What is PocketICS (a.k.a. pICS)?
I've been working on a client for Internet Chess servers such as the ICC (chessclub.com) and FICS (freechess.org) for the PocketPC using Tcl/Tk for Windows/CE.
It is fairly crude at present with a number of known problems (see below).
Screenshots
Warning
This code is pretty much alpha quality at present, and is released here only in case anyone is interested in helping to debug/improve it.
Pre-Requisites
PocketICS works (well, almost - see Known Issues below) with the excellent eTcl PocketPC Tcl port. For more information about eTcl, see the eTcl homepage or the eTcl Tcler's Wiki page.
You will also need to have BWidget installed somewhere that eTcl will find it (see the above pages for information on how to do this). I use BWidget version 1.7.
Known Issues
- There is a bug somewhere in the clock handling code. Occasionally, both clocks end up running, and clocks can run down at double or triple etc. rate (since multiple self-scheduling Tcl "after" events start to update the clocks when only one should be)
- Tap on start and end squares would be easier and more accurate on the PocketPC than drag and drop as is currently implemented
- Queening of pawns isn't implemented yet. Queening moves would have to be manually entered in the interaction screen (as, e.g. "f8=Q")
- Move legality checking is not implemented - any illegal move can be entered and will only be picked up/corrected once the ICS server responds
