scid-users — for discussion of Scid by its users

Re: [Scid-users] Annoying problem in SCID 5.1.0

[Marius R. <roe...@gm...>]

Hi there,

Yes there is. On the notation window menu (the 3 lines next to the notation
window title) you can go to "Display" and then select "Strip out Colored
Square/Arrow Codes".

It is not a comment as much as a directive, and although this is not
strictly speaking part of the PGN standard, it is common and standard
practice, also used by Lichess and other sites to store instructions for
additional visual annotations on the board (like arrows and highlighted
squares). In SCID the right mouse button is used to make
such visual annotations. I agree that it is not useful to see in the
notation window, but it is very useful to have in the notation. It means
that you can export a pgn, and then later import it with the arrows and
other highlights intact.

Regards
Marius

On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 1:49 AM Steve Cohen <ste...@gm...> wrote:

> Much more often than I'd like, I make some movement with my mouse to move
> a piece on the board and it leaves a "comment" that is of more interest
> to the developers than it is to me.  Such a "comment" should go into a log
> file, not the user interface.  See lower right of screenshot below
>
> [image: image.png]
>
> While I can delete these comments in the comment editor they should never
> have made it into the comments in the first place.  Is there some way to
> turn this unwanted behavior off?
> _______________________________________________
> Scid-users mailing list
> Sci...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>

[Scid-users] Annoying problem in SCID 5.1.0

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

Much more often than I'd like, I make some movement with my mouse to move a
piece on the board and it leaves a "comment" that is of more interest
to the developers than it is to me.  Such a "comment" should go into a log
file, not the user interface.  See lower right of screenshot below

[image: image.png]

While I can delete these comments in the comment editor they should never
have made it into the comments in the first place.  Is there some way to
turn this unwanted behavior off?

[Scid-users] Tactical game

[Werner H. <wer...@un...>]

Hello everybody,

Overall I'm very happy with Scid. Thanks to all the people involved in 
this project.

But there is a small problem I can't solve.

I am not able to play a tactical game in Scid.

I made a new installation of Scid, Version 5.0.2., Windows 10

I open the menu "Play" → "Tactical game"

I see the message: „Phalanx or Toga not found."

I go to "Tools" → "Configure Engines" → "New"

Name: "Phalanx"

Command:  ".....5.1\engines\phalanx-scid.exe"

OK

Now I try again: "Play" → "Tactical game"

A menu appears and I can set the difficulty etc.:

Difficulty:

Fixed: 1350

Opening:

Start New Game

Time:

limit engine analysis time

10 seconds

Play

Now everythings seems to be set up correctly. I see the two clocks.

I make a move.

The clock of my opponent ("Phalanx 1350") ticks, no other reaction.

After waiting for some minutes I click „Stop" - a move is made and the 
program stops.

I have almost the same experience on a Debian 12 system (Scid 5.1.0; 
without the last move).

I checked previous Windows versions. If I'm not mistaken Scid 4.6.4 was 
the last version, where this function worked (out of the box, by the 
way).

Has anybody a solution for this?

Thanks for any assistance

Werner

Re: [Scid-users] Can't install stockfish engine in SCID 5.1.0

[Frank E. <fr...@es...>]

Hi Steve, I had a similar problem with SCID under Kubuntu 24.04. At that 
time the following procedure helped me, which also runs under Kubuntu 25.04.
I use the graphical user interface kde and Discover.
Go to the following page 
‘https://sourceforge.net/projects/scid/files/Scid/Scid%205.1/’
Click on ‘Azure DevOps Build Pipeline’ and you will get to the following 
page:
https://dev.azure.com/beninifulvio/beninifulvio/_build/results?buildId=1123&view=results
There you click on 5 published 
‘https://dev.azure.com/beninifulvio/beninifulvio/_build/results?buildId=1123&view=artifacts&pathAsName=false’
and you will get to the page 
‘https://dev.azure.com/beninifulvio/beninifulvio/_build/results?buildId=1123&view=artifacts&pathAsName=false&type=publishedArtifacts’

Then click on the 3 dots after scid_ubuntu_latest_x64_deb_pacage!



Then click on Download artifacts.

Download the zip file and unzip the file.
Now I do an action that I don't know whether it is actually necessary.
I install the .deb file with Discover!

Then I unzip the .deb file and copy the resulting scid directory to my 
home directory!

I delete the old .scid5.1 configuration file (or rename it).

Change to the scid directory in your home directory and then to usr/scid 
and start the scid file.

Now you can customise Scid and load any engine from any directory into Scid.

By the way: Stockfish is not a command line programme. It only works 
with a GUI such as Scid.






Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Am 04.05.25 um 21:44 schrieb Steve Cohen:
> ... and that works!
>
> On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM Steve Cohen <ste...@gm...> wrote:
>
>     Thanks, but it isn't working for me.  Something very strange is
>     going on.
>
>     There was a web page How to Install Stockfish on Ubuntu such as
>     24.04, 22.04 or 20.04 – A Chess Engine
>     <https://linux.how2shout.com/how-to-install-stockfish-on-ubuntu-22-04-or-20-04-a-chess-engine/> that
>     I followed but not exactly since it refers to an earlier version. 
>     I downloaded the latest Stockfish (17.1), extracted the archive,
>     and, as the document suggests, moved it to /usr/games which is on
>     my path and also renaming the executable to 'stockfish':sudo mv
>     stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2 /usr/games/stockfish.  From there,
>     stockfish is executable on the command line.
>
>     However, things get pretty hinky in scid.  First the /usr/games
>     directory is not even visible in SCID's directory chooser window:
>
>     Screenshot from 2025-05-04 12-18-16.png
>     Yet, it is there:
>     $ cd /usr
>     $ ls -al games
>     total 76960
>     drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
>     drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
>     -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
>     -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
>     -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024
>     gamemode-simulate-game
>     -rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish
>
>     Why won't SCID recognize the directory?
>
>     Because of this, I am forced to enter the command for stockfish as
>     /usr/games/stockfish
>
>     When I do so, I get this error message:
>
>     Screenshot from 2025-05-04 12-14-22.png
>     This is a bug.  SCID's handling of directories is certainly not
>     standard.
>
>     I suppose I can move the file elsewhere.  Since I only use
>     stockfish with scid, I don't need to care if it's on the path.
>
>     On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM Frank Eschenauer
>     <fr...@es...> wrote:
>
>         Hello Steve,
>         You must download the file for Linux avx2 from the page
>         “https://stockfishchess.org/download/”
>         <https://stockfishchess.org/download/”>. Click on the
>         “Download” button and unpack the archive in a directory of
>         your choice.
>         Copy the file “stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2” into the
>         directory where you expect to find the engines for Scid for
>         Linux or a directory of your choice!
>         Start SCID and press the “+” button in the engine window,
>         change to the directory in which you copied the Stockfish
>         file, select the file and click on open.
>         The new engine is loaded and works perfectly.
>         Greetings Frank
>
>         Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
>
>         Am 03.05.25 um 20:35 schrieb Steve Cohen:
>>         Trying to get SCID to use stockfish in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
>>
>>         Downloaded it from the Stockfish site.  I had previously
>>         tried to install the "official version" sudo apt install
>>         stockfish. This failed as below, so I decided to try the
>>         latest.  It made no difference.
>>         Not sure what I am doing wrong here:
>>
>>         scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ ls -al /usr/games
>>         total 76960
>>         drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
>>         drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
>>         -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
>>         -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
>>         -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024
>>         gamemode-simulate-game
>>         *-rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish*
>>         scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ which stockfish
>>         /usr/games/stockfish
>>         scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ stockfish
>>         Stockfish 17.1 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file)
>>
>>         So, Stockfish is there, and is executable.
>>
>>         But inside SCID ...
>>
>>         image.png
>>
>>         it doesn't work.
>>
>>         What am I missing here?
>>
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         Scid-users mailing list
>>         Sci...@li...
>>         https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>
>         _______________________________________________
>         Scid-users mailing list
>         Sci...@li...
>         https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>

Re: [Scid-users] Can't install stockfish engine in SCID 5.1.0

[David F. <mat...@ya...>]

  
  
  
...and what "works?"
  

  

  
Kind regards,  
Michael Gene Anderson   
  
(cell) - (510)-681-4982
  

  
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted." -   Jesus Christ
  

  
"The introduction of numbers as coordinates is an act of violence."
  
- Herman Weyl   
  
  
  
  
  
  
>   
> On May 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM, Steve Cohen  <ste...@gm...>  wrote:
>   
>   
> ... and that works!
>   
>   
>   
> On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM Steve Cohen  <ste...@gm...>  wrote:
>   
> >   
> > Thanks, but it isn't working for me.    Something very strange is going on.  
> >
> >   
> > There was a web page   How to Install Stockfish on Ubuntu such as 24.04, 22.04 or 20.04 – A Chess Engine   that I followed but not exactly since it   refers to an earlier version.    I downloaded the latest Stockfish (17.1), extracted the archive, and, as the document suggests, moved it to /usr/games which is on my path and also renaming the executable to 'stockfish':   sudo mv stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2 /usr/games/stockfish.    From there, stockfish is executable on the command line.
> >   
> >
> >   
> > However, things get pretty hinky in scid.    First the /usr/games directory is not even visible in SCID's   directory chooser window:
> >   
> >
> >   
> >
> >   
> > Yet, it is there:
> >   
> > $ cd /usr
> >   
> > $ ls -al games
> >  total 76960
> >  drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             4096 May    3 11:08 .
> >  drwxr-xr-x 14 root     root             4096 May    6    2024 ..
> >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             1124 Dec 12    2023 gamemodelist
> >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root                299 Dec 12    2023 gamemoderun
> >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            14648 Apr    8    2024 gamemode-simulate-game
> >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish
> >   
> >
> >   
> > Why won't SCID recognize the directory?
> >   
> >
> >   
> > Because of this, I am forced to enter the command for stockfish as   /usr/games/stockfish
> >   
> >
> >   
> > When I do so, I get this error message:
> >   
> >
> >   
> >
> >   
> > This is a bug.    SCID's handling of directories is certainly not standard.     
> >   
> >
> >   
> > I suppose I can move the file elsewhere.    Since I only use stockfish with scid, I don't need to care if it's on the path.
> >   
> >   
> >   
> >   
> > On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM Frank Eschenauer  <fr...@es...>  wrote:
> >   
> > >   
> > > Hello Steve,
> > >  You must download the file for Linux avx2 from the page “https://stockfishchess.org/download/”. Click on the “Download” button and unpack the archive in a directory of your choice.
> > >  Copy the file “stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2” into the directory where you expect to find the engines for Scid for Linux or a directory of your choice!
> > >  Start SCID and press the “+” button in the engine window, change to the directory in which you copied the Stockfish file, select the file and click on open.
> > >  The new engine is loaded and works perfectly.
> > >  Greetings Frank
> > >   
> > >  Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
> > >   
> > >   
> > > Am 03.05.25 um 20:35 schrieb Steve Cohen:
> > >   
> > > >   
> > > >   
> > > > Trying to get SCID to use stockfish in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > > Downloaded it from the Stockfish site.    I had previously tried to install the "official version"  sudo apt install stockfish.    This failed as below, so I decided to try the latest.    It made no difference.
> > > >  Not sure what I am doing wrong here:  
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > > scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$  ls -al /usr/games
> > > >  total 76960
> > > >  drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             4096 May    3 11:08 .
> > > >  drwxr-xr-x 14 root     root             4096 May    6    2024 ..
> > > >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             1124 Dec 12    2023 gamemodelist
> > > >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root                299 Dec 12    2023 gamemoderun
> > > >  -rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            14648 Apr    8    2024 gamemode-simulate-game
> > > >   -rwxr-xr-x    1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish
> > > >  scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$  which stockfish
> > > >  /usr/games/stockfish
> > > >  scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$  stockfish
> > > >  Stockfish 17.1 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file)
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > > So, Stockfish is there, and is executable.     
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > > But inside SCID ...
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > > it doesn't work.
> > > >   
> > > >
> > > >   
> > > > What am I missing here?
> > > >   
> > > >   
> > > >   
> > > >   
> > > >  _______________________________________________ Scid-users mailing list  Sci...@li...   https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users   
> > >
> > >   
> > >  _______________________________________________
> > >  Scid-users mailing list
> > >   Sci...@li...
> > >   https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
> > >           
>   
>  _______________________________________________
> Scid-users mailing list
> Sci...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>     
     

Re: [Scid-users] Can't install stockfish engine in SCID 5.1.0

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

... and that works!

On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM Steve Cohen <ste...@gm...> wrote:

> Thanks, but it isn't working for me.  Something very strange is going on.
>
> There was a web page How to Install Stockfish on Ubuntu such as 24.04,
> 22.04 or 20.04 – A Chess Engine
> <https://linux.how2shout.com/how-to-install-stockfish-on-ubuntu-22-04-or-20-04-a-chess-engine/> that
> I followed but not exactly since it refers to an earlier version.  I
> downloaded the latest Stockfish (17.1), extracted the archive, and, as the
> document suggests, moved it to /usr/games which is on my path and also
> renaming the executable to 'stockfish': sudo mv
> stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2 /usr/games/stockfish.  From there, stockfish
> is executable on the command line.
>
> However, things get pretty hinky in scid.  First the /usr/games directory
> is not even visible in SCID's directory chooser window:
>
> [image: Screenshot from 2025-05-04 12-18-16.png]
> Yet, it is there:
> $ cd /usr
> $ ls -al games
> total 76960
> drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
> drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024 gamemode-simulate-game
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish
>
> Why won't SCID recognize the directory?
>
> Because of this, I am forced to enter the command for stockfish as
> /usr/games/stockfish
>
> When I do so, I get this error message:
>
> [image: Screenshot from 2025-05-04 12-14-22.png]
> This is a bug.  SCID's handling of directories is certainly not standard.
>
> I suppose I can move the file elsewhere.  Since I only use stockfish with
> scid, I don't need to care if it's on the path.
>
> On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM Frank Eschenauer <fr...@es...>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello Steve,
>> You must download the file for Linux avx2 from the page “
>> https://stockfishchess.org/download/”. Click on the “Download” button
>> and unpack the archive in a directory of your choice.
>> Copy the file “stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2” into the directory where you
>> expect to find the engines for Scid for Linux or a directory of your choice!
>> Start SCID and press the “+” button in the engine window, change to the
>> directory in which you copied the Stockfish file, select the file and click
>> on open.
>> The new engine is loaded and works perfectly.
>> Greetings Frank
>>
>> Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
>>
>> Am 03.05.25 um 20:35 schrieb Steve Cohen:
>>
>> Trying to get SCID to use stockfish in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
>>
>> Downloaded it from the Stockfish site.  I had previously tried to install
>> the "official version" sudo apt install stockfish.  This failed as
>> below, so I decided to try the latest.  It made no difference.
>> Not sure what I am doing wrong here:
>>
>> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ ls -al /usr/games
>> total 76960
>> drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
>> drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
>> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
>> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
>> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024 gamemode-simulate-game
>> *-rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish*
>> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ which stockfish
>> /usr/games/stockfish
>> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ stockfish
>> Stockfish 17.1 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file)
>>
>> So, Stockfish is there, and is executable.
>>
>> But inside SCID ...
>>
>> [image: image.png]
>>
>> it doesn't work.
>>
>> What am I missing here?
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Scid-users mailing lis...@li...://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Scid-users mailing list
>> Sci...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>>
>

Re: [Scid-users] Can't install stockfish engine in SCID 5.1.0

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

Thanks, but it isn't working for me.  Something very strange is going on.

There was a web page How to Install Stockfish on Ubuntu such as 24.04,
22.04 or 20.04 – A Chess Engine
<https://linux.how2shout.com/how-to-install-stockfish-on-ubuntu-22-04-or-20-04-a-chess-engine/>
that
I followed but not exactly since it refers to an earlier version.  I
downloaded the latest Stockfish (17.1), extracted the archive, and, as the
document suggests, moved it to /usr/games which is on my path and also
renaming the executable to 'stockfish': sudo mv
stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2 /usr/games/stockfish.  From there, stockfish
is executable on the command line.

However, things get pretty hinky in scid.  First the /usr/games directory
is not even visible in SCID's directory chooser window:

[image: Screenshot from 2025-05-04 12-18-16.png]
Yet, it is there:
$ cd /usr
$ ls -al games
total 76960
drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024 gamemode-simulate-game
-rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish

Why won't SCID recognize the directory?

Because of this, I am forced to enter the command for stockfish as
/usr/games/stockfish

When I do so, I get this error message:

[image: Screenshot from 2025-05-04 12-14-22.png]
This is a bug.  SCID's handling of directories is certainly not standard.

I suppose I can move the file elsewhere.  Since I only use stockfish with
scid, I don't need to care if it's on the path.

On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM Frank Eschenauer <fr...@es...> wrote:

> Hello Steve,
> You must download the file for Linux avx2 from the page “
> https://stockfishchess.org/download/”. Click on the “Download” button and
> unpack the archive in a directory of your choice.
> Copy the file “stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2” into the directory where you
> expect to find the engines for Scid for Linux or a directory of your choice!
> Start SCID and press the “+” button in the engine window, change to the
> directory in which you copied the Stockfish file, select the file and click
> on open.
> The new engine is loaded and works perfectly.
> Greetings Frank
>
> Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
>
> Am 03.05.25 um 20:35 schrieb Steve Cohen:
>
> Trying to get SCID to use stockfish in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
>
> Downloaded it from the Stockfish site.  I had previously tried to install
> the "official version" sudo apt install stockfish.  This failed as below,
> so I decided to try the latest.  It made no difference.
> Not sure what I am doing wrong here:
>
> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ ls -al /usr/games
> total 76960
> drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
> drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024 gamemode-simulate-game
> *-rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish*
> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ which stockfish
> /usr/games/stockfish
> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ stockfish
> Stockfish 17.1 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file)
>
> So, Stockfish is there, and is executable.
>
> But inside SCID ...
>
> [image: image.png]
>
> it doesn't work.
>
> What am I missing here?
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Scid-users mailing lis...@li...://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Scid-users mailing list
> Sci...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users
>

Re: [Scid-users] Can't install stockfish engine in SCID 5.1.0

[Frank E. <fr...@es...>]

Hello Steve,
You must download the file for Linux avx2 from the page 
“https://stockfishchess.org/download/”. Click on the “Download” button 
and unpack the archive in a directory of your choice.
Copy the file “stockfish-ubuntu-x86-64-avx2” into the directory where 
you expect to find the engines for Scid for Linux or a directory of your 
choice!
Start SCID and press the “+” button in the engine window, change to the 
directory in which you copied the Stockfish file, select the file and 
click on open.
The new engine is loaded and works perfectly.
Greetings Frank

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Am 03.05.25 um 20:35 schrieb Steve Cohen:
> Trying to get SCID to use stockfish in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
>
> Downloaded it from the Stockfish site.  I had previously tried to 
> install the "official version" sudo apt install stockfish.  This 
> failed as below, so I decided to try the latest.  It made no difference.
> Not sure what I am doing wrong here:
>
> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ ls -al /usr/games
> total 76960
> drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
> drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
> -rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024 gamemode-simulate-game
> *-rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish*
> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ which stockfish
> /usr/games/stockfish
> scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ stockfish
> Stockfish 17.1 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file)
>
> So, Stockfish is there, and is executable.
>
> But inside SCID ...
>
> image.png
>
> it doesn't work.
>
> What am I missing here?
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Scid-users mailing list
> Sci...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scid-users

[Scid-users] Can't install stockfish engine in SCID 5.1.0

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

Trying to get SCID to use stockfish in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.

Downloaded it from the Stockfish site.  I had previously tried to install
the "official version" sudo apt install stockfish.  This failed as below,
so I decided to try the latest.  It made no difference.
Not sure what I am doing wrong here:

scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ ls -al /usr/games
total 76960
drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root       4096 May  3 11:08 .
drwxr-xr-x 14 root   root       4096 May  6  2024 ..
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root       1124 Dec 12  2023 gamemodelist
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root        299 Dec 12  2023 gamemoderun
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root   root      14648 Apr  8  2024 gamemode-simulate-game
*-rwxr-xr-x  1 scohen scohen 78768416 Mar 30 05:33 stockfish*
scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ which stockfish
/usr/games/stockfish
scohen@aigas:~/stockfish$ stockfish
Stockfish 17.1 by the Stockfish developers (see AUTHORS file)

So, Stockfish is there, and is executable.

But inside SCID ...

[image: image.png]

it doesn't work.

What am I missing here?

Re: [Scid-users] Layouts in game window

[Alan B. <adb...@ya...>]

On 4/16/25 00:13, Marius Roets wrote:
> When right-clicking on the
> column headers in the game list, there is an option to select different
> layouts (which I created in the previous version of SCID). 

I don't see that at all. Probably because you have a file present while 
I do not.

> There is also 
> a save option, but it gives no prompts and I'm not sure which layout it 
> saves to if any. 

The layout you are changing is the "NewLayout1" at the top. When you 
click save you should get your changes saved to another layout button at 
the bottom called NewLayout1 (if you didn't change that label before 
clicking save).

> I have not been able to recall any layout after saving 
> using this method.

Recall a layout by clicking on its button.
1. Click one of the existing buttons as a starting point.
2. Left-click and right-click to edit the "NewLayout1" layout.
3. Change the "NewLayout1" label to "Foo".
4. Click Save, creating a new layout button, Foo.
5. Click on Foo to recall your layout.

If you like to get your hands dirty, search for glist_Layouts in 
options.dat.

-- 
Alan

Re: [Scid-users] Automated annotations: why/when variations, NAGs?

[Alan B. <adb...@ya...>]

On 2/16/25 22:49, Dan Friedman wrote:
> When I have Stockfish configured for Analysis, and I perform an 
> automated annotation, I see variations are introduced in the PGN window, 
> as well as NAG codes.


> 
> On what basis are both of these created? 


I have never used the Automatic Analysis myself, so my answer is just 
what I found out by poking around in Scid.

> 
> 1. What is "deciding," and on what basis, that it's time to introduce a 
> variation into the annotation?
> 
> 2. Some moves get annotated, and some don't. What is "deciding," and on 
> what basis, that a particular move should be annotated?
> 

It's in the Scid Help. On the menu click [Help], then [Contents]. Click 
the topic [Analysis window], scroll down to "Annotating a game", and you 
will see there is an "Annotate" button. Click that button and you can 
change the settings for (1) and (2).


> 3. What is the algorithm for "deciding" which NAG should be used for any 
> given position? 

For (3), on the menu click [Options], then [Preferences...]. Select the 
tab "Informant values". To be honest I don't understand what the 
"Interesting move" value corresponds to, but the "+.." values are 
absolute scores and the "?.." values are relative to the best move.

-- 
Alan

Re: [Scid-users] Sorting the Database Permanently by Date

[Alan B. <adb...@ya...>]

On 1/15/25 13:33, James Williams via Scid-users wrote:

> I entered them all in (slowly) in strict chronological order. But now the games are wildly out of order. 

You don't say what version of Scid you are using. In Scid-5.0.2 it works 
like this:

* The order in the PGN file corresponds to the list column "Number".
* The default sort is "RatingDate" which is not what you want.
* Try clicking the "Full" button, which _is_ sorted by "Number".

-- 
Alan

Re: [Scid-users] Layouts in game window

[Marius R. <roe...@gm...>]

Hi all,

Maybe I need to add a bit more information. When right-clicking on the
column headers in the game list, there is an option to select different
layouts (which I created in the previous version of SCID). There is also a
save option, but it gives no prompts and I'm not sure which layout it saves
to if any. I have not been able to recall any layout after saving using
this method.

Regards
Marius

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 1:51 PM Marius Roets <roe...@gm...> wrote:

> Hi everybody,
>
> I have cloned and built the latest version of SCID. Thanks for the
> continuous improvements.
>
> On the new game list, I could not find how to save layouts. Also I could
> not find how to edit existing layouts.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks
> Marius
>

[Scid-users] Layouts in game window

[Marius R. <roe...@gm...>]

Hi everybody,

I have cloned and built the latest version of SCID. Thanks for the
continuous improvements.

On the new game list, I could not find how to save layouts. Also I could
not find how to edit existing layouts.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Marius

Re: [Scid-users] current procedure for installing SCID on Ubuntu Linux

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

Never mind, got flatpak installer to work.  Thanks.

On Fri, Apr 11, 2025 at 2:06 PM Steve Cohen <ste...@gm...> wrote:

> For a variety of reasons I won't go into here, I've had to rebuild my
> system from scratch.  I had SCID 5.1.0 running on it.  Now I need to
> reinstall it.  The docs are unusually gnarly and the flatpak stuff just
> doesn't work for me.  My OS is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
>
> Tell me again what is the recommended way to install SCID on such a
> system?  I don't remember if I downloaded a package or built from source,
> etc.
>
>

[Scid-users] current procedure for installing SCID on Ubuntu Linux

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

For a variety of reasons I won't go into here, I've had to rebuild my
system from scratch.  I had SCID 5.1.0 running on it.  Now I need to
reinstall it.  The docs are unusually gnarly and the flatpak stuff just
doesn't work for me.  My OS is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

Tell me again what is the recommended way to install SCID on such a
system?  I don't remember if I downloaded a package or built from source,
etc.

[Scid-users] Automated annotations: why/when variations, NAGs?

[Dan F. <dan...@gm...>]

Greetings, SCIDFolk,

When I have Stockfish configured for Analysis, and I perform an automated
annotation, I see variations are introduced in the PGN window, as well as
NAG codes.

On what basis are both of these created? That is:

1. What is "deciding," and on what basis, that it's time to introduce a
variation into the annotation?

2. Some moves get annotated, and some don't. What is "deciding," and on
what basis, that a particular move should be annotated?

3. What is the algorithm for "deciding" which NAG should be used for any
given position? I don't find anything in Stockfish's documentation
indicating that it generates them, so I assume they're coming from SCID.

I looked through the SCID documentation, google, etc. and all I could find
was generic text indicating that NAGs are supported in PGN files, and a
table indicating what the various NAG codes mean. Nothing about the
rationale behind variation or NAG code generation.

I also had a cursory dig through the SCID source code to find where any of
the above take place, and couldn't see anything obvious.

I'm not averse to digging further, if someone could point me in the general
direction of the relevant documentation or source code.

Thanks and regards,

Dan Friedman

Re: [Scid-users] SCID 5.1.0 app built and working, BUT ...

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

Ok, finally solved this - almost - on Ubuntu 24.04.  The flatpak method
works though it's a bit hairy.
Having extracted the downloaded installation zip and extracted it under my
home directory, I find the following file
$HOME/scid5.1.0-src/scid-5.1.0/flatpak/readme.txt.

Or, you can find it here:
https://sourceforge.net/p/scid/code/ci/master/tree/flatpak/readme.txt

This is almost, but not quite accurate.
The author sends you here: https://flatpak.org/setup/. Follow the
directions here. Note step 4.  You have to reboot your system now if you
haven't used flatpak before.  Then run the two flatpak commands on line 13
and line 18.  You can ignore everything further.  There should now be a
SCID icon in your Show Apps.  It launches Scid correctly.  You didn't have
to download source or build anything.

BUT, and here is the one gotcha I see, if you then pin the icon to the
Dash, the icon disappears from the Show Apps screen.  If you unpin it and
close it, then the Icon reappears on show apps again.  All very odd, but it
solves my issue.  If it's pinned to Dash, I don't really care if it's in
Show Apps.  I suppose there might be some sort of setting in the .desktop
file that could make this small problem go away.  Don't know if it's a flaw
in flatpak or in scid, but I'll leave that for someone else to figure out.


On Mon, Jan 20, 2025 at 10:52 AM Steve Cohen <ste...@gm...> wrote:

> I never did solve why I was unable to build SCID 5.1.0 on my new computer,
> a System 76 laptop running Ubuntu 24.04.1.  But I ended up shipping that
> laptop back to them because of several hardware issues, and I can't be sure
> that the software on it was completely good either.  So back to my old
> Thinkpad running 24.04.1 and I find that simply downloading the file from
> SourceForge and following the directions succeeded in building a runnable
> executable.  Perhaps I had already installed the X11-dev stuff here and it
> wasn't on the System 76 machine.  I'll never know.
>
> But now a different issue.  I found I could run SCID from the command
> line.  I could run it by clicking on the scid executable in the Files app.
> It runs, and runs well. But I wanted what I previously had.  A launcher
> that could be pinned to my dash with the proper icon.  I had an old desktop
> app that worked from the 4.7 version and modified it for the new version.
> This file was placed in /home/xxxxx/.local/share/applications.
>
> [Desktop Entry]
> Version=5.1.0
> Type=Application
> Name=SCID
> MimeType=application/pgn;application/x-chess-pgn;application/x-pgn
> Exec=/home/xxxxx/scid5.1.0-src/scid-5.1.0/Scid.app/Contents/scid/scid %f
>
> Icon=/home/xxxxx/scid5.1.0-src/scid-5.1.0/Scid.app/Contents/Resources/ScidApp.icns
> Keywords=Chess;PGN;convert
> Categories=Game;BoardGame;
> Comment=Free chess database application
>
> This *does* show the proper icon on the Show Apps screen and it can be
> launched from there:
> [image: Screenshot from 2025-01-20 10-41-52.png]
>
> BUT it doesn't show the correct icon on the dash, and in fact, identifies
> itself as "Start.tcl".
> [image: Screenshot from 2025-01-20 10-43-32.png]
> How might this be fixed?
>
> Thanks.
>

[Scid-users] SCID 5.1.0 app built and working, BUT ...

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

I never did solve why I was unable to build SCID 5.1.0 on my new computer,
a System 76 laptop running Ubuntu 24.04.1.  But I ended up shipping that
laptop back to them because of several hardware issues, and I can't be sure
that the software on it was completely good either.  So back to my old
Thinkpad running 24.04.1 and I find that simply downloading the file from
SourceForge and following the directions succeeded in building a runnable
executable.  Perhaps I had already installed the X11-dev stuff here and it
wasn't on the System 76 machine.  I'll never know.

But now a different issue.  I found I could run SCID from the command
line.  I could run it by clicking on the scid executable in the Files app.
It runs, and runs well. But I wanted what I previously had.  A launcher
that could be pinned to my dash with the proper icon.  I had an old desktop
app that worked from the 4.7 version and modified it for the new version.
This file was placed in /home/xxxxx/.local/share/applications.

[Desktop Entry]
Version=5.1.0
Type=Application
Name=SCID
MimeType=application/pgn;application/x-chess-pgn;application/x-pgn
Exec=/home/xxxxx/scid5.1.0-src/scid-5.1.0/Scid.app/Contents/scid/scid %f
Icon=/home/xxxxx/scid5.1.0-src/scid-5.1.0/Scid.app/Contents/Resources/ScidApp.icns
Keywords=Chess;PGN;convert
Categories=Game;BoardGame;
Comment=Free chess database application

This *does* show the proper icon on the Show Apps screen and it can be
launched from there:
[image: Screenshot from 2025-01-20 10-41-52.png]

BUT it doesn't show the correct icon on the dash, and in fact, identifies
itself as "Start.tcl".
[image: Screenshot from 2025-01-20 10-43-32.png]
How might this be fixed?

Thanks.

[Scid-users] Can't build SCID 5.1.0 on Ubuntu 24.04

[Steve C. <ste...@gm...>]

Downloaded scid5.1.0-src.zip from onto system running Ubuntu 24.04.1.
Extracted files from this ZIP.
Ran build_app.sh and it produced this error:
/home/scohen/scid5.1.0-src/scid-5.1.0/tcltk/tk/unix/../generic/tk.h:99:13:
fatal error: X11/Xlib.h: No such file or directory

   99 | #   include <X11/Xlib.h>      |
^~~~~~~~~~~~compilation terminated.


Same error occurred when getting source from git and following the
steps in readme.md

[Scid-users] Sorting the Database Permanently by Date

[James W. <jam...@co...>]

[Sorry for sending this before in HTML format. I see now that it's unreadable on the mailing list. I'll send as pure text from now on.]

I have 803 games in my database, from 1974 to 2025, and I entered them all in (slowly) in strict chronological order. But now the games are wildly out of order. My first game played back in 1974 is now game 492, and the first game shown when the program starts (the new "game 1") is from 2010. Strangely, from 2023 until now, the games are properly in order by date.

I have read all the other emails related to this problem and have tried every suggestion, such as compacting the database, sorting on date and then saving as a PGN and reimporting with pgnscid (the games remain in the weird order with the 2010 game listed first), creating a new database from the first, checking all the dates for proper format, etc. Nothing works.

Of course, if I click on date and sort, it displays the games in the correct order, but they don't get saved permanently that way: the actual game 1 still shows up as game 492, and every other game is totally out of order, except those starting in 2023.

What can I do to fix this? I want to save all my games in a big PGN file, but I want them to be in proper chronological order.

[Scid-users] Font Sizes Too Small

[James W. <jam...@co...>]

[Sorry for sending this before in HTML format. I see now that it's unreadable on the mailing list. I'll send as pure text from now on.]

I am running SCID on a Fedora Linux desktop. My OS just automatically updated SCID to version 5.1, but now the default fonts are too small to read comfortably on my screen. I went into Options --> Preferences --> Fonts and made all the fonts larger, but nothing changed immediately. So I restarted the program, but still, nothing changed. However, most of the other preferences, such as board color, changed immediately and stayed changed when I restarted the program.

I finally discovered that I could edit the font lines in ~/.scid5.1/config/options.dat directly, and then the new settings would take.

Why can I not change them directly from the program?

[Scid-users] Sorting the Database Permanently by Date

[James W. <jam...@co...>]

<!doctype html>
<html>
 <head> 
  <meta charset="UTF-8"> 
 </head>
 <body>
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I have 803 games in my database, from 1974 to 2025, and I entered them all in (slowly) in strict chronological order. But now the games are wildly out of order. My first game played back in 1974 is now game 492, and the first game shown when the program starts (the new "game 1") is from 2010. Strangely, from 2023 until now, the games are properly in order by date.</span>
  </div> 
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   &nbsp;
  </div> 
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I have read all the other emails related to this problem and have tried every suggestion, such as compacting the database, sorting on date and then saving as a PGN and reimporting (the games are still in the weird order with the 2010 game listed first), creating a new database from the first, checking all the dates for proper format, etc. Nothing works.</span>
  </div> 
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   &nbsp;
  </div> 
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Of course, if I click on date and sort, it displays the games in the correct order, but they don't get saved permanently that way: the actual game 1 still shows up as game 492, and every other game is totally out of order, except those starting in 2023.</span>
  </div> 
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   &nbsp;
  </div> 
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">What can I do to fix this? I want to save all my games in a big PGN file, but I want them to be in proper chronological order. </span>
  </div>
 </body>
</html>

[Scid-users] Font Sizes Too Small

[James W. <jam...@co...>]

<!doctype html>
<html>
 <head> 
  <meta charset="UTF-8"> 
 </head>
 <body>
  <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
   <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I am running SCID on a Fedora Linux desktop. My OS just automatically updated SCID to version 5.1, but now the default fonts are too small to read comfortably from my screen. I went into Options --&gt; Preferences --&gt; Fonts and made all the fonts larger, but nothing changed immediately. So I restarted the program, but the fonts were still the original small ones. However, most of the other preferences, such as board color, changed immediately and stayed changed when I restarted the program.</span> 
   <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
    &nbsp;
   </div> 
   <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
    <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I finally discovered that I could edit the font lines in ~/.scid5.1/config/options.dat directly, and then the new settings would take.</span>
   </div> 
   <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
    &nbsp;
   </div> 
   <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
    <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Why can I not change them directly from the program?</span>
   </div> 
   <div class="default-style" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #333333;">
    &nbsp;
   </div> 
  </div>
 </body>
</html>

Re: [Scid-users] How to take back a wrong move easily with the mouse?

[Alan B. <adb...@ya...>]

On 1/6/25 08:05, Lothar Weimer wrote:
 > Therefore I am looking for an easy way to take back a misentry by
 > using the mouse only.

On 1/8/25 07:51, Morten Skarstad wrote:
> There is CTRL-z, and there is the back and replace move, but both of 
> these break your flow.

I don't Undo anything. Below the board I click the Back button and do 
the correct move. It creates a variation but I ignore that and press on. 
At the end of the game, I repeatedly right-click and Promote Variation 
to Main Line, finally I right-click and Strip:Variations.

-- 
Alan