Looking for Nero source code

[Guenther]

It seems that XBoard doesn't receive anything from the engine. No idea why. I continue to search.

Is this with ProtocolVersion 1?

Usually I run very old programs in WB with

Code: Select all

/firstProtocolVersion 1 /secondProtocolVersion 1

flags

I have just tried. It doesn't solve the problem. But anyway it's certainly a good idea to use it.

Meanwhile I also found out with the help of the WB forum again, that Jari had changed his website since Nero version 6.
The 'new' address was saved once in Wayback, but just delivers an empty page.

So sources newer than 5.3 can only be found in private collections anymore.

[Roland Chastain]

Meanwhile I also found out with the help of the WB forum again, that Jari had changed his website since Nero version 6.
The 'new' address was saved once in Wayback, but just delivers an empty page.

So sources newer than 5.3 can only be found in private collections anymore.

Let's hope that someone will have a copy of the version 6.1.

I found why XBoard doesn't receive engine move. I just appended

Code: Select all

Flush(output);

and now the engine plays its move, and I even see the thinking output.

[Guenther]

BTW this thread made me search for the inbetween http available address of Danns site, which was ftp only before.
(The http connection also died just a few years later IIRC)

Actually I really found some (minimal) content that was saved to wayback archives!

Here is a list of all still available folders + files (only a tiny part of the folders have files saved though)
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ca ... s-engines/*

[Ajedrecista]

Hello:

I could not find Nero 6.x source code. The most I could find were:

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1.- The unnamed version cited by Günther seems to be Nero 5 because this web links to the unnamed version source code (there are older versions in the same page). There is a screenshot of Nero 5 here.

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2.- Just for the record, the file NSOURCE5.zip contains four *.pas files instead of one: ENGINE88.PAS, FDELAY.PAS, NERO5.PAS and PIECESET.PAS.

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3.- Nero 6.1 can be downloaded from both Computer Chess Wiki (full engine list here) and the official Jari's site. There is not any source code there, only the executable and a Readme file calle nerowb61.txt:

This version has been released 19th December 2005

*** WHAT IS NEROWB 6.1? (FOR BEGINNER) ***

NeroWB is a small simple chess playing engine for WinBoard platform.
It's playing strenght isn't very high. If you want to use this program
you'll need WinBoard program first.




*** FEATURES OF NEROWB 6.1 (FOR THOSE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH WINBOARD) ***

-Only meant for playing games of chess against humans / other engines
-Opening book (built in the exe-file)
-No hash
-No pondering
-Recognizes draws (insufficient material, 3 rep, 50 moves rule)
-Not able to setup position
-Analysis not supported




*** WHAT'S NEW? (FOR THOSE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH OLDER VERSIONS) ***

NEROWB 6.1:
Some changes in extensions has been made. Version 6.1 should also be
more aware of opponent's tries to make a draw by 3 repetitions, when
Nero is winning a game.
Now Nero resigns in (really) hopeless situations.
19th December some changes in evaluation.



*** HOW TO ADD NEROWB 6.1 TO YOUR WINBOARD ***

It's easy to add NeroWB engine to WinBoard. There is only one file
nerowb61.exe you'll need. It doesn't need any kind of setup before using it.
Put nerowb61.exe to a folder, for example c:\chess\nerowb61\
and add following two lines to your list of ChessProgramNames near the end of
the file winboard.ini:

Under firstChessProgramNames add line:
"nerowb61" /fd="c:\chess\nerowb61"

Under secondChessProgramNames add line:
"nerowb61" /sd="c:\chess\nerowb61"

And then you can choose nerowb61 from Winboard Startup dialog box.




*** MY HOMEPAGE (CHECK FOR FUTURE VERSIONS OF NEROWB) ***

http://www.kanetti.fi/jari.huikari/

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4.- Nero 6.0 can be seen at official Jari's site together with Nero 6.1, but 6.0 version can not be downloaded anymore. That ZIP maybe does not contain any source code, like the 6.1 version that I found.

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5.- Something similar happens with Nero 6.0 at Dann's site: nerowb60.zip file can be seen but can not be downloaded.

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Summarizing, I found three different Jari's sites without success to download Nero 6.x source code:

http://www.mit.jyu.fi/~huikari/
http://www.kanetti.fi:80/~jjhuikari/
http://www.kanetti.fi/jari.huikari/

The last one is the empty web that Günther already found.

Good luck with your request, Roland!

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.

[Roland Chastain]

2.- Just for the record, the file NSOURCE5.zip contains four *.pas files instead of one: ENGINE88.PAS, FDELAY.PAS, NERO5.PAS and PIECESET.PAS.

Thank you for that extensive research. That file is a graphical version of the program. It could be compiled with Free Pascal, but probably wouldn't work without important modifications.

I put here a retouched version of v6.0: nerowb60.zip

* Flush output
* Can create a log (compile with "-dCREATELOG" option)
* Support following commands : "ping", "protover 2"
* Ignore following commands: "accepted", "random", "time", "otim"

Tested with CuteChess and XBoard.

Regards from France.

[tmokonen]

Visiting a kanetti.fi page redirects to elisanet.fi. Using this knowledge, I managed to stumble across a live version of Nero's home page:

http://www.elisanet.fi/jari.huikari/shakki.htm

Unfortunately, there is no source code available.

[Roland Chastain]

With a little work, and the magick of Free Pascal, you can play to Nero 5 (the graphical version), without DOSBox, on Linux and on Windows.

Nero 5.zip

Screenshot

Tell me if there is any problem.

[Roland Chastain]

Updated packages:

• Nero 5
• Nero 6 wb

Include Linux and Windows binaries.

[Roland Chastain]

Sorry for the dead links above. I deleted my Google account , and I can't edit my messages. All the packages are here (the graphical version of Nero 5, and the WinBoard versions of Nero 5, 5.1, 5.3, and 6.0).

Nero is a very well-written program. It works perfectly under WinBoard and CuteChess, without using any thread!

I am still looking for 6.1.

Below a screenshot of Nero 5. Available for Linux and for Windows.

[Roland Chastain]

Visiting a kanetti.fi page redirects to elisanet.fi. Using this knowledge, I managed to stumble across a live version of Nero's home page:

http://www.elisanet.fi/jari.huikari/shakki.htm

Unfortunately, there is no source code available.

Sorry Tony for not having answered to your post.

It's good that you have found that website. I could download the Windows binary of Nero 6.1.

Regards.

Roland