Scid (continued)
Frequently Asked Questions
Why those new versions are not
available at Sourceforge ?
Compilation issues with AMD 64
Compilation issues with MacOS
How to make tactical
exercises ?
How to configure Rybka under Linux ?
Rybka does not annotate a game
under Windows
Why can't I use arrow keys in web pages
generated by Scid ?
Engines does not seem to work
Why there exists
Scid and chessdb ?
When I export games in PGN, I can't
import the result in Chessbase, Fritz, ...
How do I connect a Novag Citrine
board to Scid with a PC ?
How do I connect a Novag
Citrine board to Scid with a Pocket PC ?
How do I get a reference database ?
Why
those new versions are not available at Sourceforge ?
Updated : despite David Kirkby (mailto:david.kirkby@onetel.net) efforts
to prevent Scid's developement, updated versions of Scid are available
at Sourceforge (http://scid.sf.net).
David Kirkby (mailto:david.kirkby@onetel.net) made a formal
opposition to this to Sourceforge administrators : even if he did not
want to continue Scid development, he managed to bury Scid at
Sourceforge.
This is the reason Scid hosting had to move, (let's hope temporarily),
to another place.
Meanwhile a CVS has been setup under the Scid2 project at
SourceForge. Latest code can be retrieved with :
cvs
-d:pserver:anonymous@scid2.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/scid2 login
cvs -z3
-d:pserver:anonymous@scid2.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/scid2 co -P scid2
Compilation
issues with AMD 64
This is certainly due to Crafty's compilation phase. Change the lines
below in Makefile.conf
crafty:
cd engines/crafty-20.14/ && make linux
&& cd ../../
to
crafty:
cd engines/crafty-20.14/ && makelinux-amd64
&& cd ../../
And then run as usual
./configure && make
Compilation
issues with MacOS
I have no MacOS machine, so what is described here may work :
rename the file
Makefile.conf.darwin found in scid directory to Makefile.conf
Enter the following commands :
./configure
make
How to
make tactical exercises ?
Tactical exercises are grouped in ordinary Scid databases. Those bases
must be in the directory bases
so Scid can find them.
Don't forget to fill the description field in the maintenance window,
as this is what will be presented to the user when he will choose among
tactics serials.
How to configure Rybka
under Linux ?
Rybka is a chess engine designed to work on windows. Under Linux, you
need to have wine
configured and the setup to enter in the engine dialog box is the
following :
- Command : wine
- Parameters : /my_path/to_rybka/Rybka.exe
- Directory : /my_path/to_rybka/
Rybka does not
annotate a game under Windows
Windows has problems allocating resources in a fair way, so it may
happen that Rybka takes all CPU power and Scid is unable to communicate
with it. A solution consists in selecting Low CPU priority in
engine window.
Why can't I use
arrow keys in web pages generated by Scid ?
It is possible to move back and forward using left and right arrow keys
if :
- you use a validated browser (Firefox or Opera), not
internet explorer (which is not supported)
- you first click on a move so that the correct frame gets
focus.
Engines does
not seem to work
First, if the engine is an UCI one, verify that the UCI option is
checked.
If the engine gives no output in the analysis window try to change the
number of lines (multi pv).
Why there exists
Scid and chessdb ?
Dave Kirkby started a fork
of Scid in late 2006. Scid has not evolved since 2004 and
- Dave Kirkby took all source files,
removed all occurences of Scid
in it (more than 1600 !), putting in place chessdb
- he put (c)
Dave Kirkby on source files where he did not change a
single character
Having noticed that, anybody would feel suspicious, but I did
not pay enough attention to this.
Having deeply looked at Scid code since 2003, I tried to collaborate
with Dave
Kirkby a few days in late december 2006, which quickly appeared painful
and then impossible :
- Dave Kirkby wanted to maintain a great program
knowing nothing about its
language (Tcl/Tk) and its internals (see his beginner level
postings on newsgroups).
- He proved to be incompetent and arrogant (for example
accusing code of corrupting games
but later admitting he could not reproduce it : he usually acts like
this, never apologizing and never admitting his errors and
incompetency. He will only state : 'I can't reproduce it' when he
simply doesn't know how to use Scid)
- He copies / pastes others' code in chessDB, claiming it is
his
own, but as he does not understand what he does, he ends with a buggy
program that corrupts chess databases (and he even proved that he does
not know how Scid databases work).
- Dave Kirkby took some code from me, but being enable to
understand it, he releases a program with inactive user commands (!).
Some users report this to me, but I personaly don't care to fix Dave
Kirkby's incompetence.
So, as any fork of Scid
is simply inappropriate and unfair during its author's unavailability
and that chessdb made nothing good for Scid continuation (but just trying to kill Scid's name),
I decided to
maintain Scid and make it evolve, hoping that one day Scid's author
will be happy to take advantage of some of these
changes (at least I received a mail from Scid's
author encouraging
me in that way). So I took Scid 3.6.1 package, applied patches found on
internet,
sent by other coders and started my own work.
I am deeply convinced that a
fork of Scid is useless
and inappropriate. Dave Kirkby made an endless,
sterile arguing, posting and cross-posting the same rubbish and lies.
Some people asked him to stop this, because this is of no interest for
anybody, but he seems so clever that he kept going on. Dave Kirkby
should not waste his time that way but try to make anything valuable
for the community and Scid.
Dave Kirkby should have understood that trying
to kill Scid is not
what people wants, and more
important it is really unfair given Shane
Hudson's fabulous work, and his will to continue Scid's
development when he will be able to.
David Kirkby was requested publicly to state how many lines of code he
wrote that are present in Scid, and was never able to give any figure.
We still wait for this ...
But everything ended well :
- Scid's author granted to me the development lead of Scid at Sourceforge when he had the possibility to do it
- ChessDB developement stopped (its author (?) (mailto:david.kirkby@onetel.net) was clearly unable to continue its development without copying others' code)
When I export
games in PGN, I can't import the result in Chessbase, Fritz, ...
This is not a bug as translated pieces are legitimate in PGN.
To export in english, which will produce a file compatible with
Chessbase just uncheck options->moves->translate
pieces.
How do I connect
a Novag Citrine board to Scid with a PC ?
Simply connect the Citrine board to a serial port of the PC. If none is
available, there exists USB / Serial adapters that work very well. On
Linux configure Citrine's port (/dev/ttyUSB0 for example), on Windows
(COM4: for example).
How do I
connect a Novag Citrine board to Scid with a Pocket PC ?
As there is no easy way to connect a serial wire to a Pocket PC, the
only
solution I am aware of is to use a Bluetooth serial link. So you need a
Bluetooth / Serial adapter and a Pocket PC supporting Bluetooth.
The schema is the following :
[ Citrine | Serial port ]
<> Bluetooth ~~~~~~ radio link ~~~~~~ [
Bluetooth | Pocket PC ]
Basically the procedure is :
- configure serial port
(COM7: , COM8: , ...)
- turn on Bluetooth on the Pocket PC (can be done directly from Scid)
- click on connect
- if you want to play against an engine check referee mode, to
play against Citrine and record the game on the Pocket PC, unchek referee mode
Note
1 :
Novag Citrine does not
support any flow control (neither soft or hard
control). So if your adapter requires hardware flow control, you
will have to connect CTS and RTS together with a thin copper wire
inserted in connector's holes (RTS and CTS are pins 7 and 8 : when the
adapter will send Request
To Send it will receive an immediate Clear To Send).
Note 2
:
Sometimes the Citrine
board seems to be locked, refusing to execute
your move (the LEDs don't light). A solution that works most of the
time is to press the side button of the citrine twice (menu mode) : it
will put it back on its feet.
Note 3
:
It will certainly need
some time to get used to FICS and Citrine
connection on Pocket PC, but playing around with menus should allow you
to discover how it works. If anybody writes a documentation on this,
feel free to send it to me, so others will take advantage of it.
How do I get a reference database ?
There are many resources on internet (enter chess game collections in google). One interesting link is http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=46636