Picochess history Part 1

Picochess History Part 1 – From v0.33 until v0.59

This is the first part of the history. I decided to use the v0.60 Release as the breakpoint cause before the menu was complete different. The older states were using a quick but hard to remember menu system. You had to learn alot of button codes or use a paper to write down what menu button is doing what in a special situation like “position setup” as an example.

In 2015 DGT get in contact with us developers and told us, they want to build a new DGT clock with a Raspberry PI inside using the picochess program. This new clock addresses people with few computer knowledge and therefore the usage should be as easy as possible. That was the reason we changed the menu system in v0.60 completely. And this is my reason now to break the history in “before v0.60”.

Since i’m part of the developer team since 01.Apr 2015, i begin with v0.33 which was the current version at that time. Maybe i post something lateron with even older versions, lets see. This list is not complete  – it only list a few main parts during the development.

Versions 0.33 to 0.39

• various bug fixes and small improvements allover the UI (user interface)
• Chesstalker – picochess speaks the moves and actions
• “Game end” is now with the FIDE rules of “5 times repetition & 75 moves”
• new opening books
• “Switch Sides”

Versions 0.40 to 0.49 (v0.40 was released 2015/06/03)

• analysis mode – Displays the best move but don’t play itself – pondering
• kibitz mode – Displays the best value but don’t play itself – pondering
• short notation speaking of chesstalker – before chesstalker saying for example “N g1 f3” now “Nf3”
• “Stop Search” – pressing the middle button stops picochess from calculation and the best move is done
• “Halt/Start the clock”

Versions 0.50 to 0.59 (v0.50 was released 2015/08/12)

• Switch engine/book/time during the game – Esp the engine switch incl. the level setup was a big improvement
• Resign/draw with kings similar to the dgt system
• Alternative Move – You can ask picochess to calculate the next best move
• chess960 (also known as “Fischer Random Chess”) Implementation
• Remote play – you can play against someone else over internet
• Tablebases support
• DGTPi coding starts (first working version is from Nov 13th. 2015).

Versions 0.60 onwards (v0.60 was released in 2016/03/22)

• as i said, i will write about this history in another post. Stay tuned.