C o m p u t e r C h e s s U t i l i t i e s
A. netChess
With this utility program, a chess GUI can communicate with a chess
engine on remote computers, that are connected over network (TCP/IP).
Operating mode:
1. Start the program 'engineServer' on the computer where the
engines should run
On the remote computer (e.g.. Linux_1 with IP-Adresse:192.168.2.24) you
have to call the program 'engineServer'.
In the column Name enter the
name of the Engine that should be registered (z. B. Crafty
specially). In the column Port,
enter a unambiguous number for these computer that should be larger
than 1024. In the column File
enter the path to the chess program that should be registered.
Further entries can be added. For programs that should be be
started add a check mark in the first column.
Inputs are saved in the file engineServer.rc.
After pressing the start button, the marked programs become active.
The columns of the table can be sorted by pressing of the head
column. For deleting a line press the right mouse key.
If you have trouble with a firewall (the program tries to connect to
port 22 on itself), you have to make an entry in the file engineServer.rc. Input a line like host 192.168.2.5 . On Windows
you get the IP-address by typing ipconfig
on the console.
2. Start the program 'engineClient' on the computer where the GUI
should run
It requests to input the name of the chess program and demands the
computer name (or IP address) the remote computer, as well as an
unambiguous port number for this connection, that must be larger than
1000. A copy of this file with the name 'netNAME(.exe)' and a
configuration file 'netNAME. rc' will generated. If further
programs should be included by this computer, it's important to use
another port number.
e.g.
For a connection via 'ssh' it
is possible to enter a command instead of a port number, e.g.
Linux: ssh
UserName@RemoteHost /path/to/engine
Windows: c:/winnt/system32/plink.exe
UserName@RemoteHost -ssh -pw passwort /path/to/engine
I recommend to try the command on console first. I'm sorry to say that
I can't support your 'ssh' configuration.
Here you
can find more infos about plink.exe .
Multi language support:
To support other languages except German and English you have to edit
the
language file lang.msg.
Therefor the German text
must be replaced by the
alternative. E.g. for French you have to rename the file
lang.msg to fr.msg.
Replace
mcset de "Error message" \
"Fehlermeldung"
with
mcset fr "Error
message" \
"Message d'erreur"
and so on.
3. Start the chess GUI
Into the user surface, you include the before generated procedures
'netNAME.exe'. They are included with the same interface protocol
(UCI/Winboard) like the Engine. Successful tested with the GUI
Arena and Fritz 7 (UCI).
Condition: between the computers exists a usable network connection (to
test with ping) and the port numbers are available.
I
4. Future prospects
With this software not only OS limits (Linux, Mac, Windows) can be
overcome, also the programs can use differently cpu power. So it
is possible that on the computer 1 runs the GUI and the first
engine and on the computer 2 the second Engine. You can
perfom not only duels, but rather entire tournaments in a familar way.
5. Hints
With this extension, not only chess programs can be started over the
network, but also other programs that work over stdin/stdout.
6. Known weakness
The program isn't resistent against some signals (e.g. SIGINT).
7. History
engineServer (1.1)
- add column command line args
engineClient (1.0)
- added multi language support
- added posibility to connect engines via 'ssh' or 'plink.exe'
engineServer (1.0)
- added multi language support
- disposed problems with 'firewalls'
- directories with spaces were accepted
engineClient (0.9)
engineServer (0.9)
8. Warranty
The program was
generated in all conscience.
This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Bernhard Wallner
$Id: readmeEng.html,v 1.7 2004/09/17 19:50:10 wall Exp $