From: Arun Persaud Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:36:26 +0000 (-0800) Subject: Merge branch 'www' of git.sv.gnu.org:/srv/git/xboard into www X-Git-Url: http://winboard.nl/cgi-bin?a=commitdiff_plain;h=ea275ba0d687da3d175785ef8df7556186e369e5;hp=-c;p=xboard.git Merge branch 'www' of git.sv.gnu.org:/srv/git/xboard into www --- ea275ba0d687da3d175785ef8df7556186e369e5 diff --combined whats_new/4.7.0/index.html index e66cd2e,864758e..9287a5b --- a/whats_new/4.7.0/index.html +++ b/whats_new/4.7.0/index.html @@@ -7,8 -7,6 +7,6 @@@

What is new in WinBoard / XBoard 4.7.0?

-

So far the development version has:

-

Interactive Analysis

Other New Functionality

@@@ -34,24 -34,40 +34,40 @@@
  • Starting WinBoard through drag & drop
  • - Recalling configured engines and ICS from the command line + Recalling configured engines and ICS +
  • + Creating an opening book +
  • + Pausing a game
    • +     		+

    Interface Improvements

    		 @@@ -454,6 -470,133 +470,133 @@@ This would imply the -is option So you can connectto FICS by simply typing "xboard fics".

    +

    Pieces from external bitmap files

    +
    +

    + WinBoard supports user-supplied pieces through piece fonts, which are scalable to any board size. + In addition it is now possible to load bitmaps from an external file. + Because bitmaps are not scalable, this needs a separate set for each square size. + Like the built-in piece bitmaps, it furthermore needs three bitmaps per piece type: + outline (o) for the white pieces, solid (s) for the black pieces, and a mask (w) to indicate the interior. + A difference with the built-ins is that the solid and outline bitmaps can be in full color. + By specifying the folder containing the complete set of bitmaps with the -pieceImageDirectory option, + WinBoard can be made to use them. + Piece bitmaps in this format are available in the Alex Guerrero's WinBoard-Zeta distribution. + Missing bitmaps will automatically be replaced by built-ins. +

    +

    Border around the board

    +

    + The option -useBorder true|false can be used to switch a half-square-wide border around the board, + filled in from an external bitmap specified with the -border option. + Specifying a non-existing file will produce a border in the -whitePieceColor. + When a border is specified, the board coordinates will be drawn in that region. +

    +     		+ +
    + Using WinBoard Zeta's Maya pieces and Wood_2 border +
    + +
    + + +

    Themes

    +

    + WinBoard now allows combinations of graphics settings to be stored and recalled as 'themes'. + A new menu dialog View -> Themes is added to control the settings for board and pieces + that are new, or could not be controlled by the View->Board dialog. + It also contains a 'Theme name' field, and by typing a name there, + the current graphics settings will be added as a theme with that name in the theme list, + displayed in the listbox on the left. + The settings can then be recalled at any time by double-clicking the theme name in that listbox. +

    + The themes are stored as the -themeNames option in the settings file. + This is a multi-line option similar to the list of engines or ICS, + one line per theme, starting with the theme name, + and containing all option settings for that theme. + Only relevant options are included with the theme; + e.g. when the theme uses board textures, there is no need to store square colors. +

    +
    + +

    Creating an opening book from a PGN file

    +

    + It is now possible to 'compile' an opening book (in Polyglot format) from one or more game files. + A new menu item File -> Create Opening Book will add the positions (upto the given -bookDepth) of all games in the file + to a memory buffer. + After all games have been added, the buffer is saved as a Polyglot book of the name specified for GUI book. + The buffer is not cleared afterwards, + so this process could be repeated a number of times, + to accumulate the positions from several game files. + The importance of this feature is that it also works in any of the variants; + for Chess there already existed other oftware that could do this. +

    + +

    Analyzing a position by playing many fast games

    +

    + Another way to create or refine a book is by 'Monte-Carlo' game play. + With the option -mcBookMode the book-probing algorithm is altered: + probing is not done from a book file, but from the memory buffer that is used to create a book. + Games that are played are added to this memory buffer as soon as they finish. + Probing is done in a way to promote diversity, + although moves that on average produce better results are chosen much more frequently than moves with a poor performance record. + When the moves are played in the ratio they deserve, a book miss is reported, so that the choice is left to the engine. + This can then also provide moves that were so far not in the book. + By playing matches with randomizing engines, + or tourneys with many different, approximately equally strong engines in this mode, + a book can be built from scratch. + Of course these match and tourneys could use an arbitrary starting position. + After having collected enough games, a Polyglot book can be made from the resulting PGN file. +

    + +

    Pausing a game

    +

    + The Pause (P) button in the button bar, as well as 'Pause' menu item, + now also function when the engine is thinking. + The pause / resume commands defined in WB protocol will be used to suspend all activity of the engine + (be it thinking or pondering), + for engines that support those commands. + If the currently thinking engine doesn't support them, + the effect of pressing Pause will only commence once the engine moves. + The pondering engine will be suspended with the aid of easy / hard commands if it does not support pause / resume. +

    + +

    Resizable board with anti-aliased pieces

    +
    + + +

    + The graphics code of XBoard now has been re-written to us the Cairo graphics library. + Apart from being a huge cosmetic improvement, this change will affect the user in several ways. + For one, pixmaps (.xpm) and bitmaps (.bm) are no longer supported as formats for user-supplied piece images. + As a consequence the options -bitmapDirectory and -pixmapDirectory have been abolished. + The new XBoard supports two image formats: *.png and *.svg. + The user can specify a piece set of either format through the new option -pieceImageDirectory (short form: -pid). + The naming convention of the piece images has also been changed, + and the image files must now have names like WhiteBishop.png or BlackKnight.svg. +

    +
    +

    + The SVG images are scalable, and this has opened the possibility to allow continuous resizing of the board window. + The Cairo library provides good anti-aliasing, and even PNG graphics can be resized to a certain degree before it starts to look ugly. + Note that the new XBoard no longer contains built-in piece images in its binary, + but relies on a default set of external piece images (stored with its data files) even when you don't specify a -pieceImageDirectory. +

    + The Cairo library also supports transparency, and the background of the supplied piece images has to be fully transparent. + XBoard also uses trasparency when dragging pieces for entering moves to exclude from analysis; + in this case the 'ghost' of the piece that you are dragging will be redered semi-transparently. +

    + +

    An experimental GTK port of XBoard

    +

    + The new source code can optionally be built using the GTK widget set in stead of the (by now very obsolete) Athena widget set. + A simple switch option during configure can be used to request this. + The only difference should be that the dialogs look prettier. + Note that the GTK build is still in an experimental stage, + and could contain many bugs and imperfections, including some things that are simply not implemented yet (such as key bindings). + This holds even for GTK builds made from versions for which the Xaw build is declared stable. +

    +

    Fixed bugs

    Some bugs were encountered and reported during the refactoring process, @@@ -523,7 -666,7 +666,7 @@@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unite

    Updated: -$Date: 2012/10/02 02:09:54 $ +$Date: 2013/02/21 06:27:14 $