New: DGT for Chess.com macOS App (unofficial)

Just using parallels on my Mac would make it hotter than my pan when cooking

Hey Thomas!

Happy to hear you managed to make it work using LiveChess.

Sadly I do not have access to a DGT smartboard so I cannot debug/test the app on DGT smartboards. If I manage to get access / you can help provide me access I can check for the reason it doesn't work.

Happy new year! 

Also Thomas I am exploring using this as an alternate embedded engine which might help with board compatibility 

Did you see the Dgt implementation at Lichess? I believe it's open source so you might be able to take something from there 

I have not heard it is open source, do you happen to have a link?

This is the person who developed it. It was initially in a standalone website but was since incorporated directly into lc

https://github.com/andrescavallin/lichess-dgt-boards

The Lichess site is al open source so you can probably find how its implemented by looking at their own github.  Its a bit beyond me I'm afraid.

I believe its this :- https://github.com/ornicar/lila/blob/master/ui/dgt/src/play.ts

Seems like it works with livechess, so the flakey connection issues should reproduce there too

Easy to test for you I guess, I'm on Windows and both here and Lichess work well

hi Amit, 

thank you for the effort. this is great! I shall try it out.

Hi Amit,

So far I’ve been able to get computer play with livechess drivers work for me. Other options did not work. No voice announcement of moves as well. I’m running Big Sur and Dgt Bluetooth Eboard 3.1. I can set up and give you VNC access if you want to take a look at the system.

Thanks again for the effort!

Hey! Sure, would love to take a look. Can you email me? amit.assaraf@gmail.com

Unfortunately reporting exactly the same issue. The first time I played against the computer it worked fine but then subsequently it's behaving just like the Chess.com browser, with connection dropouts and the voice disappearing. Livechess is fine but the moves aren't making it to your app; I can't connect to the embedded engine either.

Would be quite happy to pay for something that works reliably; after all the DGT board and pieces cost me nearly €1000 and are pretty useless at the moment as I bought them purely to be able to play OTB on chess.com...

Hi Amit,

same here. USB e-board on a MacBook Air (with Big Sur). LiveChess recognizes the board and pieces, but it’s unreliable and drops out after a couple of moves. Tried your app (downloaded the beta, also faved on GitHub), but the board never connects, and the status stays at "out of sync".

Glad to help you debug.

FYI - ended up buying a Windows 10 tablet to get everything working. The cheapest I could find (in Italy) was a €224 Lenovo. I was too impatient for eBay, but I'm sure anything on there would suffice just as well.  

Great work. Please port this app for windows and android also. I am many people will benefit from this.

I’d buy a DGT eboard if it worked on Mas OS. And it was available in the UK. Would what you’re working on allow the board to work as it does on Windows? Or are you only wanting to get it working on chess.com?

Wow such a great news that - finally - someone is trying to develop an app for people like us that just want to play on chess.com with the DGT. 
Currently I'm playing with Acid Ape Chess (android) but this app for Mac could change anything! 
Such a shame that I don't see any update here since Jan, I'd love even to pay for a better version of the app! (I connected my Bluetooth DGT, the status is "connected" but says "out of sync" for some reason, and It didn't work even for a move.....) 

But I'm still so happy that this app is born already! Please, keep going on working on it, it will worth it! There are a lot of people - like I did for Acid Ape Chess App - that will pay so much money to unlock all the skills of a DGT board. 

Thank you! 

Yeah for some reason, even with the USB connection, it keeps staying "OUT OF SYNC", but "connected" as main status.