Banksia GUI released

[mmt]

I have been working on the interface: organizing settings, toolbars and menus. There are some pros and cons between centralizing (as current design) or using multi-places. I have noted your suggestions and will be back to work on that soon.

It usually a trade-off between a crowded UI and more clicks required. I think most computer chess users are power users.

BSG can work with pastes of PGN or FEN strings. Just paste any of them.

Hmm pasting a FEN from Nibbler (starting position) didn't work for me: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
However, pasting after a move does work: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/7P/8/PPPPPPP1/RNBQKBNR b KQkq h3 0 1

I have been working hard on that issue. Can you post the image of aliasing pieces and tell me which screen type, solution, the computer's OS you are using? Thanks

https://i.ibb.co/4tbcVJG/piece2.png Windows 10, 2560x1600

There seems to be some anti-aliasing but I don't think it's working quite correctly on smaller board sizes.

Some users still using small screens, thus BSG has to start with small sizes.

You could make initial window sizes depend on the screen resolution but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra work for you. Also might be worth checking how it looks if there is a zoom set under Win 10 Display Settings->Change the size of text... I think most people with 4K displays would use this option.

That is the brief info of Syzygy EGTB. Men = the largest piece number, eg = number of endgames. "men: 0" means you did not set the folder of Syzygy yet (set in Book/Egtb tab of Settings). On my computer, the brief info is: men: 5, eg: 145.

Got it. It might make sense to separate the book and the EGTB tabs.

Once you have the new version out, I'll come back with more testing and suggestions.

[phhnguyen]

Version 0.17 released

* Fixed bugs: almost all known bugs so far
* Some small improvements/adjustments (e.g., change sizes of flags, icons)
* New features:
- Play via local network: multi computers running BSG can easily connect together to play without any extra software nor any special setup. Those computers can play normal games or tournaments, using engines or human. Playing games can be watched by other computers

[Damir]

I have a small request. Is it possible for bin book content to be shown, or does the GUI already support this? Sorry if I missed it.

[Damir]

If I am not wrong this content already exist in Scid, but I was unable to find it in Banksia GUI. When opening bin book it should be visible what kind of openings and games it contains.

[phhnguyen]

I have a small request. Is it possible for bin book content to be shown, or does the GUI already support this? Sorry if I missed it.

Yes, you can see the bin (Polyglot) books in two ways
* Tree view (menu -> Tools -> Opening) then select a bin book. Click on nodes to extend them. Double click if you want to edit their values.



* Opening moves on the fly. Open dock Book/Egtb (menu -> Windows -> Docks -> Books/Egtb). It will show all opening moves and their information for current positions. Click on the header to sort them. Double click to any move you want to make

[Damir]

Thanks for all your help.

[Modern Times]

Version 0.17 released

- Play via local network: multi computers running BSG can easily connect together to play without any extra software nor any special setup. Those computers can play normal games or tournaments, using engines or human. Playing games can be watched by other computers

That's amazing, I imagine SSDF could be interested in running this GUI as that is how they play their games.

[AdminX]

Thanks much.



Full Image: https://i.ibb.co/KbXNs0j/BL.png

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Hi phhnguyen.

At the very beginning thank you for the new version of the program. Unfortunately, something goes wrong with the game for two computers. I have 2 computers. I have a program installed on both of them Banksia GUI. On 1 computer I have 1 chess engine installed, on 2 computer I also have 1 chess engine installed. How to play a match between two computers. Thank you in advance for any information.

[phhnguyen]

Hi phhnguyen.

At the very beginning thank you for the new version of the program. Unfortunately, something goes wrong with the game for two computers. I have 2 computers. I have a program installed on both of them Banksia GUI. On 1 computer I have 1 chess engine installed, on 2 computer I also have 1 chess engine installed. How to play a match between two computers. Thank you in advance for any information.

To use:

1) Connect to local network

• Open Network players window: menu -> Connect -> Network players

• Enter any name you want to the Name box then click to Connect button. In the below illustration, my computer is named "Jane" vs another computer named "Felicity"

• Set default player to play via the network by selecting from drop-down Player. It could be a human or an engine. This player will be used only when another computer connects and vs your computer. For example, I select "Stockfish" as the default chess engine when my computer is challenged by another computer

• Do similar for the second computer

You will see the bellow screen:



2) Select players to play
You may set up a new game or create a new tournament as usual. To play vs another computer, just scroll down the engine list and select that computer. Continue as usual. All will be automatic.



3) Enjoy games
You may tick the box Auto show, BSG will open to show any net games. Otherwise, you may double click on the game list to open and see that game.

Note that BSG is designed so you can control all net games from one computer only (after the first time set up).