Minimum System requirements for SwissSys?

Running Chess Tournaments
1

Does anyone know the minimum system requirements for SwissSys?
I haven’t been able to find this in the documentation.

I need to purchase a laptop which will be mostly used for tournament
pairings. I’m looking at a Pentium 266 with 64 meg of Ram running
Windows 98.

The only thing giving me pause about this system is the Windows 98.
I like XP much better for not locking up. Yet it seems that only running
SwissSys would not tax the system much.

Can some of you guys offer some advice? What are you getting by with
running SwissSys. I had one TD tell me his computer ran Windows 95,
and he had no problem with SwissSys. I just don’t feel like purchasing
a computer that won’t suit my needs.

Sincere Thanks,

William “Tom” Hales, TD
Asheboro Chess Club (Asheboro, North Carolina)

2

The laptop I use when running tournament is 233 Mhz / 64 MB Ram / Windows 98. It runs fine.

You may want to e-mail the creator of SwissSys to be certain.

email Tad Suits at suits@initco.net

3

266 Mhz and 64 MB RAM is plenty for running SwissSys. (Though if you plan to run anything else, adding more RAM would be a wise investment.) It will run under Win95 as well as anything does.

4

Tom: I use an old laptop 133Mhz (no L2 cache) - 96MB - win98SE (fully patched) - and I have no problems with swiss sys except for importing the rating list take quite bit of time (but once every two months it is not a big deal)

I hope u are not paying too much for an old laptop. You can get a brand new one which is reasonably loaded for $499 + tax after rebates.

5

I decided to get the used laptop 266 mhz mmx with 64 meg. Since it is
a Dell Lattitude, and comes with everything our club will need:

USB Port: for our club printer/scanner
AC Adapter
Good battery
2 PCMCIA slots (for Wi Fi)
PCMCIA modem
Network Card
Carrying case

It was listed too (on ebay) as “MINT CONDITION” by a very reputable
seller. For only $169.95, I considered it a bargain.

I studied on this for nearly two weeks before deciding. One of the other
TDs at the club may be able to get us a used laptop donated from his
work. Our original idea was to have a “club” laptop passed among four TDs. I decided it would be a good idea for the club president to have his own as a backup–plus we are still not sure about the donated one.

I very nearly bought a new laptop for $499.00–but the warranty with such
a product is so limited (unless you fork over a lot more). I usually build my own systems–so upgrading this (if necessary) won’t be too much of a problem. It could really use at least another 64 megs of RAM; I’d prefer 256.

I had to reign in my desire for “the best” and remember that this is, after
all, just a pairing machine and basic word processor for tournaments. If
it takes 10 seconds to pair as opposed to split seconds, I doubt there will
be complaints! :sunglasses:

BTW, just a note for other TDs: Our club recently purchased an HP 1315xi printer/scanner/copier (for tournament use). It was a great
price at Sam’s Club. I thought the scanning/copying features might be useful in a tournament setting.

I found the extra features extremely useful at The Asheboro Open I: When a player had proof of renewal, I scanned a copy for us. When a player had renewed, but their name was not listed as renewed in the database, again I just scanned their card. Another use for the scanner is to copy game scoresheets.

I am sure as time goes by, we will continue to find uses for this compact little wonder. It was well worth just a few extra bucks for the added features.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Sincerely,

William “Tom” Hales
Asheboro Chess Club

6

I did email Thad Suits, who promptly responded the same day with
an answer about the system requirements.

SwissSys is certainly worth the registration fee. Our club has a fully
registered copy we use.

This copy was paid for by the generousity of Robin Johnston, one of
Asheboro’s team of TDs. Robin Johnston, Mark Stout, and Rick Upchurch
have all put in time & money to help Asheboro succeed.

Bottom line: I am impressed with SwissSys, and highly recommend it.

Sincerely,

William “Tom” Hales
Asheboro Chess Club