[OLPC-Games] Play Go issues for laptop

Sun Oct 12 02:26:01 EDT 2008

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 11:02 PM, Paul Barchilon <shimari at comcast.net> wrote:
> Hi Walter and Edward,
>
> Thanks for the info.  I spent about four hours trying to get Qemu and Sugar
> to run on my system, through various configurations, with no luck.  It is
> frustrating because it comes very close.  I make it through the initial
> welcome panel for the laptop, enter a black screen where scores of things
> launch with an OK, and then end up with a fatal error at the end.  I am
> attaching a screen shot, hopefully it will make sense to someone on this
> list.
>
> As I said before, I am not a computer programmer.  I can't execute any of
> the commands Edward mentions, I have no clue how to do that.

That would be for Ubuntu Linux, so no help there. When somebody ports
Sugar to BSD (a substantial project) it will become practical to run
under MacOS.

>I read the
> wiki and followed all of the directions on the page Walter sent me to.
>
> My operating system is Mac OS 10.5.5.  Qemu seems to work without any
> trouble.  The final screen mentions something about failing to load the
> Keyboard module.  I tried it with a different keyboard just in case that was
> the problem, but no luck.  My only keyboard options are USB, hopefully that
> is not the issue.

What was the exact command you used? Sometimes it is a matter of the
correct command-line options. I don't know how that works, but others
here do.

> I also burned a disc image, but Macs can't launch anything other than Mac
> systems from a restart, and Qemu faults, as described above, from the CD
> too.

I have in the past booted and run a LiveCD of Sugar/Linux on an X86
Mac. At an International Macintosh User Group meeting in Apple
headquarters, as it happens. I'm scheduled to speak there again next
week. I'll see what I can find out.

> http://barchilonceramics.com
>
> Paul Barchilon
> 1005 36th St.
> Boulder, CO 80303-2139
> 303-440-7124
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 11, 2008, at 8:30 AM, Walter Bender wrote:
>
>> You can run Sugar (and PlayGo) without an XO laptop. See
>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Supported_systems for some options.
>>
>> regards.
>>
>> -walter
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 1:12 AM, Paul Barchilon <shimari at comcast.net>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Andres, and Edward,
>>> Great to hear from both of you!  We have been very excited about this
>>> project from the beginning, and would be glad to offer any assistance we
>>> can.  Roy, Terry and I work closely together, so we have all been
>>> discussing
>>> your project.  I have good news for you, and then several questions.  The
>>> kid I got to look at the latest version was delighted with it his message
>>> is
>>> below:
>>> Fromleinad
>>> Date10/10/2008 22:03
>>> SubjectRE: Play Go
>>> THIS IS A REALLY BIG STEP UP FROM THE OLD PROGRAM!!!
>>>
>>> the ai is not half bad and might beat me... you can pass, it enforces ko
>>> and
>>> calculates the score... you can refresh the game without exiting out, you
>>> have a choice of 19x19, 13x13, or 9x9, and you can undo!!!! there is a
>>> problem that i cannot really discribe but i will try to get some
>>> screenshots... it does not inhibit game play in any way due to the undo
>>> capability.
>>>
>>> i really think the ai would have beaten me but i stopped playing...
>>> then i played a 9x9 game and it did beat me but it filled in a lot of
>>> unnecessary points at the end...  i need to practice more...
>>>
>>> they should include numbers and letters around the edges...
>>> I think he is 12 or 13, I know him through our website but have never met
>>> him.  He was pretty disappointed with the initial release, so clearly you
>>> guys are working on the right things.
>>> Is there a way for me to run your program on my computer so I can look at
>>> it?  I downloaded the latest version of PlayGo, but as I do not have one
>>> of
>>> your laptops I can't do anything with it.  I am running Mac OS 10.5 on a
>>> new
>>> intel iMac.  I have an application that can port some Windows
>>> applications
>>> on my Mac also.
>>> As for using our learn to play section from the website, please feel
>>> free.
>>> I personally wrote everything, and we own the drawings as well.  If you
>>> could credit the AGF and provide a link to Tiger's Mouth that would be
>>> great.   What would really be ideal is an interactive learn to play
>>> module
>>> that teaches kids how to play.  There is a good one online already, I
>>> link
>>> to it from our learn to play page.  If you didn't click on it, the link
>>> is
>>> here:
>>> http://www.playgo.to/interactive/index.html  It is also already available
>>> in
>>> some 30 languages, so you could save yourself some trouble by using what
>>> has
>>> already been done.  The interactive way to go was written by Hiroki Mori,
>>> I
>>> am sure he would be completely supportive of OLPC.  His contact info is
>>> on
>>> the website.  I would also be happy to work on a learn to play interface
>>> for
>>> your program if that were more feasible for an end product.
>>> What materials describe the application to laptop users, and entice them
>>> to
>>> explore it?  My understanding was that it needs to be downloaded
>>> separately
>>> from the main package.  Is that the case or is it bundled with everything
>>> else?
>>> Another excellent way to get some feedback would be for Andres and I to
>>> play
>>> a game together online.  The KGS Go Server is a terrific program.
>>>  Looking
>>> at how that works together, and talking about important aspects of the
>>> game,
>>> could give you a good deal of insight into how to improve PlayGo.
>>> This forum is fine, I am happy to conduct these discussions through your
>>> list.  I just wasn't sure how many people were on it, or if this was the
>>> appropriate place for this discussion.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Paul Barchilon,
>>> American Go Foundation
>>> http://tigersmouth.org
>>> http://agfgo.org
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 10, 2008, at 7:37 PM, Andrés Ambrois wrote:
>>>
>>> On Friday 10 October 2008 06:49:58 Edward Cherlin wrote:
>>>
>>> I am a go player and programmer, and I have been involved in PlayGo
>>>
>>> from the beginning. I am also the one communicating with AGA about
>>>
>>> PlayGo and about our plans for multilingual content for teaching Go.
>>>
>>> Some years ago I worked on a multilingual go glossary in Unicode,
>>>
>>> adding various writing systems to the ASCII original.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 9:53 PM, Paul Barchilon <shimari at comcast.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello to all who are working on this project, and thank you for the great
>>>
>>> service you are providing to kids around the world!  I am the Vice
>>>
>>> President of the American Go Foundation, a charitable organization that
>>>
>>> provides free Go equipment to children and teachers in schools.  I spend
>>>
>>> a great deal of time teaching children, and am an active Go player and
>>>
>>> organizer on the national scene.  It has come to my attention that there
>>>
>>> are a number of problems with the Play Go program, and also that a set of
>>>
>>> rules that are appropriate for children may well be needed.
>>>
>>> I am not a computer programmer, and do not have one of the laptops, so I
>>>
>>> haven't actually seen the Play Go program at work.
>>>
>>> Hello Paul and Edward!
>>>
>>> I've written most of the code in PlayGo, following Gerard J. Cerchio's
>>> initial implementation, so its very encouraging to see so much enthusiasm
>>> behind it!
>>>
>>> While I'm not a great Go player, (I do think it's a fantastic game, just
>>> haven't found a good sparring partner :)). I believe it's a great way to
>>> teach
>>> analytical thinking to young kids in a fun way. Therefore, feedback such
>>> as
>>> this, from knowledgeable people like you, is paramount to its
>>> improvement.
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>>
>>> You can download the latest version. I'll get you instructions offline.
>>>
>>> I did ask a child who
>>>
>>> has one, and plays Go, to tell me how it seemed.  He may have an older
>>>
>>> version of the software, but if his observations are correct it sounds
>>>
>>> like there are some serious issues.  I would be very glad to help solve
>>>
>>> some of these problems if you would like some input.  As I said, I can't
>>>
>>> program, but I can tell whoever is writing the software what the problems
>>>
>>> are.
>>>
>>> Thank you.
>>>
>>> Great! Thanks for testing! Perhaps you could encourage people to try the
>>> latest version of the activity. You can find it at
>>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities/All . I would love to hear about
>>> this
>>> issues in more detail.
>>>
>>> Please feel free to contact me directly at shimari at comcast.net.  If you
>>>
>>> would like a rule set designed for children, please let me know and we
>>>
>>> will be happy to write one for you.
>>>
>>> We will be very interested to hear from you on this.
>>>
>>> Perhaps we could continue this discussion using this list? It would be
>>> better for other people that can contribute *hint hint*.
>>>
>>> You can see one example of our approach to
>>>
>>> this on our youth go website, which is here:
>>>
>>> http://tigersmouth.org/viewpage.php?page_id=8
>>>
>>> Sweet. Now that the Help activity is being shipped, perhaps we could
>>> include
>>> this work in a help bundle for PlayGo. Is this work under a free license?
>>>
>>> Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from whoever is programming Play
>>>
>>> Go.
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Paul Barchilon,
>>>
>>> American Go Foundation
>>>
>>> http://tigersmouth.org
>>>
>>> http://agfgo.org
>>>
>>> --
>>> -Andrés
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Games mailing list
>>> Games at lists.laptop.org
>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/games
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Walter Bender
>> Sugar Labs
>> http://www.sugarlabs.org
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