- -ics/-xics or -internetChessServerMode true/false
- Connect with an Internet Chess Server to play chess against its
other users, observe games they are playing, or review games
that have recently finished. Default: false.
- -icshost or -internetChessServerHost host
- The Internet host name or address of the chess server to connect
to when in ICS mode. Default:
chessclub.com.
Another popular chess server to try is freechess.org.
If your site doesn't have a working Internet name server, try
specifying the host address in numeric form.
You may also need
to specify the numeric address when using the icshelper option
with timestamp or timeseal (see below).
- -icsport or -internetChessServerPort port-number
- The port number to use when connecting to a chess server in ICS
mode. Default: 5000.
- -icshelper or -internetChessServerHelper prog-name
- An external helper program used to communicate with the chess server.
You would set it to "timestamp" for ICC (chessclub.com) or
"timeseal" for FICS (freechess.org), after
obtaining the correct version of timestamp or timeseal for your
computer. See "help timestamp" on ICC and "help timeseal" on FICS.
This option is shorthand for
-useTelnet -telnetProgram program.
- -telnet/-xtelnet or -useTelnet true/false
- This option is poorly named; it should be called useHelper.
If set to true, it instructs XBoard to run an external
program to communicate with the Internet Chess Server.
The program to use is given by the telnetProgram option.
If the option is
false (the default), XBoard opens a TCP socket and uses its own
internal implementation of the telnet protocol to communicate with the
ICS. See Firewalls.
- -telnetProgram prog-name
- This option is poorly named; it should be called helperProgram.
It gives the name of the telnet program to be used with
the
gateway and useTelnet options. The default is
telnet. The telnet program is invoked with the value of
internetChessServerHost as its first argument and the value
of internetChessServerPort as its second argument.
See Firewalls.
- -gateway host-name
- If this option is set to a host name, XBoard communicates with the
Internet Chess Server by using rsh to run
the
telnetProgram on the given host,
instead of using its own internal implementation
of the telnet protocol. You can substitute a different remote shell
program for rsh using the remoteShell option described below.
See Firewalls.
- -internetChessServerCommPort or -icscomm dev-name
- If this option is set, XBoard communicates with the ICS through
the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection.
Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.
The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
set all communication parameters and tty modes before you enter
XBoard.
Use a script something like this:
stty raw -echo 9600 > /dev/tty00
xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/tty00
Here replace ‘/dev/tty00’ with the name of the device that your
modem is connected to. You might have to add several more
options to these stty commands. See the man pages for stty
and tty if you run into problems. Also, on many systems stty
works on its standard input instead of standard output, so you
have to use ‘<’ instead of ‘>’.
If you are using linux, try starting with the script below.
Change it as necessary for your installation.
#!/bin/sh -f
# configure modem and fire up XBoard
# configure modem
(
stty 2400 ; stty raw ; stty hupcl ; stty -clocal
stty ignbrk ; stty ignpar ; stty ixon ; stty ixoff
stty -iexten ; stty -echo
) < /dev/modem
xboard -ics -icscomm /dev/modem
After you start XBoard in this way, type whatever commands are
necessary to dial out to your Internet provider and log in.
Then telnet to ICS, using a command like
telnet chessclub.com 5000.
Important: See the paragraph below about extra echoes,
in Limitations.
- -icslogon or -internetChessServerLogonScript file-name
- Whenever XBoard connects to the Internet Chess Server,
if it finds a file with the name given in this option, it feeds the
file's contents to the ICS as commands. The default file name
is .icsrc.
Usually the first two lines of the file should be
your ICS user name and password.
The file can be either in $CHESSDIR, in XBoard's working
directory if CHESSDIR is not set, or in your home directory.
- -msLoginDelay delay
- If you experience trouble logging on to an ICS when using the
-icslogon option, inserting some delay between characters
of the logon script may help. This option adds delay
milliseconds of delay between characters. Good values to try
are 100 and 250.
- -icsinput/-xicsinput or -internetChessServerInputBox true/false
- Sets the ICS Input Box menu option. See Mode Menu. Default: false.
- -autocomm/-xautocomm or -autoComment true/false
- Sets the Auto Comment menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
- -autoflag/-xautoflag or -autoCallFlag true/false
- Sets the Auto Flag menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
- -autobs/-xautobs or -autoObserve true/false
- Sets the Auto Observe menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
- -autoKibitz
- Enables kibitzing of the engines last thinking output (depth, score, time, speed, PV)
before it moved
to the ICS, in zippy mode. The option
showThinking must be switched on for
this option to work.
Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you
through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
- -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
- Sets the Get Move List menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
- -alarm/-xalarm or -icsAlarm true/false
- Sets the ICS Alarm menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
- -icsAlarmTime ms
- Sets the time in milliseconds for the ICS Alarm menu option.
See Options Menu. Default: 5000.
- lowTimeWarning true/false
- Controls a color change of the board as a warning your time is running out.
See Options Menu. Default: false.
- -pre/-xpre \fRor\fB -premove true/false
- Sets the Premove menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
- -quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
- Sets the Quiet Play menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
- -colorizeMessages or -colorize
- Setting colorizeMessages
to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from
the ICS. Colorization works only if your xterm
supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.
- -colorShout foreground,background,bold
- -colorSShout foreground,background,bold
- -colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
- -colorChannel foreground,background,bold
- -colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
- -colorTell foreground,background,bold
- -colorChallege foreground,background,bold
- -colorRequest foreground,background,bold
- -colorSeek foreground,background,bold
- -colorNormal foreground,background,bold
- These options set the colors used when colorizing ICS messages.
All ICS messages are grouped into one of these categories:
shout, sshout, channel 1, other channel, kibitz, tell, challenge,
request (including abort, adjourn, draw, pause, and takeback), or
normal (all other messages).
Each foreground or background argument can be one of the following:
black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, or default.
Here “default” means the default foreground or background color of
your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, “default”
is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.
Here is an example of how to set the colors in your .Xresources file.
The colors shown here are the default values; you will get
them if you turn -colorize on without specifying your own colors.
xboard*colorizeMessages: true
xboard*colorShout: green
xboard*colorSShout: green, black, 1
xboard*colorChannel1: cyan
xboard*colorChannel: cyan, black, 1
xboard*colorKibitz: magenta, black, 1
xboard*colorTell: yellow, black, 1
xboard*colorChallenge: red, black, 1
xboard*colorRequest: red
xboard*colorSeek: blue
xboard*colorNormal: default
- -soundProgram progname
- If this option is set to a sound-playing program that is installed and
working on your system, XBoard can play sound files when certain
events occur, listed below. The default program name is "play". If
any of the sound options is set to "$", the event rings the terminal
bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing
a sound file. If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is
played for that event.
- -soundShout filename
- -soundSShout filename
- -soundChannel filename
- -soundKibitz filename
- -soundTell filename
- -soundChallenge filename
- -soundRequest filename
- -soundSeek filename
- These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events
described above. They all default to "", no sound. They are played
only if the colorizeMessages is on.
- -soundMove filename
- This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option. Default: "$".
- -soundIcsAlarm filename
- This sound is used by the ICS Alarm menu option. Default: "$".
- -soundIcsWin filename
- This sound is played when you win an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
- -soundIcsLoss filename
- This sound is played when you lose an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
- -soundIcsDraw filename
- This sound is played when you draw an ICS game. Default: "" (no sound).
- -soundIcsUnfinished filename
- This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is
aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no
sound).
Here is an example of how to set the sounds in your .Xresources file:
xboard*soundShout: shout.wav
xboard*soundSShout: sshout.wav
xboard*soundChannel1: channel1.wav
xboard*soundChannel: channel.wav
xboard*soundKibitz: kibitz.wav
xboard*soundTell: tell.wav
xboard*soundChallenge: challenge.wav
xboard*soundRequest: request.wav
xboard*soundSeek: seek.wav
xboard*soundMove: move.wav
xboard*soundIcsWin: win.wav
xboard*soundIcsLoss: lose.wav
xboard*soundIcsDraw: draw.wav
xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav
xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav