Suggest me a GUI

Discussion of anything and everything relating to chess playing software and machines.

Moderator: Ras

Aleks Peshkov
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:16 pm
Location: Russia
Full name: Aleks Peshkov

Suggest me a GUI

Post by Aleks Peshkov »

Recently so many new chess GUI appears and old updated.

I need something very basic but it should be simple and friendly:

1) Builds itself from sources on Linux.
2) Easy copy-paste import and export of fens and pgns.
3) Setup opponents, time control and remember the last setting as default for future.
4) Maintain a list of engines with their UCI options.
5) Raw UCI input-output window (ideally with possibility to type custom commands to engines).

More analysis and tournament options are welcome but not for the cost of usability of basics.
User avatar
hgm
Posts: 28464
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:06 am
Location: Amsterdam
Full name: H G Muller

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by hgm »

Point 5 could be a deal breaker. XBoard satisfies nearly all of that, when you start if from a terminal and redirect the debug output to a terminal. But there would be other stuff in the debug output than just the UCI traffic.

At one time there were even commads to type stuff for directly sending it to the engine, but I am not sure whether we kept that.

Of course XBoard is open source, so what it doesn't do can easily be added.
cpeters
Posts: 214
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2021 7:44 pm
Full name: Christian Petersen

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by cpeters »

Yes, xboard or cutechess-gui:
https://github.com/cutechess/cutechess

No other options with your catalogue in mind I think.

greetings
User avatar
phhnguyen
Posts: 1538
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:58 am
Location: Australia
Full name: Nguyen Hong Pham

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by phhnguyen »

Aleks Peshkov wrote: Tue Feb 17, 2026 1:43 pm
1) Builds itself from sources on Linux.
Just curious why you need source of the GUI?
From my experience, a new comer may need 6 months to 2 years hard working to understand a medium size GUI. A simple task such as compiling it may take a few days if you don’t have ready compilers and/or using-knowledge. Modifying a GUI may take a huge effort and time.
Do you have plenty of free time? ;)
https://banksiagui.com
The most features chess GUI, based on opensource Banksia - the chess tournament manager
User avatar
AdminX
Posts: 6380
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:34 pm
Location: Acworth, GA

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by AdminX »

Not sure if it fits your needs. I was able to compile Corechess on Arch Linux by installing the Dot Net SDK and pulling down it's Git Repo. If you are Debian based, there might be a Deb package or you may be able to use it via Flatpak.
"Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions."
__________________________________________________________________
Ted Summers
fire_varan
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2024 1:32 am
Full name: Anatoliy Sova

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by fire_varan »

Maybe QBoard fits your needs

viewtopic.php?t=84656&hilit=qboard
Dann Corbit
Posts: 12835
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:57 pm
Location: Redmond, WA USA

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by Dann Corbit »

The Linux version of Arena does not come with source, but it does all of that stuff, including the UCI dialog display
Taking ideas is not a vice, it is a virtue. We have another word for this. It is called learning.
But sharing ideas is an even greater virtue. We have another word for this. It is called teaching.
fire_varan
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2024 1:32 am
Full name: Anatoliy Sova

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by fire_varan »

Also taking a look on QtChess is a good idea:

https://textbrowser.github.io/qtchess/
Vladimir Xern
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:30 pm

Re: Suggest me a GUI

Post by Vladimir Xern »

I've been using the Qapla GUI for a little while now.

Hopefully Volker Böhm keeps working on it because it's really slick, especially for how new it is.