1982 Chess Program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oNM9xQG1jw&t=998s

@john2001plus
3 hours ago (edited)
I am an Expert level chess player.  In 1982 I was not as highly rated, maybe low class B.  

The dedicated chess computers in the 1970s started with a 4 MHZ Z80, but were extremely weak mostly due to poor programming.  The Spectrum uses a 3.58 Mhz Z80.

In the 1980s dedicated chess computers switched to the 6502 processor which can do 8-bit operations twice as fast as a Z80, starting at 2 Mhz and working up from there.  In 1982 they were still not very impressive but were getting better.   They didn't become competitive with me until 1983 running at 3 MHZ, and I think the Fidelity brand was using some variation of the Sargon program.  

Sometime in 1984, there was a breakthrough with the 4 Mhz 6502 Novag Super Constellation (programmed by Dave Kittinger who would later do the Chessmaster 2000 and 3000 PC programs) which was ranked at the same low-Expert level that I am now.  It played better than me even though I had moved up to low Class A in early 1985.

Sometime around 1986, I entered a contest from a British Spectrum magazine where if you could solve a chess problem printed in the magazine you would be entered to win the latest and greatest Spectrum chess program.   I sent a postcard to England to enter the contest, and months later I got a tape of the game in the mail.  I was able to beat the program.  (I had purchased a Spectrum ROM cartridge to be able to play Spectrum games.)

How do Video Game Graphics Work?

I knew the basics, but most of this is quite advanced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8YtdC8mxTU

The computational power required is enormous.  Graphics cards use hundreds of watts of power.  (My mini-computer has a processor with a TDP of only 55 watts.)

In the 1980s, I tried to do simple 3D graphics on 8-bit and 16-bit computers.   Since I had at most 16 colors to work with, no advanced shading was possible.

On the Timex Sinclair 1000, which was an 8-bit 16K back-and-white computer, I managed to create a low-res black-and-white 3D rotating object stored in the computer's memory.  I then could display the rotating object.  It was an impressive effect for such a simple machine.  

I accomplished similar effects on the more advanced Timex Sinclair 2068 color computer.  I also did some simple 3D effects on the Atari ST computer.

The 8-bit machines were capable of about 500 floating point calculations per second.  The Xbox Series X console is capable of 12 trillion per second.  The advanced graphics card featured in the video is capable of 33 trillion.

Why is "The Empire Strikes Back" considered the best Star Wars film? (Star Wars Discussion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUdTONl8MY

@john2001plus

0 seconds ago
I had just barely graduated High School when I drove to Indianapolis to see TESB at a big theater with a large curved screen.  I sat in the front row.  At one point my head had to turn quite a ways to follow a ship flying across the big curved screen.  It felt almost 3D.

I grew up in the 1970s.  The country was in a state of malaise for the entire decade.  We had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagnation, and inflation.  China and Russia were evil empires trying to take over their neighbors.  

Star Wars was a beacon of hope.  It said that good could stand against evil.  The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite movie and it still is.

I'm slowly turning into an old man but I am still a die-hard Star Wars fan.