Re: [computer-go] GTP and Tourney in SmartGo 1.4

[Erik van der Werf <E.vanderWerf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

My experience with GMP at the last olympiad was that the protocol is not the 
biggest problem. I was using CGoban 1 with GMP to interface with other programs 
and although there were some occasional problems in setting up the connection I 
was eventually able to play against all other programs that supported GMP. (Only 
two out of 10 did not have GMP) Nevertheless, I did observe several strange 
difficulties especially between other programs. At the tournament I was puzzling 
a bit about this, and it seemed that the reason lies in the differences between 
serial cables (there are several ways to do or fake the handshaking depending on 
the number of wires used in the null-modem cable). Apparently some programs are 
more sensitive to these differences than others, and maybe the OS also has some 
influence on it.

In principle I think it's a good idea if programs support GTP. However, GTP 
alone will not solve the problem of setting up the connections between 
computers. Moreover, it seems silly to force existing programs (which already 
have GMP) to add an implementation for GTP when translation between protocols 
for the basic functionality to play games should be possible.
To get the GTP protocol accepted I think we need some client software similar to 
to CGoban 1 which is able to provide several ways to connect computers. (For 
this Markus's gogui seems like a step in the right direction, but at the last 
olympiad the serial support didn't seem robust enough, and I'm not yet sure 
about the other functionality.)

Ideally I would like the ability to do all of the following:

- Start a GTP connection to a local program
- Support for GTP over a serial cable
- Support for GTP over TCP/IP
- Ability to start a GMP connection to a local program (like in cgoban1)
- Robust support for GMP over a serial cable (so no problems with handshaking)
- Ability to connect over a USB cross cable.
- Ability to connect over a UTP cross cable.
- Support for connecting to Go servers like NNGS or KGS
- Ability to act as an intermediate/server between 2 computers
- Ability to act as a tournament server hosting multiple games over TCP/IP
- Ability to use as a local client operated by a human (in case all else fails)
- All the standard functionality for things like loading, saving, and editing 
games like available in cgoban 1.

I think if this functionality would be available in one (free) program it could 
significantly 'improve on the convenience level of the USENIX tournaments' 
without scaring away anyone.

Regards,
Erik



Martin Mueller wrote:
> > Good.  IMHO another GTP engine is way more important than another 
> > controller.
> > We have plenty of controllers and are really short on GTP-supporting 
> > engines.
>
> Both NeuroGo and Explorer support GTP. I hope that all future 
> tournaments will use it in place of the modem protocol. The best way to 
> make it happen would be a big tournament that enforces it...
> Just imagine a tournament where all programs can play fully 
> automatically via a server. Then we would finally improve on the 
> convenience level of the USENIX tournaments in the eighties :)
>
>     Martin
>
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