Provided by: xgammon_0.99.1128-3build1_amd64 bug

NAME

       xgammon - an X11 backgammon for linux

SYNOPSIS

       xgammon [-otherdisplay <displayname>]
               [-boardgeometry <geometry_string>]
               [-boardcolor    <color>] [-bc <color>]
               [-darkcolor     <color>] [-dc <color>]
               [-lightcolor    <color>] [-lc <color>]
               [-barcolor      <color>] [-b  <color>]
               [-whitecolor    <color>] [-blackcolor <color>]
               [-doublerfont   <font>]  [-smallFont <font>]
               [-doubling      +doubling]
               [-watchmove     +wachmove]
               [-stonesteps    <pixel>]
               [-delaytime     <tsec>]
               [-buttonmove    +buttonmove]
               [-bm            +bm]
               [-autoplay      +autoplay]
               [-rollout       +rollout]
               [-nr   <number_of_rollouts>]
               [-f    <filename>]
               [-h    (black|white)]
               [-gamekind -g   (hvc|cvc|hvh)]
               [-winat         <points>]
               [-? -help]

DESCRIPTION

       `xgammon', a backgammon program for linux

OPTIONS

       xgammon recognizes the following options:

       -otherdisplay <displayname>
              Play  a  game  with a player on some remote X-Terminal.  A second `xgammon' will be
              displayed there. (example: xgammon -otherdisplay somehost:0.0)

       -boardgeometry <geometry_string>
              Defines  the  size  of   the   board   widget.   `Geometry_string'   must   be   an
              XtGeometry-string  (example:  450x350).  By default the relation of width/height of
              the board is 12/15. <Geometry_string> is rounded to this relation.

       -boardcolor, -bc <color>
              Sets the background color of the board.

       -darkcolor, -dc <color>
              Sets the color of dark points.

       -lightcolor, -lc <color>
              Sets the color of light points.

       -barcolor, -b <color>
              Sets the color of the bar and the left and right edge of the board.

       -whitecolor, -blackcolor <color>
              Sets the color of the stones.

       -humancolor, -h (black|white)
              Sets the color of the human player's stones.  Implies a game between `xgammon'  and
              a human being. (The default).

       -doublerfont <font>, -smallFont <font>
              These  are  the fonts used for the doubler dice.  Only one large and one small font
              can be selected now, not a font family yet.

       -gamekind, -g (cvc|hvc|hvh)
              Sets the game.
              cvc means computer versus computer,
              hvc means human    versus computer,
              hvh means human    versus human,

       -winat <points>
              Play a tournament up to <points> points.

       -watchmove, +watchmove
              `xgammon' will "move" it's stones.

       -stonesteps <pixel>
              You can speed up the stones by giving  this  resource  a  greater  value.   Implies
              watchmove is set `true'.

       -delaytime (tseconds)
              Sets  a  delaytime  in  tenth  of  a  second,  which gives you a closer look on the
              computer moves.  Implies watchmove is set `false'.

       -buttonmove -mb, +buttonmove +bm
              If buttonmove is true, you can set the stones simply by pressing the  button.   The
              left  button  sets  the  lower  dice  value,  the  right one the other.  In case of
              equation both buttons can be used.

       -autoplay, +autoplay
              `Xgammon' will set your stones, if there is only one possible move.

       -doubling, +doubling
              Sets the use of the doubler dice.  Since the doubling of `xgammon' is  still  poor,
              you might wish to turn it off.

       -rollout, +rollout
              `Xgammon'  will rollout a position. This rank  is read from a file.  (See -f option
              below.) This file  is  automatically  generated  from  the  current  game,  if  not
              specified otherwise.

       -nr <number_of_rollouts>
              Sets the number of rollouts.

       -f <filename>
              Specifies the positionfile you want to use. The default is `xgammon.save'.

       -database <filename>
              Specifies the endgame database file to use.

HOW TO PLAY

       When  you start the game, `xgammon' will immediately roll and start a game. When it's your
       turn:
       Move pointer to a stone.
       Press left button.
       Carry stone to the chosen point.
       Release button.
       That's it.
       To speed this a little up, try  the  +buttonmove  option  or  .buttonmove  resource.  (See
       RESOURCES or OPTIONS.)

DOUBLING

       When  you're  allowed  to  double, `xgammon' draws empty dice.  You can double by a single
       click on the doubler dice or press the `d' key.
       Some simple popups manage the rest.
       This is only possible, when the `doubling' resource is `true'. (See RESOURCES or OPTIONS.)

GAME OPTIONS

       There are three different kind of games. Human versus human, computer  versus  human,  and
       computer  versus  computer.  The  last one isn't very meaningful yet, and more or less for
       reasons of development.

MENU OPTIONS

       [edit position]
              If you click on this menu entry, `xgammon' will first break  the  current  game  or
              tournament  and  draw an empty board. Then you can enter a position to your liking.
              The right button gives you a black stone, the  left  button  a  white  stone.   The
              middle  button  removes a stone.  If there are 15 stones of each color on the board
              `xgammon' will automatically ask you for the dice and doubler etc. in a popup.   In
              case  of  stones already beared off, you can break the setting of stones by hitting
              any key.  Choose `ok' button and the game continues.  You can as  well  rollout  or
              maildump this position.  (For this purpose set the right gamekind first.)

       [computer finish]
              If  the  game  is almost done and you are bored with rolling it down, you can click
              this option and the computer will finish the game. At the end of the game the human
              player gets control again.
              In this mode the computer will not double.

       [rollout]
              To rollout a position use this option.  The number of games rolled out are set with
              the `numrollouts' resource or the -nr  command  line  option.   (see  RESOURCES  or
              OPTIONS.)   Invoked  from  the  game `xgammon' will fork itself and start a second,
              third ... process, so you can continue playing.  There will be a  popup  to  inform
              you about the current state and the result.  This popup will vanish with any button
              or key event inside.  The  result  of  the  rollout  is  additionally  saved  in  a
              `xgammon.rollout.<num>.save'  file.  It is more appropriate to use this feature via
              commandline options.  (See ROLLOUT below.)

       [mail dump]
              Saves the current or  an  edited  position  in  the  format  used  by  FIBS  or  in
              `rec.games.backgammon' newsgroup in a file named `xgammon.maildump'.

KEYS

       The board reacts on the following keys:
       `q', `<Ctrl>c' or `<Ctrl>d' quit the game.
       `u' undoes the current move move.
       `r' restarts the game (tournament).
       `s', `S', `l' and `L' save or load a position or game.
       You may set these keys in your .Xdefaults file.

TEXT WINDOWS

       There  are two text windows in the `XGammon-Buttons' window, where the current tournament,
       moves, doubler actions etc. are printed. You can also add comments there.  The text in the
       lower window will be saved if you invoke any save command.

EDIT A POSITION

       You  may  edit  a  position, and play out from there, by pressing the `edit position' menu
       entry in the `game' menu.  Black stones are set with left mouse button, white stones  with
       the  right  one.  If you misplace a stone you can remove it with the middle button.  There
       will be a popup asking for additional information, if you have entered  15  black  and  15
       white stones, or pressed any key to stop placing stones.

MAIL DUMP A POSITION

       Clicking  the  menu  entry  `mail dump' `xgammon' will save the current position in a file
       named  `xgammon.maildump'.   The  occuring   format   is   that   used   most   often   in
       `rec.games.backgammon' news group.  So it should be very easy to edit a position, add some
       comments and then mail or post it.

ROLLOUTS

       Even if there is the menu option `rollout', this is more or less a  command  line  option.
       An example would be
       `xgammon -rollout -nr 1000 -doubling -f rollout.save',
       which  would  rollout  a  1000  times  the position saved in `rollout.save'.  It should be
       rather easy to modify  the  save  file  slightly,  and  make  several  rollouts  of  these
       positions.  All  results  will  be  appended  to  these  files.  If you use the menu entry
       `rollout', it is most important to set  an  appropriate  `numrollouts'  resource  in  your
       `.Xdefault'  file,  because  `xgammon'  will  not  ask  you  for this value, when starting
       rollouts.

X RESOURCES

       .otherdisplay: <displayname>
              Play a game with a player on some remote X-Terminal.  A second  `xgammon'  will  be
              displayed there. (example: xgammon -otherdisplay somehost:0.0)

       .boardColor: <color>
              Specifies the background color of the board.

       .lightColor: <color>
              Specifies the background color of the lighter points.

       .darkColor: <color>
              Specifies the background color of the darker points.

       .barColor: <color>
              Specifies the color of the bar and the board borders.

       .whiteColor: <color>
              Specifies the color of the "white" stones.

       .blackColor: <color>
              Specifies the color of the "black" stones.

       .doublerFont: <font>, .smallFont: <font>
              Defines the fonts used for doubler dice. The doubler dice size depends on the board
              size. If the board size is too small, the smallFont will be used.

       *board.cursor: <cursor>
              Sets the cursor to be used for the board widget(s).

       .humanStones: <black|white>
              If you want to play the white stones set this  resource  to  "white".  ("Black"  is
              Default.)

       .watchmove: <true|false>
              If watchmove is true, you can see the stones "fly", when the computer moves.

       .delaytime: <seconds>
              Sets  a  delaytime  in  tenth  of  a  second,  which gives you a closer look on the
              computer moves.  Implies watchmove is set `false'.

       .stonesteps: <pixel>
              You can speed up the stones by giving  this  resource  a  greater  value.   Implies
              watchmove is `true'.

       .doubling: <true|false>
              Sets  the  use  of doubler dice.  Since the doubling of the computer is still poor,
              you might wish to turn it off.

       .buttonMove: <true|false>
              If buttonmove is true, you can play by simply pressing a button.  The  left  button
              sets  the  lower dice value, the right one the other.  On equation both buttons can
              be used.

       .numrollouts: <number>
              Specifies the number of rollouts from a given position, before adding the result to
              a position file. Any unsigned integer value should be all right.

       .positionfile: <name>
              The file, where `xgammon' shall save and load all informations to-and-fro.

DIAGNOSTICS

       `Xgammon'  uses  the  function  usleep()  for  delaytime.   Usleep  is not defined on some
       systems.
       #define usleep(a) sleep(a)
       is set then.  As a result, you can only delay seconds, not tseconds.

BUGS

       The program is still in state of development, so there are certainly bugs.  `Xgammon' will
       save  the current position in a `xgammon.sig_save' file on some signals. Please email this
       file to the authors.  It may help find the bugs.  If you can generate a core  dump,  gzip,
       uuencode and mail it, which would also be very helpful.

       Otherdisplay:
       Some popup resources and actions on ".otherdisplay" sometimes get lost.
       Black can set white stones and vv. (funny feature ?)

AUTHORS

       Lambert Klasen and Detlef Steuer
       email:
       klasen@asterix.uni-muenster.de steuer@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de