What is the optimal rig for playing Bridge on BBO

[pilowsky]

I am seeing many posts on the Forum complaining about User interfaces, software and hardware. Like many of you I am not a computer expert but I have grown up through the computer age. My first computer was an HP-125 - the same level of equipment that Armstrong used to land on the moon in 1969. In 1976 I learned Fortran programming in University. BUT, computers are something that I use. I don't build them or programme them. So my question is, what is the optimal rig for playing on BBO?

My main rig is an IMac with an attached TV as a second monitor. Since I am in Australia I use Telstra for my internet connection. This costs slightly more, but it is the only carrier that has a sim card in the modem so that if there is an outage the modem switches to 4G (/5G). When I was with another carrier nothing worked. I also have Parallels so that I can run Windows as well.

In addition, I have an aging Mac laptop,

An Ipad,

A chrome tablet,

A pixel phone

A windows computer

and a Windows laptop

and a bunch of other rubbish leftover from work.

I have had to use each of these from time to time when the systems run back-ups or updates.

I use Chrome as a browser because it is well-integrated with my phone. And I have cloud storage with google.

 

Normally when I purchase software. the minimum hardware requirement is specified. The optimum is never specified.

 

What do long-term users suggest? I am particularly interested in the opinion of computer experts.

 

At a minimum, for tournament play, I would suggest a laptop with an attached monitor running Chrome or similar. I would also recommend a backup laptop. I would not suggest playing tournaments on a tablet or phone since it is not possible to see the history.

What I am saying is that it seems appropriate to join a tournament prepared to play with the same level of seriousness as if you were playing at a club.

I frequently hear people say "Bridge is a social game". What they mean is that people are involved. Football is also a social game. But the players do not have a cup of tea and chat during the match. In the same way, the online Bridge player ought to be properly prepared so that all the players in the tournament can be assured of an enjoyable contest. They can have a chat and a cuppa afterwards or beforehand. Or perhaps a friendly comment between hands.

It seems to me that information of this type would be extremely helpful to anybody joining BBO or other platforms for the first time.

[barmar]

BBO will work with any computer with a modern browser -- basically anything except Internet Explorer 10 or older.

[pescetom]

Replying to "optimal", I think it mainly boils down to whether you are more comfortable with a mouse or with a touch screen.

 

If you are more comfortable with a mouse (and have already given touch screen a decent try, on a high quality tablet) then the optimal rig is a laptop (or chromebook) with a good battery and screen.

 

If you are more or equally comfortable with a touch screen, then a good tablet is quite sufficient if you use the BBO app. I am confident that BBO will offer us split screen in this situation very soon so that you can also see history while you play :)

[John_H]

I am seeing many posts on the Forum complaining about User interfaces, software and hardware. Like many of you I am not a computer expert but I have grown up through the computer age. My first computer was an HP-125 - the same level of equipment that Armstrong used to land on the moon in 1969. In 1976 I learned Fortran programming in University. BUT, computers are something that I use. I don't build them or programme them. So my question is, what is the optimal rig for playing on BBO?

My main rig is an IMac with an attached TV as a second monitor. Since I am in Australia I use Telstra for my internet connection. This costs slightly more, but it is the only carrier that has a sim card in the modem so that if there is an outage the modem switches to 4G (/5G). When I was with another carrier nothing worked. I also have Parallels so that I can run Windows as well.

In addition, I have an aging Mac laptop,

An Ipad,

A chrome tablet,

A pixel phone

A windows computer

and a Windows laptop

and a bunch of other rubbish leftover from work.

I have had to use each of these from time to time when the systems run back-ups or updates.

I use Chrome as a browser because it is well-integrated with my phone. And I have cloud storage with google.

 

Normally when I purchase software. the minimum hardware requirement is specified. The optimum is never specified.

 

What do long-term users suggest? I am particularly interested in the opinion of computer experts.

 

At a minimum, for tournament play, I would suggest a laptop with an attached monitor running Chrome or similar. I would also recommend a backup laptop. I would not suggest playing tournaments on a tablet or phone since it is not possible to see the history.

What I am saying is that it seems appropriate to join a tournament prepared to play with the same level of seriousness as if you were playing at a club.

I frequently hear people say "Bridge is a social game". What they mean is that people are involved. Football is also a social game. But the players do not have a cup of tea and chat during the match. In the same way, the online Bridge player ought to be properly prepared so that all the players in the tournament can be assured of an enjoyable contest. They can have a chat and a cuppa afterwards or beforehand. Or perhaps a friendly comment between hands.

It seems to me that information of this type would be extremely helpful to anybody joining BBO or other platforms for the first time.

BBO runs in a browser, so any device that happily supports a modern browser (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, latest offerings from Microsoft) will suffice. A more pertinent issue may be the internet connection, and I'd suggest wired where possible (better speeds and higher reliability - less drop outs). Personally, I've used BBO with 2 different flavours of Linux and with Windows 7, all using Firefox as the browser, with no issues.