A tribute to Arena GUI.

[hgm]

For Windows I wrote a simple connection adapter, that could both be used as a server and a client depending on the arguments it was called with. As a server you need to start it with the engine command and directory as argument. As client (to be used as engine in the GUI) the IP address of the server machine.

If you are interested I can look up the exact specs.

[hgm]

Thank you very much for the detailed information you have given us and being very clear in your explanation in relation to Winboard/XBoard!

Well, surely Arena has similar options, if it is as good as you claim it to be? I am just not so familiar with it, and just wanted to point out that the modern way of doing things is through ethernet network adapter rather that the RS232 COM ports. How do you run a tournament with concurrency on Arena, if you want to distribute the games that run simultaneously over several computers?

[Nordlandia]

For Windows I wrote a simple connection adapter, that could both be used as a server and a client depending on the arguments it was called with. As a server you need to start it with the engine command and directory as argument. As client (to be used as engine in the GUI) the IP address of the server machine.

If you are interested I can look up the exact specs.

I will appreciate if you can help me move on to Fritz interface in case to benefit from ponder.

That connect.exe file is not possible to open.

[Gusev]

Does Arena 3.5.1 allow matches/tournaments more than 2048 games long? If not, how can I make the feature request? I created a 10,000-opening PGN that I'd like to use with Arena to run 20,000-game engine-to-engine test matches.

Arena 3.5.1 is excellent software and one significant element is, you can install just about any engine without having to make any tweaks and it will run it!
http://www.playwitharena.com/?Download:Arena_3.5.1

[royb]

Does Arena 3.5.1 allow matches/tournaments more than 2048 games long? If not, how can I make the feature request? I created a 10,000-opening PGN that I'd like to use with Arena to run 20,000-game engine-to-engine test matches.

Arena 3.5.1 is excellent software and one significant element is, you can install just about any engine without having to make any tweaks and it will run it!
http://www.playwitharena.com/?Download:Arena_3.5.1

I was able to create a tournament and say I wanted 20001 games to be played. That's not the same thing as successfully completing a tournament of 20001 games, but at least the GUI allows that large a number to be entered for the number of games. Someone with more time on their hands than me will be needed to verify that the software can successfully complete a very long tournament like this.

[duncan]

Seemingly Arena 3.5.1 is the only stable GUI that supports two computer matches {Autoplayer} (ponder).

Fritz 13 support this old interface but truly obsolete, also lacking some features.

Note that the RS232 autoplayer is considered obsolete since networks using ethernet / WiFi became common, and allows you to run two-computer matches (or actually multi-computer tournaments) on any GUI without the need for special provisions in that GUI. The trick is to just install a communication program as engine on the machine where the GUI runs, which then starts the engine on another machine over the network.

Under Linux this can even be done with standard software like ssh or rsh. (And indeed XBoard has -firstHost / -secondHost options for this that automatically invoke the configured -remoteShell to run any registered engine remotely.) Windows is of course less capable, so you usually have to install a dedicated adapter like connect.exe on the machines you want to communicate.

With network play you can distribute general tournaments over many machines. E.g. if you have four equivalent computers in your LAN, you could run a ponder-on roud-robin tournament concurrently by starting two XBoard's, the one with -firstsecondHost set to computer A and B, the other having it set to C and D. And with ponder off you could of course run four games, concurrently, by starting four XBoard instances that each have their -first/secondHost set to the same machine, A, B, C or D. I am not sure whether such things are possible with the RS232 autoplayer.

do you know the command in arena which lets you set the value of pieces ?

[Mike S.]

do you know the command in arena which lets you set the value of pieces ?

This can never be a general interface-controlled feature because only a few engines support that, in their individual engine options. If available, it would have to be to set there.

As for Arena generally, I like it much too!

A minor problem I found in 3.5.1 is a cosmetic one: The font smoothing (anti-aliasing) of the truetype pieces on the board is broken again, at least here in Windows 8. But that is not important... With 3.5 it worked fine though.

[Nordlandia]

Message directed to H.G. Muller

Is it possible to connect two computers with Fritz 15 interface to be able to benefit from ponder, with more up-to-date wifi or similar.

[Gusev]

I know that Arena allows to request more games. The game counter just wouldn't go past 2048.

Does Arena 3.5.1 allow matches/tournaments more than 2048 games long? If not, how can I make the feature request? I created a 10,000-opening PGN that I'd like to use with Arena to run 20,000-game engine-to-engine test matches.

Arena 3.5.1 is excellent software and one significant element is, you can install just about any engine without having to make any tweaks and it will run it!
http://www.playwitharena.com/?Download:Arena_3.5.1

I was able to create a tournament and say I wanted 20001 games to be played. That's not the same thing as successfully completing a tournament of 20001 games, but at least the GUI allows that large a number to be entered for the number of games. Someone with more time on their hands than me will be needed to verify that the software can successfully complete a very long tournament like this.

[hgm]

Message directed to H.G. Muller

Is it possible to connect two computers with Fritz 15 interface to be able to benefit from ponder, with more up-to-date wifi or similar.

You were right; the connect.exe on my website seemed damaged and was not recognized as a Windows executable. I must have goofed somehow uploading it (perhaps forgotten to switch to bin mode). I uploaded a new one now:

http://hgm.nubati.net/connect2.exe

To use it, issue the command

connect2 -ec "ENGINECOMMAND" -ed "ENGINEFOLDER"

on the machine where you want to run the engine. This will run it as a server on the default port (27015) with the default password, which is normally good enough. (If not you could add -p PORTNUMBER -pw PASSWORD arguments.) A reason to use other ports than the default could be that you want to set up servers for several engines, which should then each be on a different port.

Then on the other machine 'install' connect2.exe as engine (in the GUI), with the startup command

connect2 HOST_IP_ADDRESS

This will then connect to the server you set up on the indicated machine through the default port using the default password. If you would have changed any of those, you would have to do that also here, by slipping in -p and/or -pw options before the host IP address. Running connect2 this way will make it a proxy for the engine on the indicated host.

That is all.