Author: Steven Edwards
Date: 20:58:00 09/29/03
Go up one level in this thread
On September 29, 2003 at 23:23:22, Jon Dart wrote: >Re having an alternate chess server: sure, maybe. But there's a critical mass >problem. ICC and FICS succeded because they have a large pool of players and >some suitable opponent is almost always available, whatever time of day or night >you are online. If you can't get enough participants to achieve that, then it's >not likely to catch on, IMO. Point taken. At the moment my machinery is generating over 20 SETI@home work units a day and that can be trimmed considerably to provide some computing power to run a few "always connected" programs, like my old program Spector, my new, upcoming program Symbolic, and a local version of Crafty. Re comments on pool size: my idea is to go for quality vs quantity. Because the proposed FICS is for authors only, it can be customized to better support program players than is the case at other servers. Examples: 1. Multiple accounts for different program versions by the same author. 2. Account attribute data includes hardware and software configuration items. 3. Local copies of opening books and tablebases could be used. 4. Availability of a more program-friendly formatted set of commands and status I/O; possible elimination of FICS features unneeded for program usage. 5. Program authors' suggestions for feature set enhancement are taken seriously. 6. A facility for periodic mailing of the rating list; also, periodic mailing all PGN game scores for those accounts that allow disbursement of the score data. 7. The possibility of automated pairings, matches, and tournament organization; programs could check the server periodically to see if they've been paired and when and with whom the game is scheduled. Post-event tourament score crosstables could be automatically mailed. 8. The possibility of the server taking an active role in initiating a session with a remote progarm if the program's account has authorize such usage. >On a technical note: a version of FICS source was released years ago (on the U. >of Pittsburgh site I think) but IIRC it was BSD-based and at the time I couldn't >easily get it to run on a commercial UNIX. So you might need to do some hacking >on it. Maybe FICS itself has something cleaner, but if so they haven't released >it, as far as I know. I've seen the FICS 1.7.4 sources. I might wind up writing my own version using my toolkit for all the chess specific items.
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