path: root/doc/kbackgammon/index.docbook

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<book lang="&language;">

<bookinfo>
<title>The &kbackgammon; Handbook</title>
    
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Jens</firstname>
<surname>Hoefkens</surname>
<affiliation><address>&Jens.Hoefkens.mail;</address></affiliation>
</author>
      
<othercredit role="developer">
<firstname>Bo</firstname>
<surname>Thorsen</surname>
<affiliation><address>&Bo.Thorsen.mail;</address></affiliation>
<contrib>Developer</contrib>
</othercredit>
<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
</authorgroup>

<copyright>
<year>1999</year><year>2000</year>
<holder>&Jens.Hoefkens;</holder>
</copyright>
    
<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
    
<date>2005-12-22</date>
<releaseinfo>2.6.0</releaseinfo>
    
<abstract>
<para>&kbackgammon; is a graphical backgammon program for &kde;. It
supports backgammon games with other players, games against computer
engines like &GNU; <application>bg</application> and even on-line games
on the <ulink url="http://www.fibs.com/">First Internet Backgammon
Server</ulink>.</para>
</abstract>
    
<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>game</keyword>
<keyword>backgammon</keyword>
<keyword>FIBS</keyword>
<keyword>gnubg</keyword>
</keywordset>
    
</bookinfo>
  
<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
    
<para>&kbackgammon; is a graphical backgammon program. The objective
of backgammon is to move your checkers off the board before your
opponent does. While the rules of backgammon are moderately difficult
(the most difficult part apparently being the initial positioning of
the checkers), this document does not try to teach these rules: please
refer to the Web, a book, or (probably best) a friend for this.</para>

<para>&kbackgammon; offers you a graphical backgammon board that can
be used almost entirely by using the mouse (although textual commands
are also available and it should be possible to play backgammon
without the mouse, too). Therefore, &kbackgammon; is easy to use and
allows you to concentrate on the important aspects of playing
backgammon.</para>

<para>In order to play backgammon, you usually need an
opponent. &kbackgammon; offers you to play against hundreds of
different opponents of various strength on the <ulink
url="http://www.fibs.com/">First Internet Backgammon
Server</ulink>. If you prefer, you may also use the <link
linkend="engine-offline">Offline Engine</link> which allows you to
play against yourself or friends that are with you at your
computer.</para>

<para>In the near future &kbackgammon; will allow you to play against
<link linkend="engine-gnubg">&GNU; Backgammon</link>, which is a
powerful backgammon program that usually runs without a graphical
frontend. It plays on <acronym>FIBS</acronym> with a rating of about
2000 (which is quite high).</para>

<para>Additionally, plans are on the way that will allow games over
the Internet between two &kbackgammon; programs (and their respective
users). Finally, the architecture of &kbackgammon; is quite open and
it is possible to include support for other engines easily (if you are
interested in this, please contact the author).</para>

</chapter>

<chapter id="use-the-board">
<title>How to use the Board</title>

<para>&kbackgammon; is centered around a graphical backgammon
board. This board consists of the checkers, the dice, and the
cube. All these game elements can be conveniently manipulated with the
mouse.</para>

<para>The following image shows a typical game situation with the
white player moving from 1 to 24 and the black player moving from 24
to 1. Currently, the white player owns the cube and has just rolled 3
and 4.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The backgammon board</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="board.png" format="PNG"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>The Board</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>If it is their turn, players can roll the dice by double
clicking on the squares representing the dice or by using the
corresponding menu entry or toolbar icon (if the toolbar is visible
and rolling has been included in the toolbar).</para>

<para>If they own the cube, players can double the cube by either
double clicking on the square representing the cube or by using the
corresponding menu entry or toolbar icon (if the toolbar is visible
and the cube has been included in the toolbar).</para>

<para>If it is their turn to move, players can move checkers by
clicking on them and moving the mouse pointer to the desired location
(while holding the mouse button continuously pressed). This is called
dragging the checker. Depending on the selection made in the current
<link linkend="engines">engine's</link> <link
linkend="prefs">configuration</link>, the move will be finished once
the maximum number of checkers has been moved (this may be anywhere
between 1 and 4 checkers, although it will usually be 2
checkers).</para>

<para>In addition to dragging the checkers, the board offers a feature
called <firstterm>short move feature</firstterm>. If this has been
enabled in the board's configuration menu, checkers can be moved by
simply clicking on them. The board will then automatically make the
shortest move possible away from the current field. If the short move
feature <link linkend="prefs">is enabled</link>, it may be set to
single or double click. This option is very useful for users of
touchpads that are sometimes difficult to use for dragging.</para>

<para>Finally, the board has a certain smartness: it will only accept
moves that are allowed (based on the current dice). While the <link
linkend="engine-offline">offline engine</link> allows this to be
switched off (for the <guilabel>Edit Mode</guilabel>), this is usually
very helpful for unexperienced users (and advanced players will
probably never notice this). This feature can also be used to cancel a
move in progress: just drop it over an illegal field.</para>

</chapter>

<chapter id="engines">
<title>Backgammon Engines</title>
    
<para>&kbackgammon; is built around the backgammon board, which
doesn't know anything about how to play backgammon. The whole
infrastructure (rolling the dice, &etc;) that allows backgammon games
is handled by backgammon engines.</para>
    
<sect1 id="engine-offline">
<title>The Offline Engine</title>
      
<para>The offline engine <guilabel>Open Board</guilabel> allows you to play against yourself, or
probably more fun, another person sitting with you.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="engine-FIBS">
<title>The <acronym>FIBS</acronym> Engine</title>

<para><acronym>FIBS</acronym> is the <quote>First Internet Backgammon
Server</quote>, a 24-hour international online community of backgammon
players of all ages and experience from Beginner to Experts.</para>

<para>As well as playing the game, <acronym>FIBS</acronym> allows you
to save games, chat with other players, and has a complex rating
system.</para>

<para>There is also a large <ulink
url="http://www.fibs.com/">website</ulink> well worth some of your
time, if you are a backgammon fan.</para>
      
</sect1>
    
<sect1 id="engine-gnubg">
<title>The &GNU; Backgammon Engine</title>

<para>The GNUbg engine does not yet exist (although it already has an
entry in the <guilabel>Engine</guilabel> menu). Therefore, the
remainder of this section should be taken with a grain of salt.</para>
      
<para>Use of the GNUbg engine requires a working installation of the
actual GNUbg program. &kbackgammon; then starts GNUbg in the
background and communicates with it. All this is transparent to the
user (&ie; it is hidden from the user) and all interaction with GNUbg
is through the &GUI; elements of &kbackgammon;.</para>

<para>If there are other enhancements that can help using GNUbg from
&kbackgammon;, please contact the author of &kbackgammon; (or better:
send a patch). Some of the more advanced features will probably be
position analysis and save/restore functions. However, playing is the
most pressing issue.</para>

<para>The one thing that will never happen is a combination of the
GNUbg and the <acronym>FIBS</acronym> engine! Using computer programs
to enhance user ratings is cheating!</para>

</sect1>
    
</chapter>
  
<chapter id="prefs">
<title>Game options</title>
    
<para>The options to &kbackgammon; are set by selecting <menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Configure &kbackgammon;...</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice> from the menubar. This will bring up a dialog
box.</para>

</chapter>
  
<chapter id="command">
<title>Menu Reference/Keyboard Shortcuts</title>
    
<para>The following sections briefly describe each menubar option.</para>
    
<sect1 id="file-menu">
<title><guimenu>Game</guimenu> Menu</title>
      
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>N</keycap></keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Game</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Start a new game</action>. This item opens a dialog to enter the nicknames of both players.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>P</keycap></keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Game</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Print...</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Print a picture of the board.</action></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q</keycap></keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Game</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Quit</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Quit</action> and close &kbackgammon;</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
      
</sect1>

<sect1 id="move-menu">
<title><guimenu>Move</guimenu> Menu</title>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Z</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Undo</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>
</term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Undo the last move you made.</action></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>Z</keycap></keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Redo</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>If you have previously undone a move, you can redo it
here.</action></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Redisplay</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para><action>Redraw the board.</action></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>R</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Roll Dice</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>As you may expect, roll the dice.</action></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>End Turn</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Let the other player know you have finished
moving.</action></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Double Cube</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Offer</action> the opponent player during the course of a game 
(just before you roll the dice) to continue the game at twice the current stakes.
If the opponent rejects this offer, you win the game.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Move</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Engine</guisubmenu>
</menuchoice>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>Choose from the various game engines (Open Board, FIBS, GNU Backgammon, Next Generation) here.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>
    
</sect1>

<sect1 id="command-menu">
<title><guimenu>Command</guimenu> Menu</title>

<para>This menu has different items depending on the chosen game engine.</para>

<para><guisubmenu>Open Board</guisubmenu> engine</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>
<menuchoice><guimenu>Command</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>New Game</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para>
<action>Start a new game</action>. This item opens a dialog to enter the nicknames of both players.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<menuchoice><guimenu>Command</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Edit Mode</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
In this mode the board accepts moves that are not allowed 
(based on the current dice).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice><guimenu>Command</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Swap Colors</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Swap the colors of the checkers between player 1 and player 2.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<!-- To Do : write the menuitems for the other game engines
<para><guisubmenu>FIBS</guisubmenu> engine</para>
<para><guisubmenu>GNU Backgammon</guisubmenu> engine</para>
<para><guisubmenu>Next Generation</guisubmenu> engine</para>
-->
</sect1>
    
<sect1 id="settings-menu">
<title><guimenu>Settings</guimenu> Menu</title>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<shortcut>
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>M</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Show Menubar</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Toggle on and off the menubar</action>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Toolbars</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Main (&kbackgammon;)</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para><action>Toggle</action> the <guilabel>Main Toolbar</guilabel></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Toolbars</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Command Characters (&kbackgammon;)</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para><action>Toggle</action> the <guilabel>Command Toolbar</guilabel></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Show Statusbar</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para><action>Toggle on and off the statusbar</action>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Save Settings</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para>
<action>Saves the current settings to become the default for &kbackgammon;.</action></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Configure Shortcuts...</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para><action>Opens a dialog for changing the key bindings.</action>
Using this option you can change the standard key shortcut for &kbackgammon;'s commands
or create new ones.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Configure Toolbars...</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para><action>Opens a dialog for configuring the toolbar.</action> You
can add and remove toolbuttons for &kbackgammon;'s commands with this
option.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Configure &kbackgammon;...</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem><para><action>Opens a dialog for changing some options</action> for
&kbackgammon;.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</sect1>
    
<sect1 id="help-menu">
<title><guimenu>Help</guimenu> Menu</title>

<para>&kbackgammon; has a standard &kde; <guimenu>Help</guimenu> as described
below, with one addition:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Backgammon on the Web</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para>Opens the websites of FIBS Home, Backgammon Rules, or &kbackgammon; in &konqueror;.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<para>The standard &kde; <guimenu>Help</guimenu> entries are:</para>

&help.menu.documentation;

</sect1>

<sect1 id="keys"><title>Default Shortcuts</title>

<para>The following tables show you the default shortcuts of
&kbackgammon;.</para>

<table>
<title>Key bindings</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead><row><entry>Key Combo</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
<tbody>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>N</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>New Game</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>R</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>Roll Dice</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>P</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>Print Game</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>Quit &kbackgammon;</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycap>F1</keycap></entry><entry>Help Contents</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>What's This? Help</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>M</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>Show Menubar</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Z</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>Undo move</entry></row>
<row><entry><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>Z</keycap></keycombo></entry><entry>Redo previously undone move</entry></row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>

<para>These shortcuts can be changed by selecting <menuchoice>
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Configure 
Shortcuts</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> from the menubar.</para>

</sect1>

</chapter>

<chapter id="credits">
<title>Credits and License</title>
 
<para>&kbackgammon;</para>

<para>Program copyright 1999-2000 &Jens.Hoefkens;
&Jens.Hoefkens.mail;</para>

<para>Documentation copyright 2000 &Jens.Hoefkens;
&Jens.Hoefkens.mail;</para>

<!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->

&underFDL;
&underGPL;

</chapter>                  

<appendix id="installation">
<title>Installation</title>
 
<sect1 id="getting-kbackgammon">
<title>How to obtain &kbackgammon;</title>
 
&install.intro.documentation;

<para>The home page of &kbackgammon; is located at <ulink
url="http://backgammon.sourceforge.net/">http://backgammon.sourceforge.net</ulink>.
It will usually contain the most up-to-date information the program
available.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="compilation">
<title>Compilation and Installation</title>
 
&install.compile.documentation;

</sect1>         

</appendix>

</book>
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