Re: computer-go: Is the Go Modem Protocol used in actual tournaments ?

[Darren Cook <darren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>The go modem protocol is used in most computer go tournaments.  Most progams
>implement it, and it is easy to set up the rs-232 connections.  A
network-based
>protocol would be nice, but setting up a network is a lot more work and 
>cost,

Don't you mean the other way round? :-)

Network cards are cheap, and many newer computers seem to come with a
connector on the motherboard. No messing around with baud rates, null modem
cables, different pin types, etc. (and don't some machines require you to
go into the BIOS to disable the internal modem/infra-red before the serial
connector will work?).


>and
>programmers don't want to take the time to implement another protocol when 
>they already one that
>works fine.

This is maybe the case for the existing programs, but implementing the
modem protocol for new programs is hard.

It's a shame the IGS/NNGS protocol is not more clearly defined, with some
public domain client implementations that programmers could just plug in to
their existing programs. Does the protocol have everything that is needed
for running computer go competitions?

Darren