Ipod Touch

[swami]

I've just ordered Ipod Touch, I'll be getting it by the end of the week, so I'd be interested in knowing the current engines available that functions well.

I know Tord has promised to release the glaurung version for an ipod, I might buy one soon after I try out the trial versions. Is there going to be a version of Hiarcs, Shredder, ChessGenius, Rybka and Fruit/Toga for the device?

Also,I'd be interested in knowing the strength of the strongest engine in 32 gb ipod? Tord says it will be mostly at the strength of Palm Hiarcs, so I guess it is around 2600-2700?

Thanks in advance.

[Tord Romstad]

I've just ordered Ipod Touch, I'll be getting it by the end of the week,

Congratulations! I hope you'll be happy with it.

so I'd be interested in knowing the current engines available that functions well.

None at the moment, I think. You'll probably have to wait until June, when Apple opens its iPod Application Store. Right now, it is possible to develop applications for the iPod Touch, but not to install them on the actual device. The programs can only be run inside a simulator running on a Macintosh.

It is likely that there will be hacks that enable you to install applications on your own without going through Apple, but such hacks can be risky to use. I think it would be better to be patient.

I know Tord has promised to release the glaurung version for an ipod,

I didn't quite promise it. I want to do it, but I don't want to pay Apple $99 per year for the permission to distribute my program. Unless Apple provides a way to distribute free programs without the annual fee, or a sufficient number of users accept to pay $10 for my program (so far, only three people have expressed their interest), I am not sure the iPod Glaurung will be released.

I might buy one soon after I try out the trial versions. Is there going to be a version of Hiarcs, Shredder, ChessGenius, Rybka and Fruit/Toga for the device?

At least some of them, I suppose, but I don't know anything more than you.

Also,I'd be interested in knowing the strength of the strongest engine in 32 gb ipod? Tord says it will be mostly at the strength of Palm Hiarcs, so I guess it is around 2600-2700?

I was only guessing when I wrote that I expected Glaurung for the iPod Touch to be comparable in strength to the current Palm Hiarcs. The basis for the guess was that Glaurung 2 on single-CPU desktop computers appears to be slightly stronger than Hiarcs 10, which I guess must be approximately as strong as the Hiarcs 9.7 engine in Palm Hiarcs. However, it is far from sure that Glaurung scales as well as Hiarcs to very small and slow devices. I also don't know how the CPU in the iPod Touch compares to the CPU in the current generation of Palm OS devices.

Tord

[swami]

I've just ordered Ipod Touch, I'll be getting it by the end of the week,

Congratulations! I hope you'll be happy with it.

so I'd be interested in knowing the current engines available that functions well.

None at the moment, I think. You'll probably have to wait until June, when Apple opens its iPod Application Store. Right now, it is possible to develop applications for the iPod Touch, but not to install them on the actual device. The programs can only be run inside a simulator running on a Macintosh.

It is likely that there will be hacks that enable you to install applications on your own without going through Apple, but such hacks can be risky to use. I think it would be better to be patient.

I know Tord has promised to release the glaurung version for an ipod,

I didn't quite promise it. I want to do it, but I don't want to pay Apple $99 per year for the permission to distribute my program. Unless Apple provides a way to distribute free programs without the annual fee, or a sufficient number of users accept to pay $10 for my program (so far, only three people have expressed their interest), I am not sure the iPod Glaurung will be released.

I might buy one soon after I try out the trial versions. Is there going to be a version of Hiarcs, Shredder, ChessGenius, Rybka and Fruit/Toga for the device?

At least some of them, I suppose, but I don't know anything more than you.

Also,I'd be interested in knowing the strength of the strongest engine in 32 gb ipod? Tord says it will be mostly at the strength of Palm Hiarcs, so I guess it is around 2600-2700?

I was only guessing when I wrote that I expected Glaurung for the iPod Touch to be comparable in strength to the current Palm Hiarcs. The basis for the guess was that Glaurung 2 on single-CPU desktop computers appears to be slightly stronger than Hiarcs 10, which I guess must be approximately as strong as the Hiarcs 9.7 engine in Palm Hiarcs. However, it is far from sure that Glaurung scales as well as Hiarcs to very small and slow devices. I also don't know how the CPU in the iPod Touch compares to the CPU in the current generation of Palm OS devices.

Tord

Oh Thanks for explanation, Tord. I must have mis understood your approach in mail as I was in hurry and speed read it.

I hope there will be enough people who express their interest to buy the Ipod Glaurung...I'm sure we will see Glaurung for an Ipod sooner within a year ,so Apple's 99$ is not much of a problem.

I will definitely buy it, when there is ever a glaurung version, as I said its like buying a copy of paperback or a dvd, or 10 copies of magazines which I usually keep each month, a reasonable price. I will wait till June for the application, I think there are enough people who have Ipod and I'm pretty sure you will get atleast more than 10 people to buy the version, as ipod application is in the earlier stage. I suspect that even people who do not play chess normally and dont know anything about chess programs may even buy it, if its popular enough. Also, I don't care much about the elo, but I do hope to see the decent 2500 rated engine running on such devices.

[Nid Hogge]

I didn't quite promise it. I want to do it, but I don't want to pay Apple $99 per year for the permission to distribute my program. Unless Apple provides a way to distribute free programs without the annual fee, or a sufficient number of users accept to pay $10 for my program (so far, only three people have expressed their interest), I am not sure the iPod Glaurung will be released.

Tord

Reminds me why I hate Apple so much. they're attitude first and foremost. Reminds me of an article I've read earlier today

How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong

http://digg.com/apple/How_Apple_Got_Eve ... hing_Wrong

[Tord Romstad]

Reminds me why I hate Apple so much. they're attitude first and foremost. Reminds me of an article I've read earlier today

I hate Apple, too, for reasons similar to yours. It's a pity their products are so much better than the competition for my needs.

I had a couple of hours to work on the iPod version today, and an early screen shot can now be seen on my home page. Don't be fooled by the image, the program is very far from finished. What I have done so far is only to reduce the memory requirements of Glaurung 2, and to write a basic iPod Touch program which does nothing more than displaying a chess board and detecting which squares the user pushes.

Tord

[Cubeman]

[D] 1NQ5/k1p1p3/7p/pP2P1P1/2P5/2pq4/1n6/6K1 w - - 0 1
This position gives you an idea how strong Glaurung can be on a PDA.I ran this position from the Hiarcs Palm web page and they were amazed that Hiarcs 9.6 could find the winning b6+ move in 101 secs.And said that no other PDA program comes close.Glaurung 1.2.1 running under Scid for PPC on my ipaq hx2750 with intel 624 mhz processor took only 36 secs to find the line D=9 +3.04 1788kn 49554 nps
1.b6+ Kxb6 2.Nd7+ Kc6 3.Qa6+ Kxd7 4.e6+ Ke8 5.Qa8+ Qd8 6.g6 Qxa8
7.g7 Qf3 8.g8=Q+ Qf8 9.Qg2 Qf3 10.Qxf3...
So I am happy with Glaurung already on my PPC and I also own a ipod touch but really only use it for music.The trouble with the ipod touch is that you have to use your finger to input and somthing like a stylus from my PPC does not work, so the layout of any chess GUI should not have too tiny icons close together.Also the battery of the ipod is sealed inside and would require some expertise to replace when it dies.

[Mark]

I can't believe only three people have expressed interest so far! Just keep working on it. If for some reason 10 people don't buy it, I'll make up the difference to cover Apple's $99 fee.

Regards,

Mark

[Tord Romstad]

[D] 1NQ5/k1p1p3/7p/pP2P1P1/2P5/2pq4/1n6/6K1 w - - 0 1
This position gives you an idea how strong Glaurung can be on a PDA.I ran this position from the Hiarcs Palm web page and they were amazed that Hiarcs 9.6 could find the winning b6+ move in 101 secs.And said that no other PDA program comes close.Glaurung 1.2.1 running under Scid for PPC on my ipaq hx2750 with intel 624 mhz processor took only 36 secs to find the line D=9 +3.04 1788kn 49554 nps
1.b6+ Kxb6 2.Nd7+ Kc6 3.Qa6+ Kxd7 4.e6+ Ke8 5.Qa8+ Qd8 6.g6 Qxa8
7.g7 Qf3 8.g8=Q+ Qf8 9.Qg2 Qf3 10.Qxf3...

Hello Alex,

Thanks for the position, but a single position doesn't prove much -- and this was Glaurung 1.2.1. The iPod version of Glaurung will be based on Glaurung 2, which is an entirely different program.

So I am happy with Glaurung already on my PPC and I also own a ipod touch but really only use it for music.The trouble with the ipod touch is that you have to use your finger to input and somthing like a stylus from my PPC does not work, so the layout of any chess GUI should not have too tiny icons close together.

Yes, designing a user-friendly GUI will indeed be a non-trivial task.

Tord

[Tord Romstad]

I can't believe only three people have expressed interest so far! Just keep working on it. If for some reason 10 people don't buy it, I'll make up the difference to cover Apple's $99 fee.

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the encouragement! Of course I'll keep working on it.

Regards,

[Mark]

I can't believe only three people have expressed interest so far! Just keep working on it. If for some reason 10 people don't buy it, I'll make up the difference to cover Apple's $99 fee.

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the encouragement! Of course I'll keep working on it.

Regards,

Excellent!