How to Install The Go Assistant

Installation

Installation of The Go Assistant involves two steps. First you must aquire the installation program from the order page on the Web Site for The Go Assistant. Selecting the link named Intel will start the downloading procedure. As this file is +1.5MB in s ize it may take a little time to download.

After you have downloaded the program, all you need do is run the program. (Note: some browsers will automatically run this program after a successful download.) If your browser has not run the program for you, run the program yourself by double clicking on its icon in the folder in which you saved the file to.

Running this program will start a process in which the files neccessary to run The Go Assistant are expanded and moved into their pro per directories and a group of Propert Pages will be sequentially displayed. These pages will allow you to specify which directory you would like to place the program, what sounds to use for the various events, the directories in which go files of various sorts are to be stored, and the manner in which Go diagrams are to be displayed. Each of this pages is described in greater detail below but to install the software you may simply press the Next button until the Finish button is reached.

Main Info Page

The Main Info page contains edit fields for entering your name, Registration code (aquired from the Registration page on the Web Page), and the installation directory. Both Your name and the Registration Code are stored by the program for registration purposes. The installation directory is the actuall location in which the files for The Go Assistant will be stored. In addition, there are two check boxes for selecting wether you want a Desktop Shortcut create d and/or a Start command placed in the Start Menu.

License Page

The License Page details the license being granted to you by AIRS, Ltd for the use of The Go Assistant. Read this carefully before proceeding. (Note: the Next button will be disabled until you select the I Accept radio button.)

Display Setup Page

This page includes a group of radio bu ttons for specifying the size of display you are using and a button to specify if you wish to install the Unicode version of The Go Assistant. The setup program will get the display size currently being used by your monitor from the system and select the largest viewable size. The Unicode version of The Go Assistant will only run under Windows NT. On Windows NT systems, the Unicode version is faster and allows easy access to multinational fonts (esp Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts.) Do NOT Select th e Unicode version for installation on Windows 95 systems.

IGS Setup Page

The IGS Setup Page sets up the default values used when creating a new IGS connection document. The Create Short cut will create a shortcut on your desktop for accessing IGS on your desktop. The information from this page and the next will be used to create this information. This page allows you to enter a User Name, Password, Server Location, and Port to access IGS.

Sup plemental IGS Info Page

This page incudes many of the initial values setup when a connection to IGS is made. These default values will be used when a new connection document is created. The values which can be entered are Match Time, Boyomi Time, Terminal Size, Info, Verbose, Very Verbose, Automail, Poll, Chatter, Kibitz, Shout, Games, and Multiple Games.

Match Time - default time for a game.
Boyomi Time - default length for the boyomi phase of a game.< /li>
Terminal Size - number of lines of text to save from the server.
Info - info to be placed in the IGS user info.
Verbose - tells the client to display verbose information in the terminal window.
Very Verbose - tells the client to display all the information coming from the server. Used for debugging.
Automail - tells the server to mail a copy of every game played on IGS in SGF (Simple Go Format.)
Poll - tells the client to poll the server aft er a move is made to verify that the client's move was recieved.
Chatter - blocks chatter from other users while observing games on IGS.
Kibitz - blocks kibitz from other users while observing games on IGS.
Shout - blocks shouts from others users.
Games - blocks game requests from other users.
Multiple Games - does not allow the server to place you in multiple games.

Folders Page

The folders page s pecifies the directories in which to place the various kinds of documents created by The Go Assistant. Folders for storing Games, Personalities (IGS Connection Documents). Collections of Games, Bug Reports, and Dictionaries. The default values for these folders should be fine for you.

Sound Events Page

The sound events page allows you to tell The Go Assistant which sounds to use when certain events occur. If you have .Wav files which you would like to replace th e defaults with you may do it here. Sound events without a .Wav file will not create any sound when they occur.

Talk and Decline String Pages

The next two pages provide a means for entering text strings into The Go Assistant for easy message sending of common sayings. Each line of text represents a possible message. You may enter additional messages or modify the ones included. The last message must have a return at the end of the line or it will not show up whe n you access these strings in the IGS interface. The Say strings are used for sending messages to people through the Shout, Tell, and Game streams. The decline messages are messages you can send to someone when you decline a match request from them.

View Property Pages

The final pages (several of them) are used to enter information for the displaying of Go Board interfaces. Since the Go Assistnat allows you to Play, Edit, Learn, Practice, Observe and Answer Go D iagrams it also includes the ability to specialize the way in which these views are presented. The features which can be specified are Board Size, Moves, Learn Time, Show Variations, Fast Forward Variations, and Animate Stone Placement.

Board Size - the size of board to use when displaying a Go board.
Moves - the number of stones to display with their move number in them. (Note: -1 displays all the stones with a move number.)
Learn Time - the amount of time to wai t before automatically advancing the Go Diagram. (Very useful when learning pro games.)
Show Variations - when looking at a sequence of Go Moves with variations, the system can either display markers representing the next possible moves or they can be hidden. So when problems are presented the various moves will not be visible.
Fast Forward Variations - when you select a variation the system will either place the next stone or advance the board to the next variation. Fast Forward var iations tells the system how to behave.
Animate Stone Placement - when playing games on the Internet, animated stone placement makes it easier to see your opponents last moves as the stone floats down onto the board.

Views for Editing, Previewing, Learning, Observing, Playing, Practicing, and answering Go Problems can be setup. Initialy, the default values should be fine and you can change them as you become more familiar with the system.

Conclusion

< /Center> After hitting the finish button, the Setup program will finish installing the files and the registry values. You will now be able to run The Go Assistant. The GO Assistant will be found in your Program Files directory on you system drive. (Unless you specified another directory in the Main Info page.) You can use your WIN 95 or WIndows NT Interface to open the (most likely) C:\Program Files\Go Assistant directory. The Go.EXE program will be there and you can run it by double clicking on it. (Right clicking will allow you to create a shortcut which you may place on the Desktop for easy access.)

If you are still having problems with installing the program, please mail your questions to us so that we may get you started as quickly as possible.

Artificial Intelligence Research & Systems, Ltd.