Certabo Electronic Chess Board

I can only see they can be used on Lichess. 

Certabo cannot be used on Lichess, one gets labeled as a cheater if one does. It happened to me, had to plea with Lichess administrators to get the cheating label removed. After explaining myself, I got a warning never to use Certabo on Lichess ever again.

It's because their sofware uses unupported trickery to interface with Lichess. I informed them of this problem and asked to disclose it to their users, but they refuse to do so. They still advertise interfacing with Lichess on their homepage.

-Izmet Fekali

No, that's not true.

From 2 months ago:

https://www.certabo.com/certabo-forum/topic/official-statement-using-certabo-board-on-lichess-org/#postid-129

There is nothing physically stopping you from using a Certabo board with the big two chess websites - it works very well. The decision to do so is up to you.

I missed this post, as it is burried in Certabo fora. Yes, connecting to Lichess is possible, BUT ONLY WITH A BOT ACCOUNT. This will label you as an engine on Liches, meaning you will practically only be able to play against other bots. There is no mention of this on their homepage.

-Izmet Fekali

New buyers will probably not be reading the fora before buying. I'm simply asking to disclose this problem on their homepage. I am not selling a competing product. I'm simply a dissapointed user.

To be fair, I was offered an option to return the board with a refund and I gladly took it.

-Izmet Fekali

While I like the look of these boards with the inbuilt led I think I'll stick with my square off to play on chess.com 

ifekali wrote: New buyers will probably not be reading the fora before buying. I'm simply asking to disclose this problem on their homepage. I am not selling a competing product. I'm simply a dissapointed user.

This is an absurd argument. Why are you trying so hard to criticise the manufacturer?

It's on their page for new buyers to read if they do less than 5 minutes of research. It's not difficult, but does require a little effort. If I'm spending a sum of money on a product unseen, I put in a little effort to inform myself before buying.

Didn't you do some proper research before spending your money?

After that spamming I think I'll pass. 

You can use the UCI driver from Lars or the python based one from me (certabo-playground on github). It works fine with the lichess-bot. So you can use the CERTABO board to play on lichess without getting banned.

But you can only play against bots, or can you play other real people? 

You can play with other real people. You just can't create new games in the lobby. So you can either challenge someone you know on lichess, or get challenged.

Which competing product do you have in mind? I'm interested, as at this time the only way to use a physical chessboard on Lichess is  a combo of AcidApe and DGT.  Using a bot account is of course a no go. Players there do not respond to challenges from bot accounts except for known friends.

I would LOVE to have another option!

-Izmet Fekali

CERTABO did send a board to the Acid Ape developers. But there is no timeframe for an implementation..

This is good news. If Acid Ape implements their board, I will be considering getting one again. Sadly, I had to return my purchase, as it did not work as advertised and I ended up labeled with "This user uses computer assistance" on Lichess. After contacting the Lichess support and clearing my name, I was explained that Acid Ape is the only exception they will ever allow, the only software client that will ever be able to interface with the Lichess website. I got off with an explicit warning not to use Certabo chessboard again with a normal (non-bot) account.

-Izmet Fekali

I guess only the lichess folks know why Acid Ape is allowed to interface the servers, but vendors like CERTABO aren't. But there are also other options to play online Chess with a CERTABO, like Chess for Android with FICS & ICC.

Acid Ape was made before the ban of software clients on Lichess. Quoting the founder from memory, "it would be a dick move to remove their access now." 

-Izmet Fekali