Don't update to iOS 6! (EDIT: YES.) Also SF for iOS news

[Tord Romstad]

(EDIT: NO)---since Julien's post is exactly one year old and iOS 7 was just released.

The resurrection of this old post is unfortunate, today of all days.

Why is resurrection of old threads unfortunate? As someone who is often absent from this forum for extended periods, I usually prefer the resurrection of old threads rather than new threads, because it often provides me with otherwise missing context. Sure, the subject line is somewhat misleading in this particular case, but I think it's instantly obvious to any reader who sees this subject line today that the recent posts are iOS related, but has nothing directly to do with the release of iOS 6.

[zullil]

(EDIT: NO)---since Julien's post is exactly one year old and iOS 7 was just released.

The resurrection of this old post is unfortunate, today of all days.

Why is resurrection of old threads unfortunate? As someone who is often absent from this forum for extended periods, I usually prefer the resurrection of old threads rather than new threads, because it often provides me with otherwise missing context. Sure, the subject line is somewhat misleading in this particular case, but I think it's instantly obvious to any reader who sees this subject line today that the recent posts are iOS related, but has nothing directly to do with the release of iOS 6.

OK, maybe I was the only one confused. For some reason it took me a long time to notice the 2012 on many of the posts.

Didn't intend to start a political (religious?) discussion about resurrection in general.

[mephisto]

Hi Tord

Well I am surprised that there is a new Apple version especially when it states on the Stockfish Support site.

Unfortunately, the developer who built the iPhone/iPad app is no longer actively working on the project. The Stockfish app is unlikely to get any new features or updates in the future.

Regards
Bryan

[bob]

I did it and lost my wifi on my iPhone 4S. Everybody seems to be experiencing the same problem, if we take a look at Apple's forum:

https://discussions.apple.com/community ... iscussions

So don't update yet and wait for iOS 6's fix. (The weird thing is that I had no problem with none of the beta versions... I guess an idiot made a last minute modification AFTER the gold master beta...

Sorry for the off-topic, but if that prevents all you iOS users on this forum to run into the same problem that'll be worth it.

Big fail for Apple, for once....

heh heh.

He said "master beta". Does the phone really play with itself?

[Tord Romstad]

Hi Bryan!

Hi Tord

Well I am surprised that there is a new Apple version especially when it states on the Stockfish Support site.

Unfortunately, the developer who built the iPhone/iPad app is no longer actively working on the project. The Stockfish app is unlikely to get any new features or updates in the future.

Well, it's safe to say that that particular section of the website is outdated, but I'm hardly in a position to criticise webmaster Daylen for being slow at updates.


Reading your message made me suddenly remember that I think I have forgotten to include the latest version of your "Modern" piece set in the app. That's one more thing I have to fix in the 2.6.1 version.

[mephisto]

Hi Tord

I just can't believe how many paid versions of Stockfish there is on the App Store now that simply has just a new name.

Anyway good to know there's another 'official' version on the way, together with my improved piece set.

BTW...have a look at my video which you might like (sorry about the quality though). It's a special version of SmallFish containing Stockfish 4 connected to my DIY chess board. I think it's the first time a iPad works with an external board.

http://youtu.be/PGIE934ytKI

Bryan

[JuLieN]

Hi Tord

I just can't believe how many paid versions of Stockfish there is on the App Store now that simply has just a new name.

Yep. Each day a new paying clone in the AppStore. Or, on lucky days like today, three new paying clones

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Stokfish on my iPad 4 updated with iOS 7 hits 590kN/s from the start position....
Dr.D

[Zhu.Jianzhao]

By the way, this thread is as good a place as any to present feature requests. If anyone reading this has any features you would like to see added to future versions, let me know about them. I probably won't listen to you, as I have strong opinions of my own about what the app should and should not do, but there is always a chance.

Hi Tord,

1. how about making it possible for users to change the polyglot book, after the device is connected to the computer? just like hiarcs chess app, users can put the newest book file to shared document folder.

2. Edit position function: Select a square for en passant captures form the squares highlighted above, and press "Done" when finished. but I have trouble to find the squares highlighted...

regards
Jianzhao

[Tord Romstad]

Hi Jianzhao,

Thanks for the suggestions!

1. how about making it possible for users to change the polyglot book, after the device is connected to the computer? just like hiarcs chess app, users can put the newest book file to shared document folder.

Actually, Stockfish for iOS does not use Polyglot books, but a book format of its own, which predates the Polyglot format. It's somewhat similar to the Polyglot format (as the Polyglot book code is loosely based on my own book code -- Fabien and I exchanged a lot of code and ideas at the time), but not quite the same. I prefer to use this format rather than Polyglot; partly because it makes it easier for me to manually adjust frequencies of individual moves after the book is built, because it is easier for me to extend when I want to add some new book feature, and because I have a nice set of private tools for creating, inspecting and editing such books in this format.

It would still be possible to offer additional books for download and let the user select between several installed opening books, of course. I've been thinking about offering a much bigger opening book as a cheap in-app purchase, partly as a way of offering those users who feel so inclined to donate a small amount of money to the project (to be perfectly honest, I could use a little bit more money at the moment). The reason I hesitate to do so is that I am not sure a much bigger opening book would be an improvement in practice. A very big opening book is almost guaranteed to contain plenty of bad lines. That a move has been played a handful of times in games between 2400 rated players doesn't necessarily mean that it's good, or that Stockfish wouldn't be able to come up with a better move when thinking on its own.

One way or the other, however, support for additional opening books are probably coming at some point in the future. Paid content of some kind (not necessarily books) may also happen, but the app itself will always remain free.

2. Edit position function: Select a square for en passant captures form the squares highlighted above, and press "Done" when finished. but I have trouble to find the squares highlighted...

This is very strange -- they should be very easily visible, except possibly for color blind people in certain color schemes. This is how it looks on my iPhone:



Does it not look like this on your device?