MikeB wrote:Basically we're talking about the difference between theory and practice. In theory, everything runs seamlessly and and with no need for users to interface with things under the hood that have gone wrong or no longer work , because they always work and are totally trouble free. Most apple apps are like that - xBoard is not one of those.
But wouldn't it be better if it was?
One thing is certain, though: it wouldn't get so by just observing that it isn't and throwing your hands in the air. Something would have to be done to make it so. And that is up to us.
It's one where practice is a total disconnect from theory. If I didn't have the capablitiy to get underneath the hood and fix things , I would not be using xBoard because it would simply not work the way I want it to work.
XBoard is designed so that all normal functions one would expect in a Chess GUI work self-evidently, without any need to get "under the hood". Although I am sure that someone who really knows how things work can do a lot by going under the hood, I have in fact difficulty imagining a task for which this would be needed, or even helpful.
You would have to spend a day with me to see what I mean. I don't mind - I'm used to that - I have used xBoard or winboard off and on for 20 years - but except for me , I can't believe users will be drawn to it. Maybe for somebody that is content playing fairymax , it's fine .
On Linux should would be OK with all properly packaged engines. You just install the engine from your distro's repository, start XBoard, and click the engine in the Load Engine listbox, and you are all set. If in your experience it is more difficult on a Mac, this seems a specific Mac problem. Exactly the one I address here.
I would love to spend a day with you to see exactly what you mean. Unfortunal geographical issues make that a little difficult, so it might be more efficient if you could just drop a few hints here of what kind of trouble you experience that should not have been there.
But that's not me. You mention an enterprise environment , but I'm not an enterprise. I'm a single user on a personal pc , totally different set of wants and needs than enterprise. I mentioned the home directory because that appears to be the safest place to put things without getting into the permission issues that can get nightmarish at time.
Well, I did not mean the starship. I have no Mac, so I don't know what nightmarish permission issues there could occur on it. On Windows, when I want to install something through the GUI outside my own Documents folder, I just get a popup asking me whether it is OK if the program will make some changes to the computer. I don't really lose any sleep on answering that affirmatively, and that is usually all. I have no idea how it would be on the Mac. There seems little need for the /Library/ChessEngines to have restricted access rights anyway.