From: Arun Persaud Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:46:45 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Add news page for Winboard_x X-Git-Url: http://winboard.nl/cgi-bin?a=commitdiff_plain;h=b8c0d542726876c398fe35ce25524499d14cc6fa;p=xboard.git Add news page for Winboard_x --- diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/FilterWB.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/FilterWB.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b8971a Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/FilterWB.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/GLTagsWB.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/GLTagsWB.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a84a15 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/GLTagsWB.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/Shuffle.png b/whats_new/4.4.0/Shuffle.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e4a8e4 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/Shuffle.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/Winboard_x.html b/whats_new/4.4.0/Winboard_x.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d87729a --- /dev/null +++ b/whats_new/4.4.0/Winboard_x.html @@ -0,0 +1,580 @@ + +XBoard - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation - NEWS + + + +

What is new in Winboard_x?

+ +
+

New Features

+ + 		+ + +

+ Follow-up fork (4.3) +

+ +

+ Original Winboard_x website +

+

+ Preceding release (4.2.7) +

+
+ +

Engine-game adjudication

+

+ To prevent games dragging on forever when neither of the engines want to settle for a draw, + games can be aborted (adjudicated draw) after a ertain number of moves. + Games can also be adjudiated win or loss when both engines agree that the score is above a certain value + for one of them, for 3 moves in a row. + To make this work, both engines should use the standard soreing convention (own point of view); + engines that don't can be corrected through the use of the boolean options -first/secondScoreIsAbsolute. +

+

+ It is also possible to adjudicate engine-engine games manually, through the Action menu, as draw or win for white or black. +

+ +
+

Using arbitrary bitmaps for board squares

+

+ Winboard_x allows you to make the board look anyway you want by using arbitrary bitmaps + to cut the squares from. + White and black squares are cut from independent files. + The -light/darkBackTextureFile options can specify these bitmaps files, + while -light/darkBackTextureMode options control how the orientation of the cut-out squares + is randomized to suggest larger variety. + On the right you see a board with a wood texture made this way. +

+

Line gap and arrow highlighting

+

+ The rather heavy black lines used by WinBoard for highlighting moves can interfere badly + with the aesthetic effect of the textures; + An option -overrideLineGap is therefore provided to overrule the default line width, + and set it to very narrow or completely absent. + This again makes it very difficult or impossible to see the square highlights, + so an option -highLigtMovesWithArrow is supplied as an alternative highlight method. +

+

Using true-type fonts to define the pieces

+

+ If you are tired of the built-in bitmaps, you can use a chess font to define alternativ piece symbols. + As true-type fonts are scalable, this in principle works for all board sizes with a single font. + (Except that for very small size the result is not pretty, so Winboard_x does not allow it below size petite.) + On the right you see pieces made by using the ChessMark font (obtained from enpassant.dk). +

+ 		+ +
+ +

Engine scores saved in the PGN file

+

+ Winboard_x captures the scores and depth reported in engine thinking output, + for inclusion in the PGN file under control by the option -pgnExtendedInfo). + Obviously this requires the engine to send thinking output, + even when a human playing it would prefer not to see it above the board. + So the option -showThinking can no longer be used to suppress the output. + For that reason a new option -hideThinkingFromHuman is provided, + which allows you to suppress the displaying of the info, but not the sending. +

+ +

Out-of-book info in engine games

+

+ With an option -outOfBookInfoInPGN you can control the inclusion of an 'Annotator' tag in the PGN, + which will report the score at the first move where the engine was reporting a search depth. + (Presumably this was where it got out of book.) + This allows you to easily see whether the engine was unfairly treated by giving it a bad opening line. +

+ +
+

Three Auxiliary Windows

+ + 		+

The engine-output window

+

+ The engine-output window is the most complex auxiliary window at all. + It can consist of two panes (one for each engine), where it displays the thinking output of the engine. + Above those the name of the engine is printed, and icons to indicate the color they play, and what they are doing: + thinking, pondering or analyzing. + It also prints the engine search speed, in nodes per second. + When 'periodic updates' is enabled, it also displays the current move, end move count. +

+

The evaluation graph

+

+ A second auxiliary window is the Evaluation Graph. + This displays the engine scores as a histogram when space permits, and as a line graph otherwise. + Two lines of user-configurable color do depict the score evolution of the two players. + Clicking on a point in the graph fast-forwards the game to the corresponding position. +

+

The move-history window

+

+ An auxiliary window is supplied to show the move history as free-format SAN. + Double-clicking on a move would fast-forward the game to the position where it was played. + An option -extraInfoInMoveHistory controls if score/depth info is displayed as comment behind the moves. +

+
+ +

Glueing the windows together

+

+ The three auxiliary windows can be independently sized and positioned. + But if they touch each other, or the main window, thew will 'snap' together. + If you then move the main window, the other windows will follow it, + like the whole conglomerate forms a single window. + This behavior is controlled by the option -stickyWindows. +

+ +

Configuring and selecting game-list headers

+
+

+ The header line that appears in the game list for each game can now be composed by the user from the PGN tags. + A new menu dialog allows him to pick the tags he likes, and sort them in any desired order. + This order will be stored in the settings file as the option -gameListTags, + where each tag is encoded by a single letter. +

+
+ + +

+ Another novelty is that there now is a 'Filter' field at the bottom of the Game List window. + If you type a text there, only game headers containing that text as a sub-string will be displayed in the game list. + This allows you, for instance, to select the games of a single player from a PGN with tourney results, + or all games that ended in a draw. +

+
+		 + +
+ +

Pasting games and positions with Ctrl-V

+

+ In Winboard_x the standard 'paste' command Ctrl-V can be used to paste both games and positions into the board, + as it will be obvious whih of the two is currently on the clipboard. +

+ +
+ + +

Shuffling the starting position of Chess960

+

+ In local mode WinBoard cannot count on an ICS to generate a starting position for him. + An item 'New FRC Game' in the file menu now pops up a dialog, + where the user can specify how he wants WinBoard to generate the opening position + (a new randomly picked position or every game, + or the same position for each game, picked randomly once or specified by the user by number.) +

+
+ +

Overview of new command-line options

+

+Below follows a table that lists the new features, +the command-line option needed to control them, +and if there is a menu provided that can switch the option while WinBoard is running +(command-line options exert their effect only at startup). +

+
+

command-line option

+ 		+

description

+ 		+

menu

+
+ + + ENGINE-ENGINE ADJUDICATION OPTIONS + + +
+ -adjudicateLossThreshold 0 (*) + + adjudicates engine-engine game based on score + + Options -> Engine... +
+ -adjudicateDrawMoves 0 (*) + + adjudicate draw when game lasts too long + + Options -> Engine.. +
+ -firstScoreAbs false +
+ -secondScoreAbs false + 		+ Engine indicates score for white, even when playing black + + +
+ - + + Adjudicate the game in progress as win to white, win to black, or draw + + Action -> Adjudicate to White +
+ Action -> Adjudicate to Black +
+ Action -> Adjudicate Draw +
+ + + TIME-CONTROL AND TIMING OPTIONS + + +
+ -delayBeforeQuit 0 (*) +
+ -delayAfterQuit 0 (*) + 		+ timing parameter specifying how to terminate the engine processes + + - +
+ + + DISPLAY-LOOK OPTIONS + + +
+ -liteBackTextureFile "" (*) +
+ -darkBackTextureFile "" (*) +
+ -liteBackTextureMode 1 (*) +
+ -darkBackTextureMode 1 (*) + 		+ Allows you to use any bitmap picture for displaying the board square + + - +
+ -renderPiecesWithFont "" (*) + + specifies a true-type Chess font to be used for piece symbols + + - +
+ -fontPieceToCharTable "" (*) + + specifies which font character to use for the various piece types + + - +
+ -overrideLineGap 1 (*) + + controls the width of the black grid lines between squares + + - +
+ -fontPieceBackColorWhite #0 (*) +
+ -fontPieceForeColorWhite #0 (*) +
+ -fontPieceBackColorBlack #0 (*) +
+ -fontPieceForeColorBlack #0 (*) + 		+ control piece colors in font-based rendering + + - +
+ -fontPieceSize 80 (*) + + tunes the size of pieces in font-based rendering (% of square size) + + - +
+ -highlightMoveWithArrow false (*) + + draws a big arrow to indicate the move last played + + Options -> General... +
+ -highlightArrowColor #FFFF80 (*) + + controls the color of the highlight arrow + + - +
+ + + (UCI) ENGINE OPTIONS + + +
+ -polyglotDir "" (*) + + tells WinBoard where you installed Polyglot, for automatic invocation with UCI engines + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ -polyglotBook "" (*) + + tells WinBoard which opening book it should use, or should make Polyglot use. + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ -usePolyglotBook false (*) + + turns the use of the Polygot book on or off + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ -defaultPathEGTB "c:\egtb" (*) + + folder where to find end-game tables + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ -defaultCacheSizeEGTB 4 (*) + + specifies the cache size for UCI engines + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ -defaultHashSize 64 (*) + + specifies the size of the main hash table for UCI engines and WinBoard engines implementing the memory command + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ -firstIsUCI false +
+ -secondIsUCI false +
+ -fUCI +
+ -sUCI + 		+ tells WinBoard the corresponding engine should be run through Polyglot + + - +
+ -firstHasOwnBookUCI true +
+ -secondHasOwnBookUCI true +
+ -fNoOwnBookUCI true +
+ -sNoOwnBookUCI true + 		+ tells WinBoard (or Polyglot) if the engine should use its own opening book + + Options -> Global Settings... +
+ + + CHESS-VARIANT OPTIONS + + +
+ -defaultFrcOpening -1 + + allows you to play from a specific opening shuffle, or make a new shuffle each game + + File -> New Shuffle Game... +
+ + + PGN FILE OPTIONS + + +
+ -pgnExtendedInfo false (*) + + save engine output (depth, score time) in PGN + + Options->General... +
+ -pgnEventHeader
"Computer Chess Game" (*) + 		+ specify the event for the PGN event tag + + - +
+ -saveOutOfBookInfo true (*) + + include an 'annotator' tag in the PGN file + + +
+ -hideThinkingFromHuman false (*) + + suppresses the engine thinking output in the display, without the need to switch it off + (so it can still appear in the PGN file) + + Options -> General... +
+ + + USER-INTERFACE OPTIONS AND WINDOW CONTROL + + +
+ -moveHistoryUp true (*) +
+ -moveHistoryX 0 (*) +
+ -moveHistoryY 0 (*) +
+ -moveHistoryW 0 (*) +
+ -moveHistoryH 0 (*) + 		+ controls opening, placement and size of a window containing the moves of the current game + (new in 4.4 is that all X and Y coordinates of auxiliary windows are stored relative to the main window) + + Mode -> Show Move History (x) +
+ -evalGraphUp true (*) +
+ -evalGraphX 0 (*) +
+ -evalGraphY 0 (*) +
+ -evalGraphW 0 (*) +
+ -evalGraphH 0 (*) + 		+ controls opening, placement and size of a window containing a graph of the + evaluation score of the engine(s) as a function of move number of the current game + + Mode -> Show Evaluation Graph +
+ -engineOutputUp true (*) +
+ -engineOutputX 0 (*) +
+ -engineOutputY 0 (*) +
+ -engineOutputW 0 (*) +
+ -engineOutputH 0 (*) + 		+ controls opening, placement and size of a window containing the thinking output of the engine(s) + + Mode -> Show Engine Output (x) +
+ -stickyWindows true (*) + + make the various windows snap onto each other, and stick together + + - +
+ -showEvalInMoveHistory true (*) + + depth/score info of the engine is included as comments in the move history window + + Options -> General... +
+ -evalHistColorWhite #FFFFB0 (*) +
+ -evalHistColorBlack #AD5D3D (*) + 		+ determines the color of the eval-score comments in the move-history window + + - +
+ -autoDisplayComment true (*) + + causes a window for displaying PGN comments to pop up automatically when such a comment is encountered + + - +
+ -autoDisplayTags true (*) + + causes a window with PGN tags to be displayed as soon as a PGN file is loaded + + - +
+ -gameListTags "eprd" (*) + + specifies the PGN tags that should be displayed in the game list + + Options -> Game List... +
+ + + ICS OPTIONS + + +
+ + + MISCELLANEOUS + + +
+ -debugFile "winboard.debug" +
+ -nameOfDebugFile "winboard.debug" + 		+ allows you to specify an alternative name for saving the debug information + + - +
+ -defaultFrcPosition -1 (*) + + specify the number of the starting position in shuffle Chess variants + + File -> New Shuffle Game... +
+ - + + display only those lines in the game list that contain a given string + + in Game-List window +
+

+The value with which the option is listed is the default value. +If it is false or true, it is a Boolean option, a number implies an integer option. +A value starting with # indicates an RGB color indication in hexadecimal notation. +Options the settings of which are saved into the winboard.ini file are marked with (*). +

+ + + + + + + diff --git a/whats_new/4.4.0/chessmark.gif b/whats_new/4.4.0/chessmark.gif new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a24790 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/4.4.0/chessmark.gif differ