest $1.00 contribution as compen-
sation for the time spent developing this program. That is not much to pay
for saving $75 and up on a less functional wooden chess clock. Please write
out a $1.00 check, place it into an envelope, and mail it to a "starving",
but hard-working programmer. Yes, I truly do need the money. Grilled cheese
sandwiches do get monotonous.
M\Cooper
3138 Foster Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224