Chess for Android. (Aart Bik). Bugs

[Zagalo]

Hi. Thanks for the program and I think I discovered some bugs.

1. Ponder does not seems to work (no cpu activity while its my turn)
2. While the the program/engine is thinking and I change to another program (press home key), It stops thinking until I make it in the foreground.
using Critter / Stockfish engines

3. Please make it possible to Endit the board and setup a position

Samsung GS2. Android 2.3.3

Thanks

[mclane]

Hi. Thanks for the program and I think I discovered some bugs.

1. Ponder does not seems to work (no cpu activity while its my turn)
2. While the the program/engine is thinking and I change to another program (press home key), It stops thinking until I make it in the foreground.
using Critter / Stockfish engines

3. Please make it possible to Endit the board and setup a position

Samsung GS2. Android 2.3.3

Thanks

as far as i was emailed by aart, the ponder stuff will be working in a new version that should be published this week. or end of this week.

[hgm]

For editing the board, the following user interface might be ideal:

First put the program into EditPosition mode through some menu. But then allow him to touch a square, on which you then drop a Pawn (a good default, as it is usually the most abundant piece). But the user can then sweep his finger downward, to make that Pawn turn into a Knight, then Bishop, etc. until you reach King, after which it goes back to Pawn for the other color, etc. So very similarto how it works now in WinBoard with -sweepSelection.

As starting color you could use the color of the previous piece dropped (and for the first piece base it on the board half the square is on).

Perhaps for occupied squares you could preceed the sequence by the piece currently on the square (so you can still select it by a static touch), and an empty square.

[mclane]

the easiest way for setup a position is to use the original position of the pieces as INDICATOR to define the piece you want to input.

e.g. if you put a white pawn, just move the mouse on a square a2-h2.
if you want to tell the gui you want to input a rook, just click on a1 or h1.
for a black rook use h8 or a8.

this way you need no menue. and you don't need to switch pieces.
just tell by clicking on the original position of the pieces, and put the chose piece where you wish.

this method was invented by eastern german programmers in a dedicated chess computer. you could input a whole chess position on that dedicated chess computer without pressing any key. just moving the magnetic pieces
on the board.



the chess master diamond from east germany came to the world in 1987.
it was a modular computer like Mephisto Modular or saitek renaissance.
there was an opening module and an endgame module available.
the hardware was a kind of z80a clone, called U880

for more read:
http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/in ... er_Diamond

[abik]

1. Ponder does not seems to work (no cpu activity while its my turn)

Hi Zagalo,
Thanks for your comments. Ponder is at the moment only supported for Win/XBoard engines, but I am about the release the UCI implementation, which was slightly more elaborate....
Also, on exit all engines are unloaded to free resources (it is a phone after all), although at some point I may add the feature to reload the last engine on restart.
Stay tuned for the next update (really soon!).
Aart

[hgm]

the easiest way for setup a position is to use the original position of the pieces as INDICATOR to define the piece you want to input.

This is a nice idea, but I also see some drawbacks:

*) Sometimes you really want to Edit an existing position, rather than setting it up from scratch. This might involve displacing just one or two pieces. It would be difficult to combine with the method you mention, as grabbing a piece on the back-rank would give you the piece starting on that square, rather than the piece actually there.

*) This would also make it difficult to correct errors. E.g. you want to put a Rook on f1, so you touch a1, f1, but say you accidentally touch e1 in stead of f1. There is no easy way to displace the the Rook from e1 to f1, as touching e1 would give you a King. This is a phone with a microscopic display, after all!

*) The piece you need might not be present in the initial setup (e.g. a Hawk in Seirawan Chess).

*)It requires blind kowledge of the initial array.

[Zagalo]

Thank you all for ur replies.

I could not find any way in the program to edit the board

on exit all engines are unloaded to free resources (it is a phone after all), although at some point I may add the feature to reload the last engine on restart.

Hi, well its not just a "phone" anymore! its a real computer will 1GB RAM and 1.2 GHz Dual Core CPU !

The program "DroidFish" does not have any of the issues I mentioned. So while the program is thinking, switching to another program will not stop it. I think this is the way it should be, just make the engine process Below Normal Priority. May be should have an Exit option

[Cubeman]

A position set up feature would be my number 1 wish for CFA, the current FEN option is too restrictive.The best options for board input I like are the Pallet of white and black pieces and you just tap a type of piece and place them anywhere on the screen till you change to another type.Some also have an empty square as part of the pallet and that acts as a square clearance option.Also since every position contains Kings then the default piece when entering set up mode should be White King.

[abik]

A position set up feature would be my number 1 wish for CFA, the current FEN option is too restrictive

Okay, position setup is next on my to-do list!

[mclane]

thanks aart.