On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 12:48 PM, Mike Robinson <[email protected]>wrote:
> > I should first point out that I'm a big fan of gnu backgammon but there are > a few small things that really irritate. I'm currently using version GNU > Backgammon 0.90-mingw 20090421 and running on XP using MSI wind netbook. > > My suggestions: > > 1)On the 3D screen I can't click the dice to say I've finished a move, > instead I have to press ctrl F. This is a right royal pain. > Try upgrading your graphics driver, and report back if it doesn't help. > 2)There are two buttons for reject and resign but you only need one button > depending on what situation you're in - if you're being doubled then show > reject else show resign. The buttons are grayed when not needed. I think that changing them would be a disturbance. > > 3)I often hit resign (rather than reject) when I'm doubled and it then asks > me whether I wish to resign a single, double etc. I then have to click > again. It's bad enough loosing a game but can't it work out that resign and > reject mean almost the same thing to users. > We could do that. Right clicking the offered cube is easier. > > 4)On analysing a match I need to hit analyse, then analyse match or > session, then match or session statistics. This seems overboard - could it > not continually analyse the play and cumulatively alter my score and > continuously display it in the corner of the screen. This might stop the > wild swings from advanced (1950) down to awful (1550). > Tutor mode may or may not be what you want here... > > 5)After analysis I go back to look at any mistakes I may have made. Once > I've seen them I tend to just quit the program. The program then asks me > whether I really wish to quit a game in the middle. This is annoying and > pointless. > We could make it optional like other warnings. > 6)When moving an isolated checker around the board I still have to be pixel > perfect in selecting the checker, in these situations couldn't the program > assume that because there's no other checkers nearby then I must mean the > closest checker. It would save me a lot of time as the mouse control on > these netbooks is far from perfect. > You may find click-moving easier (left/right click to use left or right dice, or high/low dice if you have set the option for always having the high dice at the left) > > 7)I like to play in the full screen mode however I then loose the buttons > to double and reject or resign. There is also no match score shown or pip > count. This means I have to continually swap between full screen view and > normal view which is frustrating so couldn't these buttons and info be shown > in full mode. > Doubling/taking/dropping is done be clicking the cube. Accepting a resignation the same way. > 8)The appearance of the board is fine but could you perhaps make a deal > with board manufactures to have copies of their boards and pieces as part of > the 3D drop down. I currently would like to purchase a crisloid backgammon > but the 2D crisloid set looks nothing like the real sets. The manufacturer > could perhaps give a little towards the upkeep of gnu and in return > potential buyers can try out their boards in real play! Not a bad idea, if somebody wish to work on it... > 9)Occasionally I forget to use all the moves available to me (usually after > a complex double) and after I hit ctrl F to finish my go I get the error > "Illegal or unparseable move" - I suspect this message is gobbledygook for > most users. > This has to do with the flexibility of the program. Would "Unfinished or illegal move" be better? > > 10)I joined this forum to post these issues but find the forum near > impossible to use (perhaps I'm not using it right?). Finding previous posts > is difficult and the general presentation of information harks back to the > 1970's. The only way I can post issues is via replying an email - this can't > be right. Can't you use any modern forum (shareware) software? > There is a bug report form https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=gnubg and a searchable archive of post messages http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnubg/ Both are advertised on the front of our homepage www.gnubg.org. And while a mailing list may seem low tech, it is still the most versatile and low maintenance form of communication. Christian.
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