Connecting with the DGT Board

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After all the fun I had connecting Chess for Android with the Millennium over Bluetooth, I was curious if I could provide similar support for the DGT electronic chess boards. Some of these have Bluetooth capabilities, most use USB connections, and some older models, like the one I have, still use the RS-232 connector.

To my pleasant surprise, by combining the original serial cable of DGT with a USB-to-serial cable and a female-USB-to-USB-C cable, I was able to get an actually working connection between my DGT board and my tablet or phone.

Next was implementing support in Chess for Android. Luckily, DGT kindly shared the protocol documentation with me, and after a fun weekend of hacking, Chess for Android now proudly supports DGT electronic chess boards as well.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi. Can you please support Novag Citrine on your Chess for Android? Also uses an old RS232 connection. The only software that supports it is the PC software Arena. It is an old board but it is a cheaper alternative to DGT and Certabo and the there are more users out there of this board than of the new Certabo. Thanks
February 17, 2020 at 1:02 AM
Louis said…
Wat ik ook probeer mijn dgt bord usb wil geen contact hebben met mijn smartphone of tablet computer. Het enige commentaar is telkens /dev/bus/usb/001/001
Het laatste gedeelte verpringt bij elke poging naar een nieuw nummer. Ik zit nu al op 006. Kortom er is iets fout maar ik weet niet wat. Locatie heb ik aangezet voor de app. Heeft wel iets geholpen, een foutmelding verdween maar ik blijf nu vastlopen.
March 15, 2023 at 5:43 AM
Aart Bik said…
Louis,
Make sure your cable is a USB On-The-Go compliant cable *and* plugged in the right orientation. Since the board gets the power from the cable, a common mistake is to use a cable that "looks right", but is not OTG. Contact me offline if you want more help with this.
Aart
March 15, 2023 at 12:39 PM
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