XBoard / WinBoard 4.6.0 released

[kinderchocolate]

Where should I Put my custom commands? What if I want the engine issue seek 5 0 games automatically? Thanks.

Can Xboard be used to connect an UCI engine to FICS? If not, what about other alternatives?

Sure. Just type

xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org -zp -fcp ./ENGINE -fd ENGINEDIR -fUCI -autoKibitz -keepAlive 10

(Do not forget the -zp !) If you have timeseal on your machine you could also add -icshelper timeseal to compensate for network lag. The -keepAlive 10 sends a "date" command every 10 min to circumvent the FICS idle time-out. If yu have an engine that complies to Linux file-system standards (i.e. sits in a folder in your PATH like /usr/games, and knows how to find its own data files), such as fruit, it is enough to do

xboard -ics -icshost freechess.org -zp -fcp fruit -fUCI -autoKibitz -keepAlive 10

[hgm]

I think XBoard sends a command "gameend" to the ICS after every game, which you can alias to whatever you want in the ICS (e.g. to "seek 5 0").

[Richard Allbert]

Fantastic, the TM - especially the concurrent running.

I'll start testing now.

Is it possible to load a random position from an opening file? I didn't see this in the documentation.

many thanks

Richard

[Richard Allbert]

My FICS.bat

Code: Select all

winboard /zp /ics /icshost=freechess.org /icsport=5000 /icshelper=timeseal /firstChessProgram="JabbaCS" /firstDirectory="../JabbaCS" /polyglotBook="default_book.bin" /usePolyglotBook=true /firstXBook /fUCI /icslogon=jabbafics.ini /keepAlive 30 /zippyGameEnd "say Thanks for playing!!\nresume\nseek 3 0 f\nseek 1 0 f\nseek 5 0 f\n"

And the jababfics.ini

Code: Select all

JabbaChess
password
set noescape 1
+ch 64
+ch 49
resume
seek 1 0 f
seek 3 0 f
seek 5 0 f

HTH

[Michel]

Has there been a change in the way the PV walk feature is supposed to work?

If I right click on a PV line xboard seems to make the first move of the PV and
then the analysis continues after that.

Before, right clicking on the PV displayed the position at the end of the PV.

[Michel]

I have a problem loading an engine that is not in the PATH.

I did specify the full path name of the engine (stockfish) in the "Load New Engine" dialog but xboard was unable to start the engine.

I tried the full path on the command line and it worked...

[Richard Allbert]

When you press the browser button to set the savegame file, the file needs to exist, otherwise you can't save.

Better would to be able to select the directory

Richard

[Richard Allbert]

And the increment box in the time control dialog doesn't allow 0.1 (or 0,1, I tried just in case)

[michiguel]

Yesterday I could not load my engine and I think I found the problem. In .xboardrc it is saved ad -fcp "gaviota" rather than "./gaviota". So it works with engines that are in directories that are in the PATH, but for others, you need to go and edit the .xboardrc (I am sure that will fix it but I did not try yet, I was too sleepy). When I placed gaviota en /usr/local/bin/ it worked.

I guess the whole idea of specifying an engine as -fd plus -fcp no longer works due to this silly suppression of execs on plain files in the current directory. (Note that . is in the PATH, or ./xxx would not work eiher!)

I guess you could install the engine by browsing to it, (which would put the full path name in the command field), and put "." for directory name (to prevent XBoard will split up the path name in a directory and file). But I guess that would not work if the engine looks for its files in the current directory. You would then have to copy the path name of the engine to the directory field, and strip off the file part. This indeed is a pain almost as bad as having to edit the .xboardrc file. But I guess you could use the browse button on the directory too. I am just not sure it would immediately start in the directory where you used the file browser last. (I am on Windows now, so I cannot check it.)

I guess that it would indeed be best if splitting up a path name obtained from browsing would always result in ./ being put in front of the file part.

Yes, that would be a solution. As it is now, the feature unfortunately is unusable. Now, the easiest for me is to load the engine, and then manually add the ./ in the .xboardrc file. Personally, I am ok with it, but it will frustrate most other people.

Miguel

[Richard Allbert]

The TM is really good, useful is the current game number on the window bar.