Mephisto was a line of chess computers sold by Hegener & Glaser '. In addition to integrated travel and sensory computers, they also sold a line of modular electronic autosensory boards which could accept different program, processor, and display modules. Its strongest software was written by Richard Lang, who later ported it to personal computers as Psion and ChessGenius. Lang's Mephisto programs won six World Computer Chess Championships' from 1984 to 1990. H&G also sold engines licensed from Johan de Koning, Ed Schröder, and Frans Morsch. Different models used different 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bitprocessors, including MOS Technology 6502, Motorola 68HC05, Motorola 68000 and others. Hegener & Glaser and its Mephisto brand were bought in 1994 by Saitek. Their computers currently sold under the Mephisto brand use programs written by Frans Morsch.
Hegener & Glaser (Mephisto)
1969 established in Munich by Manfred Hegener and Florian Glaser for the production of semiconductors
1978 the programmers Thomas Nitsche and Elmar Henne came into contact with H+G Thomas Nitsche and Elmar Henne
1980 the "Mephisto" Tradename was created, nicknamed Brikett — the first German Chess Computer — programmed by Thomas Nietsche and Elmar Henne, appeared in stores.
1983 Introduction of the Modular system, with the Mobil, Modular, and Exclusive boards and MM I module.
1984 with Richard Lang and his Psion chess began a long series of World Championship successes.
1985 introduction of Lang's first Mephisto module, the Amsterdam 68000
1989 over 90% of all chess computers sold in Germany were Mephistos
1989 H+G buys "Fidelity Electronics Inc." for ~ 7 Million US $
1990 the market for high-priced chess computers collapses. The cause is the growth of high-performance 486 PCs and the availability of newly developed low-cost strong chess software for PCs.
1992 H+G shows losses of 28 Million DM
1992 Ed Schröder wins with Gideon 3.1 the open 7. WCCC — ahead of large mainframe computers and special hardware machines
1997 Manfred Hegener and Ossi Weiner form the company "Millennium 2000 GmbH Hegener & Weiner" and produce the "Millennium Schachpartner 2000", sold at 99 DM
2005 Phoenix Chess Systems releases the Resurrection module for existing Mephisto modular boards. The hardware uses a 200 MHz ARM processor to run modern chess engines, resulting in the strongest dedicated chess computer ever created.
2007 Phoenix Chess Systems releases an updated module set, the Resurrection II, with a faster 500 MHz XScale processor.
Mephisto sold limited edition versions of Lang's championship winning programs in dedicated boards with upgraded processors, cooling, and memory, similar to the hardware used in the championship tournaments.
Mephisto TM Roma
Mephisto TM Almeria
Mephisto TM Portorose
Mephisto TM Lyon
Mephisto TM Vancouver
Mephisto TM London
Mephisto Wundermaschine
Other chess computers from the manufacturer Hegener & Glaser
