Category Archives: Chess

DGT-3000 Raspberry Pi Connector

PicoChess is a software developed by Jean-Francois Romang that brings several chess engines to a DGT board and allow full control via the second queen (i.e. no cpmputer required!. It works with a Raspberry Pi and a DGT-3000 chess clock. DGT offers an all-in-one solution (DGT-3000 with a Raspi) for £280. The DGT-3000 alone sells £50, so quite an up-mark for a £28 Pi! Based on the work others have done, I developed a board that allows you to connect a Raspberry Pi to the DGT-3000 without too much hassle. You need a soldering iron for the power cable (from the Pi to the DGT-3000). The solution consists of the following components: A DGT-3000 Raspberry Pi (a Raspi 3 will work best with the PicoChess engines, though a Zero W cor an older Pi can be used as well) The connector cable (Pi-Hat with molex and power connector for the clock) a 5-pin Molex connector cable A Case that serves as a base for the clock and houses the Pi and the connector board You remove the small board that holds the 3.5mm connector and instead the board will be connected directly to the RasPi via USB (I added a magnetic USB-C connector to easily hook up the board and the RasPi. Just to clarify: After this conversion, you will no longer have the 3.5mm connector (and a little hole on the side of your DGt-3000). Layout of the molex connector: This is the layout of the board that connects the RasPi with the mainboard of the DGT-3000.…

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