FAQ

BillyGate Frequently Asked Questions

v0.1.4, September 2025


Contents

Q: How much does BillyGate cost (and how do I buy it)?

There are two components to BillyGate:
  • A little electronics board called the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, which we do not supply. It is available globally for around $10 USD. See Buy a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W for details.
  • We supply the firmware (software) that runs on the Pico2W. Pricing is by currency:
    • USD: $40, EUR: €40, GBP: £40
    • Payment is by domestic bank transfer (non-domestic bank transfers are by prior request only and will incur additional bank fees).
The total price is therefore around $50. This includes firmware updates (of the purchased product).

The buying process (see the BillyGate user manual for more detail) is as follows:
  • Check your SquareOff Pro has up-to-date firmware.
  • Buy a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W.
  • Message facebook.com/billygatechess (include your country) and one of our sales goats will send you a bank transfer request.
  • Upon receipt of payment (please include a reference so we can identity the payment) we will send you a download link for the BillyGate firmware.
  • Follow the BillyGate set-up instructions. This requires one more interaction with BillyGate before you can start playing chess on your re-animated SquareOff Pro. As part of the set-up you need to send us a board ID (that uniquely identifies the Pico2W you bought) and we return you a token that authenticates your firmware for use on that board.

Q: How do I update my SquareOff Pro firmware?

BillyGate requires your SquareOff Pro e-board to be running firmware 3.0.5+ and if you are on 2.5.7 (or older) here's how to update it.
  • Open an issue on the Miko.ai help desk and ask for your SquareOff Pro firmware to be updated to 3.0.5 (or newer) from 2.5.7.
  • Include in your issue a screenshot of the Board Center page from the SquareOff or Miko Chess app, which shows your current firmare version.
  • After Miko reply that your update is available connect to your SquareOff Pro from the SquareOff or Miko Chess app and return to the Board Center. You should see that a firmware update is now available. If not, click on the current firmware version.
  • Follow the app instructions to perform the update.
  • This update can take a while (10 minutes) but be careful not to interrupt it and to let it run to completion.
  • Problems? Sorry, you need to circle back to Miko tech support.

Q: Why do I need to authenticate BillyGate firmware?

BillyGate is a commercial project with considerable ongoing development and support costs. I am endeavouring to provide a high-quality, low-cost solution for integrating e-boards with chess client apps, while making some beer money on the side. Firmware authentication enables users to source their own BLE boards at cost and easily download/install the firmware and updates, but limits uncontrolled free redistribution of the firmware, which would destroy any commercial viability.

Q: How to access BillyGate's 'admin' mode via USB?

EXPERIMENTAL: this is an alternative way to access BillyGate's 'admin' (set-up) mode. It's not for less technical souls and may be deprecated without notice.

BillyGate can be restarted in a special 'admin' mode to configure settings requiring input from a keyboard, e.g. WiFi credentials. This answer describes how to connect to BillyGate in 'admin' mode via a USB cable from a Windows, MacOS or Linux PC. For more details about BillyGate and how to enter 'admin' mode via a temporary WiFi access point see its user manual.

Serial IO over USB on Windows, MacOS or Linux is a bit technical and fiddly, so I recommend installing and using Roger Meier's CoolTerm freeware app.
  • Connect BillyGate to your Windows or MacOS PC using a data-capable USB cable (some USB cables only carry power, not data).
  • BillyGate should power up from the PC USB port and start flashing its LED.
  • Put BillyGate into 'admin' mode (2 flashes every 4 seconds).
  • Install and run CoolTerm on your Windows or MacOS PC.
  • See the CoolTerm installer ReadMe.txt if MacOS complains about the installation.
  • Open CoolTerm's Options dialog.
    • By default CoolTerm uses the required Serial Port settings (baud: 9600, data bits: 8, parity: none, stop bits: 1). There are 0 stop bits but CoolTerm uses 1 for 0 :).
    • In the Terminal Options change the CR+LF Key Emulation settings to 'CR' and 0D (i.e. zero-D).

  • CoolTerm auto-detects USB serial ports. On Windows the USB serial port will look like COMnn (USB Serial Device). On MacOS it should look like usbmodem*****.
  • Select the likely-looking USB port and click Connect.
  • You should see and be able to interact with the BillyGate bootstrap console.

  • You may need to press RETURN to see the bootstrap console menu.
  • Enter the relevant commands below and press RETURN:
    • id - get BillyGate board ID
    • token - enter (usually copy and paste) your BillyGate authentication token
    • scan - scan for local WiFi networks
    • add - add credentials to connect to BillyGate to a local WiFi network
    • reset - resets BillyGate


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