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Subject: Scatha 0.2.9: This one actually works!

Author: Tord Romstad

Date: 07:43:18 10/30/05


I think I have finally managed to build a version of my GUI which works
on all Macs running OS X 10.4.2.  I expect to have a binary for
OS X 10.3.9 ready within a few days.  Downloading the new version is
recommended even for those lucky users who were able to use
Scatha 0.2.8, because there are several bug fixes and new features:

Setting up positions now work for rectangular chess as well.  Some
basic legality checking has also been added; you can no longer set
up positions with more than one white king, pawns on the 1st or
8th rank, and so on.

Saving games now appears to work correctly for all game types,
including FRC.  Rectangular games (normal chess and FRC) are
saved to files with the extension .pgn, while hexagonal games
are saved with the extension .phgn.  When trying to save games
to an existing file, there is an annoying message which
warns you that you are about to replace the old file, and asks
you if you really want to proceed.  Of course it is safe to save
games to existing files, and the old contents are not deleted
(instead the new game is added to the end of the file, like you
would expect).  Unfortunately I haven't found a way to disable
this alert panel.

Loading PGN files also works, at least to some extent.  Scatha
should be able to read all files it has produced itself, but I can't
promise that it will always manage to read files created by other
programs.  Another problem is that my PGN parser is currently
*extremely* slow.  If you open a file containing a few hundred
games or more, you will be waiting for a really long time before
the operation is completed.

There was a bug in previous versions which would occasionally
make a pawn appear on the board out of nowhere, usually
directly after a castling move.  This has been fixed in 0.2.9.

The "Current line" in the search display didn't work for other
engines than Glaurung and Scatha.  The reason was a simple
typo:  The GUI sent "setoption name UCI_ShowCurrline" instead
of "setoption name UCI_ShowCurrLine" to the engine.  Fixed in
0.2.9.

As always, I would be happy to receive comments, bug reports
and suggestions for improvements.  Contributions like nicer
piece bitmaps or a more attractive application icon would
also be very welcome.  :-)

The URL is http://www.glaurungchess.com

Tord



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