An idea crossed my mind a few years ago that went into my
door ideas textfile. As I was consid
ering my future bbs, the sort of doors I'd w
ant toimplement. So I
'm currently there and speccing out the possibility of imple
menting achess door that connects to lichess.org
chess servers. I like the serviceover others
due to the large population of users. What'
s more, they have awell developed API
and a custom python library. How DOPE.
I downloaded the android app a week ago and went through th
e many features.While it isn't as
refined as chess.com, it isn't a s
ubscription serviceeither. Refined doesn
't make the game play any different. We
're still dealingwith sixty-four squar
es.The major question I had
for my idea was, is this doable with a 79x
24interface?No
, not if I want the entire board laid out with che
ss pieces that arerecognizable and chess-like
.Nothing stops the user from scrolli
ng up and down though, with predefinedhotkeys
, like home and end.Initia
lly the design was a simply white and block pattern as such ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛWell
, you get the picture. As I was ag
nozing over how this would appear ona bbs interface,
the consideratino of square size became a thing. S
hould I doseven wide or nine wide? I
f scrolling is going to be required regardless ofsize
, what difference does it make?
Well seven wide gives ample space on the unused right area for things li kestats, times, and the bottom row for
player chat. Nine wide, however,
givesmore freedom for chess piece art design.
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛInstead of re-in
venting the wheel, I hit the newsgroups for existing
design.Not much really in there usable
, that I could find from twenty years ofh
istory. So the web it was. And there
is certainly enough ascii art out thereto accomodate the des
ign criteria.There are good three
-high and four-high designs that I can
consider. Sinceset piece art isn'
t an issue, attention was, again,
drawn over to boarddesign. Pieces design
ated white and black wouldn't be possible with my lazy
design and it became apparent even games written in android use colors like beige or brown.Until yesterday,
I played with this sort of designÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛWhile this is simple enough
, it's the same block designated with two vers
ionsof grey.But today,
I realized I could use the same color but different
block values.ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ±±±±±±±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ±±±±± ±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ±±±±±±±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ±±±±±±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ±±±±±±±±ÛÛÛÛÛÛ
Û±±±±±±±Even better, one color ac
ross the entire board, and the code can simplydef
ine them based on the ansi value of each square.
Today, I realized that even though ansi is very lim
ited, the capabilitesit does have add flexibility
I never realized until today. This will all
owfor the creation of theme schemas for my users who decide
to connect and usethis service.O
nce the decision is made on seven or nine wide, design
will go into fullswing.That
's allD
... No honey, I can't eat with the family. My computer gets lonely!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Air & Wave BBS (21:1/249)

Hi calcmandan

An idea crossed my mind a few years ago that went into my door ideas text file. As I was considering my future bbs, the sort of doors I'd want to implement.

This seems interesting, as I am a chess fan.

So I'm currently there and speccing out the possibility of implementing a chess door that connects to lichess.org chess servers. I like the service over others due to the large population of users. What's more, they have a well developed API and a custom python library. How DOPE.

Also note, which I am sure you already know, you can run your own lichess server. This may be interesting if you wanted to set up a inter-BBS server, and maybe setup private tournaments that can be used for leaderboards.

As for the interface, you may want to look at old chess software like Microchess, which as able to be played on systems like the Commodore PET. At 40-col it was able to display the whole board plus a little extra room on the side for notation, and was in PETSCII, not sprites. Microchess for the Apple II filled the whole screen with the board, and with a hot-key was able to switch to a notations screen.

Lloyd (neoshock) sysop @ Vintage Pi BBS
vintagepi.asuscomm.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Vintage Pi BBS vintagepi.asuscomm.com (21:1/150)

On 13 Feb 2025, neoshock said the following...

Hi calcmandan

An idea crossed my mind a few years ago that went into my door ideas file. As I was considering my future bbs, the sort of doors I'd want implement.

This seems interesting, as I am a chess fan.

Good to know. There's been some new bbs activity lately with podcasters like david lunduke who restored his bbs a month or so ago and, after mentioning it, had hundreds of new users within a day. His LORD game became competitive fast. I happened to login because I was a member of the previous incarnation, coincidentally, on the day of launch so I was user #2. The next day I was one of hundreds. I've asked him to fold in the echo nets and mrc so his users, many of which have never used a bbs before, may learn about our smolnet community.

I also intend on marketing my board to the chess community, indirectly, hoping to bring some users in. After all, if the client's on my board and they can play online in text mode, it can be done even on a retro computer capable of ansi output.

So I'm currently there

and speccing out the possibility of implementi ne> ca> chess door that connects to lichess.org chess servers. I like the ser ne> ca> over others due to the large population of users. What's more, they h ne> ca> well developed API and a custom python library. How DOPE. ne>

Also note, which I am sure you already know, you can run your own
lichess server. This may be interesting if you wanted to set up a inter-BBS server, and maybe setup private tournaments that can be used
for leaderboards.

That may be out of scope, but I'll put it on my kanban. The point of the door is to connect to lichess.org servers. Maybe there's a leagues feature, I'll poke around their API and python library documentation and see what can be done.

As for the interface, you may want to look at old chess software like Microchess, which as able to be played on systems like the Commodore
PET. At 40-col it was able to display the whole board plus a little
extra room on the side for notation, and was in PETSCII, not sprites. Microchess for the Apple II filled the whole screen with the board, and with a hot-key was able to switch to a notations screen.

From what I understand, those games had more than twenty rows to play with. I could be wrong. At the end of the day, the game must be playable and the pieces easy to distinguish.

I'm finalizing design requirements for a v1 implementation as we speak. Themes will be a standard feature on initial release. I hope to start coding this weekend if I can get through the documentation in a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks for your input.

D

Lloyd (neoshock) sysop @ Vintage Pi BBS
vintagepi.asuscomm.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Vintage Pi BBS vintagepi.asuscomm.com (21:1/150)

... If you can't make it good, make it LOOK good. -Bill Gates.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Air & Wave BBS (21:1/249)

So I'm currently there and speccing out the possibility of implementing a chess door that connects to lichess.org chess servers. I like the service over others due to the large population of users. What's more, they have a well developed API and a custom python library. How DOPE.

Interesting - I think you'll have plenty of columns, but the rows will be the hard part, with only 24...

SIXEL could help a ton, too - go checkout this new AI-WX door @ Fire Side BBS... what they did w/ SIXEL (and checkout the ANSI animations too...) is freaking impressive;

Fire Side BBS
firesidebbs.com:23231
firesidebbs.com



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

So I'm currently there and speccing out the possibility of implementing a chess door that connects to lichess.org chess servers. I like the service

The best chess solution from display I know is
Chess Club in dura bbs.

Connect to dura-bbs.net:6359

Try out:

GAMES
12

It's a very slow bbs - use a decent terminal. Chess Club features all methods of displaying chess.

1) Ansi
2) Custom fonts
3) Sixels

(all 3 work in icy term - but should so in syncterm)

At least how to display chess there is done right. The chess font could be a bit better I think but it demonstrates the way. Would maybe my way to do that thing.

Custom font should be the fastest way to display/update. Sixel the most beautiful. Implementing all 3 methods is <3

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)