Lite DGTPi Image:

This is basically PicoChess v3 added to the Raspberry Pi OS32 Lite image.

It will fit on an 8 GB SD card but I would suggest a 16 GB card for future software/engine updates. The first boot will take extra time as the root partition expands to fill the SD card and the system reboots. Please be patient.

Username: pi
Password: picochess
Hostname: picochess

To connect to your wifi network and you are operating headless (no monitor/keyboard attached) create a wpa_supplicant.conf file (plain text) and place it in the /boot partition before inserting the SD card into the Pi. See https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/wireless/headless.md for more info. Otherwise, with a monitor/keyboard attached, set up wifi using raspi-config (type: sudo raspi-config). You can also connect to your network via an ethernet cable.

Ssh is already enabled. You should also use raspi-config to set your locale and timezone, etc.

The PicoChess Webserver is enabled in picochess.ini and can be reached by typing the ip address of the DGTPi into your web browser (port 80).

Alan Cooper's script: Rod4Elo.sh (in the pi home folder) can be used to set the elo of the Rodent IV personalities (type: ./Rod4Elo.sh).

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NOTE:

If you are running this image on a stand-alone RPi, edit the picochess.ini file and comment out (#) the dgtpi = true line. Also, enter the following commands in a terminal (or via ssh):

sudo systemctl disable dgtpi
sudo systemctl disable dgtpistandby

And finally, comment out (or remove) the following lines (if present) in the config.txt file located in the boot partition (also accessible in the /boot folder when the system is running - sudo is required in this case):

core_freq=250
core_freq_min=250

core_freq=500        <------- these 2 lines are under the [pi4] section
core_freq_min=500    <---'

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Sound Volume

You may find the sound volume is too hi or low and the clock buttons don't change it. (e.g. you have a USB sound card, or BT headphones, etc.). If that is the case, you can log in via ssh (or just login if using a monitor/keyboard) and type:

alsamixer

on the command line. This will open a graphical volume control where you can adjust the levels to suit your liking. Use F6 to change output devices.

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MESS Engine GUI using xrdp (for advanced users).

If you would like to add remote desktop access in order to see the MAME/MESS engine GUI display, carry out the following steps (you should have a bit of working knowledge of Linux) via the command line:

- install xorg and desktop:
    sudo apt update
    sudo apt full-upgrade
    sudo apt install raspberrypi-ui-mods xinit xserver-xorg

- remove RealVNC to prevent accidental activation which will conflict with xrdp:
    sudo apt remove realvnc-vnc-server
    sudo reboot

- install xrdp
    sudo apt install xrdp

- verify xrdp is running:
    systemctl show -p SubState --value xrdp
    sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert

You can now log in remotely using RDP and user 'pi'.

To enable the MAME/MESS GUI output:
Edit MAME engine scripts, located in /opt/picochess/engines/armv7l/mame, remove the following text:

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy
-video none 

For example, mm4 would look like this after editing:

#!/bin/bash

cd /opt/picochess/engines/mame_emulation; /opt/picochess/engines/mame_emulation/mess -skip_gameinfo -lightgunprovider none -plugin chessengine mm4

Next, edit the /etc/systemd/system/picochess.service file to look as follows:

    [Unit]
    Description=PicoChess stand alone chess computer based on DGT board

    [Service]
    Environment="DISPLAY=:10"
    Environment="XAUTHORITY=/home/pi/.Xauthority"
    Type=simple
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/picochess/picochess.py
    ExecStop=/usr/bin/pkill -f picochess.py
    WorkingDirectory=/opt/picochess/

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reboot.

IMPORTANT!!!

Ensure you select a non-modified mame engine before quitting picochess. Otherwise it will freeze on boot looking for the xrdp display :10. The fix (if you forget) is to edit picochess.ini and remove the engine and level lines, usually at the bottom.