Wow, that page is great!  I'm glad someone likes WinBoard so much.  I'll put a link from my page to yours -- I'm sure many people will appreciate the sample screenshots and configuration tips.

- Tim Mann

Thank you for taking the time to post your tribute to WinBoard and all of the info on your chess page.  It is one of my favorite sites to visit since the one night that I hit a link here from Yahoo! and was first introduced to the exciting world of chess servers.

My first interface that I downloaded was Slics.  I felt I lost too many games on time with that interface, not seeing the time clock well, crowded windows, etc.  Although I was happy with it otherwise, I decided one night to give WinBoard a try after reading your tribute.  I have been a WinBoard fan since then; it is my ICS interface of choice!  Your tribute to WinBoard sent me in the right direction for just what I needed.  I have since used and looked at several interfaces, but maintain my preference for WinBoard.

Thank you, once again!  *hat tip

Damon Medeiros

No, thank you Damon. Since you've been visiting the chess servers, your kindness and sparkling wit have made them a better place. All of us who play there owe you a debt of gratitude.

See you online.

- Ed

I'm a long time Internet chess player -- not serious, just fun.  I usually just log in to ICC and use BlitzIn.  I've got an FICS account, and an older version of WinBoard (3.6.2) which I've never been too crazy about -- the board size has always bugged me.

I'm downloading 4.0 now, and will give it a shot.  I liked your tribute page with the screen shots -- thanks for taking the time to do it.  I'll bookmark it, and play around with v. 4.0.0.

- Steve Thorn

I just discovered your web page and I wanted to congratulate you on a fine job.  In particular I was interested in your sections on online chess interfaces.  I'm a poor player hoping to improve and have only recently discovered FICS and I'm trying to get up to speed with how to use the system and the interface.  I originally downloaded WinBoard, but I struggled with it a bit.  From what I see on your page, it sounds like I was using an older version of WinBoard and your praise for it was enough to make me download the new version.  Perhaps I'll like this version more. 

- Dean Gay

I would like to know if you could sent me a copy of your menu section of the winboard.ini file. Your notes on how to do this were okay, however, I think the if you post examples of the ones that you like on your menu, Then people would find it a lot easier to setup their own.

Thank You. Once again, thanks on a job THAT'S WELL DONE !!!!!

- Ted Summers

Your point is well taken Ted and I will do so. Thank you.

- Ed

There I was, minding my own business, lazily surfing the net, when I came across your page. I had followed a link from the Andy McFarland's ZIICS page, as I was checking on the progress of his Windows version.  (I too, periodically re-evaluate the chess clients.)  Anyway, I ended up on your Winboard Tribute page, only to be confronted by a block-quote from myself!  So let me congratulate you:

You are the first person in history to have the good sense to quote me in print.  (I plan on being a world-famous filmmaker someday.)  Although you obviously were not convinced by my arguments, my heart was lifted just knowing you took notice of the passion of my pleadings.  Good job!

Still, happy as I am to have my own words used against me, I feel the gauntlet has been thrown down, and some points need to be addressed:

First of all, you were right, there was some stuff in Winboard that I was not aware of.  However, it still doesn't do anything that Slics can't do (we are strictly comparing the on-line features here), and Slics is still easier to use (although I admit it is harder to set up).

As far as cluttered and unattractive, I just don't agree.  You have to realize, many of us only have 640 x 480 resolution screens. Attached slics1.gif is how it looks on my computer. (On a big resolution like yours, Slics would be even better!) You really don't like those pieces? They're the nicest I've seen (colors on capture slightly off, btw).  And you don't have you juggle windows, because you simply lay them out once, and then save the layout. (You can save up to four different layouts).

As you can see, I can see the board, have a conversation, and look at the player list all at the same time.  I can maximize any of the windows at any time (slics2.gif), and then "middle"-ize it again to return to the same layout.  The great thing IS the organization!  The player list NEVER rolls off the screen because it has its own special box. Slics3.gif illustrates me "fingering" someone.  It appears in its OWN window, DISTURBING NOTHING.  I read the finger notes, close the window, and it's gone.  Incoming seeks and challenges also have their own special area (the bottom window, currently empty, in slics2.gif).

You can have any .wav file you want play for moving, capturing, castling, losing, winning, drawing, getting a challenge, etc.  Everything is customizable.  For instance, if you look on my screen shot, you'll see a button marked "STC".  That's the button I push to show me who's in channel 90 on FICS (Slow Time Controls Bunch), a group of which I am a member.  Again, it pops up in its own window, disturbing nothing else.  And I can do everything with the mouse.  The only time I type is when I talking to someone.  (And it can do just what you wish Winboard did, let you send the same message over without retyping it to someone else.)

Speaking of your Winboard wish list, let's go down those one by one:

• Customized buttons  -- We just covered that.  You can program the buttons in Slics to execute commands they haven't even invented yet.

• More chess fonts -- Well, I like the bitmapped pieces that I have, but you can take a screen shot of any chess font you like (you could even take PHOTOGRAPHS of real chess pieces) and make them into a piece set for Slics using any image editor.  This would be some work, but could be done without that much trouble.  Dan provides a help file showing you how.  You can also design your own polygon-based pieces (these are scaleable).

• Shutting down when logging off -- Slics doesn't do this. 

• Borders on pieces -- Slics has these on the polygon pieces (and there is one set that looks decent in the unregistered version) and doesn't need them on the bitmaps, cause they look almost 3-d, although you could put them on yourself, if you wanted. You could even have pieces that say "ED" on them.

• "Moods" -- I don't think you can do this on-the-fly with either program.  But you can have a variety of .ini files with different colors, etc, like in Winboard.  Does Winboard let you change the color of EVERYTHING?  I don't know, but Slics does.

• Resign sound -- as I said, you can have any sound you want, one for winning, one for losing, one for drawing.

• Different color channels -- can't help you there...

• Clock placement -- Very good with Slics... one on top, one on bottom, no confusion...

In short, Slics is better!  Keep in mind, however, WinBoard is a GREAT program.  I use WinBoard CONSTANTLY... just not for playing chess on the Internet.

- Andy Serpa

Here are the above mentioned screenshots of Slics that Andy sent me.

- Darin Vanatta

Your WinBoard configuration tips and tricks were very helpful to me and a couple of my friends.

I've tried both CClient and Slics and and I also feel that WinBoard is clearly the better of the bunch.

See you on-line.

- Matt B.

- Mike Saavedra

- Tony Dudley

- Andy Harris

- Kirk Bagwell

Mark Yatras

Chris Matevzic

One good feature that is missing, in my opinion, is an "Engine" directory where one could simply throw all the WinBoard-compatible engines. Then when WinBoard started it would look in this directory for all the engines. One would then simply choose from a menu which engine one wanted. This would make the installation of new engines very simple.

  A WinBoard user

1) How do I configure a notification sound when my opponent resigns ?   The reason is I set up a playing board on my computer desk and study the position there, my opponents have resigned and I did not know it for some time as there is no sound for it.    

2) Currently I have to manually send "Initial Greetings" and the "Thank You Message" is there a way I can have these sent automatically when respectively the game starts and the game ends?  

I have shouted these questions out at FICS several times and no one knows; but I did have several requests to know the answer as other members would like to configure these things into their WinBoard program as well.   I hope to hear from you soon, keep up the good work.

  Sean

Bill Rock

Lai Siew Kee

Alan Carpenter