From: Arun Persaud Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:45:25 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Create news page for 4.4.0 X-Git-Url: http://winboard.nl/cgi-bin?a=commitdiff_plain;h=24395b428fe3504b49029f3e76e6872edaa40b35;p=xboard.git Create news page for 4.4.0 --- diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/AdjuOld.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/AdjuOld.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..690156c Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/AdjuOld.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/CommonOld.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/CommonOld.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21d52ef Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/CommonOld.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/EngOutXB.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/EngOutXB.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ff55e4 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/EngOutXB.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/EngineSet.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/EngineSet.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d57a315 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/EngineSet.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/TCold.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/TCold.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..960542d Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/TCold.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/couriersmall.gif b/whats_new/4.4.0/couriersmall.gif new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e28c17e Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/couriersmall.gif differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/index.html b/whats_new/4.4.0/index.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d77dbd --- /dev/null +++ b/whats_new/4.4.0/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ + +XBoard - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation - NEWS + + + +

What is new in WinBoard / XBoard 4.4.0?

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New Features

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+ Follow-up release (4.5.0) +

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+ Minor bug-fixes (4.4.1) +

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+ Preceding release (4.2.7) +

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+ WinBoard_F fork (4.3.x) +

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+ Winboard_x fork +

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Incorporating the Winboard_x fork

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+ When official development of XBoard stalled after release of 4.2.7, + unofficial forks emerged further developing WinBoard without paying attention to XBoard. + Changes in the back-end even destroyed the possibility to build an XBoard from these modified sources. + XBoard 4.4.0 pulls some of these forks back into the main line of XBoard development, + by at least restoring the compatibility of the X11 front-end files with the common back-end, + even though most of the new front-end functions of WinBoard have not been ported yet. +

+ In particular, XBoard 4.4.0 is based on the Winboard_x fork by Alessandro Scotti. + That means that a WinBoard built from these sources has all the enhancements associated with Winboard_x. + These include the auxiliary windows for engine output, move history and evaluation graph, + board textures and font-based rendering of pieces. +

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+ For further details, see the page on + Winboard_x. +

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Different board formats and unorthodox pieces

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+ XBoard 4.4.0 also inorporates the enhancements of the WinBoard 4.3 fork (aka WinBoard F) by H.G.Muller. + This fork itself was built on Winboard_x. + At the later stages of this fork (from 4.3.14 on) the compatibility with XBoard was restored, + and they came with a working XBoard that could benefit from the enhancements in the common back-end. + These included: +

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  • Full awareness of castling and en-passant rights
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  • Configurable board formats (e.g. 9x10 for Chinese chess)
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  • Many unorthodox piece types supported (e.g. cannon and elephant)
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  • Variant selectable from menu
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  • Bughouse piece drops can be done from holdings displayed next to board
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+ For further details of the back-end enhancements, see the page on + WinBoard 4.3. +

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Improved analysis window

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+ One of the first Winboad_x front-end features we ported to XBoard was the engine-output window, + which is an enhanced version of the old analysis window. + Rather than just displaying the latest line of engine output, + it displays the entire list of it for the current position. + Information like current move being searched, number of moves, and nodes searched + are displayed above the pane with engine output + (provided 'periocic updates' is switched on). +

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+ The window is also made more generally available: + apart from in analysis mode, it can also be brought up when playing against an engine, + so you can see the full engine output, rather than just the latest line in the message field above the board. + In Two Machines mode the window even splits into two identical panes, + so you can see the output of both engines. + An icon above each pane indicates whether the engine producing that output is thinking or pondering. +

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Some new menu dialogs

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+ Previous versions of XBoard were sorely lacking in menu dialogs, + and had to be controlled almost entirely through command-line options. + Only options that had a simple on/off setting could be controlled through the Options menu. +

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+ The menu dialogs with the most important option settings have now been ported from WinBoard. + In particular, the dialogs to specify the time control, + general settings common to all engines, + and the adjudication options now have their own menu dialogs. + The latter options came with the WinBoard F back-end, + as reliable adjudication of games only became possible when XBoard was fully aware of castling and en-passant rights. + The general engine settings apply mainly to UCI engines supported through Polyglot. +

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Configuring an engine through the GUI

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+ An entirely new feature is a dialog through which you can interactively set the private options of engines. + Especially UCI engines have many options, but this feature can work for native XBoard engines as well, + through extensions of the protocol. + Each engine can define its own set of options with name of its choosing, + and tell XBoard what type of values the option can take (numeric, on/off, text, multiple choice). + XBoard will then present these options to the user in an Engine Settings dialog, + which will thus look completely different for each engines. + When the user alters a value here, the new value is relayed to the engine. +

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+ Shown are the Engine Settings dialogs for Glaurung 2.2 and Fairy-Max 4.8o +

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