GNU Backgammon

Forum Archive : GNU Backgammon

 
What's GNU?

From:   Gary Wong
Address:   gtw@gnu.org
Date:   26 October 2001
Subject:   Re: What is GNU?
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   dh6pu7aozfy.fsf@pc-gtw.research.att.com

> Please tell me what is GNU?  Is there a web site to go to to explain it?

  What is GNU?  GNU's Not Unix!

  GNU is a project to develop a software system which everybody is
free to use, to study, to share, and to modify.  A considerable amount
of software has already been written specifically for the GNU project
(an editor and compiler were among the first, and hundreds of utilities,
games, and libraries have been added).  Some programs written by other
groups (such as the X Window System and the TeX typesetter) can be used
alongside the GNU software, and the GNU tools are often run on the Linux
kernel, forming the GNU/Linux system.

  An overview of the GNU Project is available online at:

    http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html


  More relevant to this newsgroup is the GNU Backgammon program (gnubg for
short).  gnubg is free software being developed for the GNU Project, which
plays and analyses backgammon games and matches.  It has not yet been
released, although pre-releases are being made available to anybody who
would like to help us test what has been completed so far.  You can learn
more about gnubg from the page:

    http://www.gnu.org/software/gnubg/gnubg.html

  While the primary target for GNU software is the GNU system itself,
many programs have been ported to other platforms; I understand that
the available pre-releases of gnubg run under GNU/Linux, *BSD, IRIX,
MS-DOS and MS Windows, Solaris, and Tru64 Unix operating systems, on
68K, 80x86, Alpha, ARM, IA-64, MIPS, PA-RISC, PowerPC, S/390 and SPARC
processors.  Ports to other systems are in the works.  If you would
like to compile a pre-release of gnubg yourself, the source code is
available from:

    ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/gnubg/

or via CVS (see the gnubg home page for directions to the CVS repository).

  The GNU Project does not generally make binaries of its software
available online (though you will be able to buy GNU CD-ROMs containing
gnubg once it is released).  However, independent groups often make
binaries of GNU software available; the locations of gnubg binaries I
am aware of are:

    http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/gnubg.html

for Debian GNU/Linux, and

    http://home.online.no/~oeysteij/

for MS Windows.  I have heard some discussion about putting gnubg in
the FreeBSD ports tree, but I don't know if it's there yet.

  If you do test a gnubg pre-release, please send any bug reports to
<bug-gnubg@gnu.org>.

Cheers,
Gary.
--
Gary Wong           gtw@gnu.org           http://www.cs.arizona.edu/~gary/
 
Did you find the information in this article useful?          

Do you have any comments you'd like to add?     

 

GNU Backgammon

Analyzing GamesGrid matches  (Roy Passfield, Dec 2001) 
Batch analysis tool  (Øystein Johansen, June 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Cache size  (Ned Cross+, Mar 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Compiling for Windows  (Øystein Johansen, Jan 2002) 
Edit mode removing checker from bar  (Scott Steiner+, May 2003) 
Entering an annotated match  (Albert Silver, Dec 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
Error rates: Gnu vs. Snowie  (Raccoon, Mar 2006)  [GammOnLine forum]
Even-ply/odd-ply effect  (Raccoon, Nov 2004) 
Even-ply/odd-ply effect  (Tom Keith+, Oct 2003) 
Even-ply/odd-ply effect  (Scott Steiner+, Dec 2002) 
Filter settings  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, Nov 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Gnu 0.13 versus Jellyfish and Snowie  (Torsten Schoop, Aug 2003) 
Gnu 0.13 vs. Snowie 4  (Albert Silver, June 2003) 
Gnu 0.14 vs. Jellyfish  (Michael Howard+, July 2003) 
Gnu versus Snowie and Jellyfish  (Michael Depreli, Oct 2005) 
How luck factor is calculated  (Gregg Cattanach, Aug 2002) 
How rollouts work  (Gary Wong, July 1999) 
How to enter an illegal move  (Øystein Johansen, Aug 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
Importing .gam files  (PAR+, Mar 2005) 
Importing PartyGammon matches  (rew+, July 2006) 
Improving your game using GnuBG  (D.U.G.+, Nov 2002) 
Installing on Windows  (maareyes, Oct 2001) 
Interpreting JSD's  (Adrian Wright+, Feb 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
JSD's and confidence intervals  (Daniel Murphy+, Jan 2005) 
Logging rollouts  (Øystein Johansen, Oct 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Luck rate  (Kees van den Doel+, May 2002) 
MWC versus Equity (EMG)  (Ken+, Apr 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
Manually entering first roll  (Andreas Graf+, Apr 2005) 
Match equity tables  (Raccoon, July 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
Personal reflections  (Louis Nardy Pillards, Sept 2002) 
Playing two computers against each other  (Stanley E. Richards+, Mar 2008)  [GammOnLine forum]
Python scripting  (Øystein Johansen+, Nov 2004) 
Quasi-random dice in rollouts  (Ian Shaw, Mar 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Question marks in game list  (Jim Segrave, July 2005) 
Questions and answers  (Jim Segrave+, Jan 2003) 
Questions and answers  (Jørn Thyssen, Aug 2002) 
Restarting a rollout with different settings  (Jim Segrave, Apr 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
Restarting a rollout with different settings  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, Apr 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Rollout settings  (geoff arnold+, Apr 2007) 
Rollout settings  (Stick+, Nov 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
Rollout settings  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, Mar 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Rollout settings  (Ian Dunstan, Aug 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
Rollout settings for the impatient  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, June 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Running rollouts in background  (Bruce+, Apr 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Saving rollout results from command-line interface  (Jeremy Bagai+, Apr 2006)  [GammOnLine forum]
Saving rollouts  (Mislav Radica+, May 2006)  [GammOnLine forum]
Setting GnuBG's playing strength  (JP White, Sept 2001) 
Setting skill level  (Jim Segrave, Apr 2004) 
Setting up and saving a rollout  (Albert Silver, Dec 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
What's GNU?  (Gary Wong, Oct 2001) 
Which player is player 0?  (Neil Kazaross+, Oct 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]

[GammOnLine forum]  From GammOnLine       [Long message]  Long message       [Recommended reading]  Recommended reading       [Recent addition]  Recent addition
 

  Book Suggestions
Books
Cheating
Chouettes
Computer Dice
Cube Handling
Cube Handling in Races
Equipment
Etiquette
Extreme Gammon
Fun and frustration
GNU Backgammon
History
Jellyfish
Learning
Luck versus Skill
Magazines & E-zines
Match Archives
Match Equities
Match Play
Match Play at 2-away/2-away
Miscellaneous
Opening Rolls
Pip Counting
Play Sites
Probability and Statistics
Programming
Propositions
Puzzles
Ratings
Rollouts
Rules
Rulings
Snowie
Software
Source Code
Strategy--Backgames
Strategy--Bearing Off
Strategy--Checker play
Terminology
Theory
Tournaments
Uncategorized
Variations

 

Return to:  Backgammon Galore : Forum Archive Main Page