On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine

[Christian Söderström]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Christian Söderström at 10 August 2000 12:29:24:

Hello everybody!
I have some bad news to everybody involved in the
computer-chess scene. I don't want to sound too
dramatical but I'm afraid that all hope is gone ...
A number of weeks ago I took a vacation to Mallorca,
and when I came back I booted up the ol machine but
alas it would not boot ...
Somehow (lightning?!) the thing was totally screwed
up. The motherboard was destroyed, my network card
was destroyed, one of the harddrives seems also to
be physically destroyed and the other one was wiped
clean of any readable data... Now I've replaced the
broken parts and even upgraded the ol machine to
a 566Mhz Celeron (now 771Mhz mind you ).
Anyway, the thing is. Due to sloppy backup routines
by me ("Surely BOTH drives can't fail at once?!") the
last copy of Mint's source code I have is from April
this year ...
Also I will be starting college in a week or so.
This combined forces me to cease work on Mint
indefinately. I have already come up with a name
for the next program should I ever choose to
write it. I will be studying for 4-5 years so maybe
I will have learned some real programming by then
I'll try to get access to the ftp and upload a
gravestone for Mint. As well as some of the really
funny signings I've received in the karma-book
Remember kids: stay clear of computer-chess!
- Christian Söderström

Mint Homepage

[Djordje Vidanovic]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Djordje Vidanovic at 10 August 2000 16:04:58:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: Christian Söderström at 10 August 2000 12:29:24:

Hello everybody!
I have some bad news to everybody involved in the
computer-chess scene. I don't want to sound too
dramatical but I'm afraid that all hope is gone ...
A number of weeks ago I took a vacation to Mallorca,
and when I came back I booted up the ol machine but
alas it would not boot ...
Somehow (lightning?!) the thing was totally screwed
up. The motherboard was destroyed, my network card
was destroyed, one of the harddrives seems also to
be physically destroyed and the other one was wiped
clean of any readable data... Now I've replaced the
broken parts and even upgraded the ol machine to
a 566Mhz Celeron (now 771Mhz mind you ).
Anyway, the thing is. Due to sloppy backup routines
by me ("Surely BOTH drives can't fail at once?!") the
last copy of Mint's source code I have is from April
this year ...
Also I will be starting college in a week or so.
This combined forces me to cease work on Mint
indefinately. I have already come up with a name
for the next program should I ever choose to
write it. I will be studying for 4-5 years so maybe
I will have learned some real programming by then
I'll try to get access to the ftp and upload a
gravestone for Mint. As well as some of the really
funny signings I've received in the karma-book
Remember kids: stay clear of computer-chess!
- Christian Söderström

Come on, Christian, don't lose faith. And do realize that you only went through yet another instance of Murphy's laws in action (when one of your drives gets busted, the other one invariably follows suit...). Seriously: can't you find some free time during your studies, or are you planning on becoming President of the Student Council, straight A guy, an-all-work-no-play-teetotalling square peg?
Please keep on working on Mint, there are lots of people who like it!
*** Djordje

[Christian Söderström]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Christian Söderström at 10 August 2000 18:25:26:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: Djordje Vidanovic at 10 August 2000 16:04:58:

Hello everybody!
I have some bad news to everybody involved in the
computer-chess scene. I don't want to sound too
dramatical but I'm afraid that all hope is gone ...

Come on, Christian, don't lose faith. And do realize that you only went through yet another instance of Murphy's laws in action (when one of your drives gets busted, the other one invariably follows suit...). Seriously: can't you find some free time during your studies, or are you planning on becoming President of the Student Council, straight A guy, an-all-work-no-play-teetotalling square peg?
Please keep on working on Mint, there are lots of people who like it!
*** Djordje

Oh no, oh dear ...
Well Djordje I would love to just "keep working on it" but I lost 3 months of work and thats a pretty hard blow even to a patient guy like me
3 months is overkill of course, I could probably re-do the work I did in 3 summer months in one day or so of focused coding - but it sounds boring :/
But OK - granted, I've fallen into the computer-chess trap and its impossible to break out. CC will always be in my life but it remains to be seen how high up it will be on my priority list. I'll be busy these years, and studying won't be the only thing I'll be doing
So like I said, Mint 1.65 (which I had ready to distribute) is indefinately postponed. We'll just have to wait and see if I take the time to do it.
Thanks for the support!
- Christian Söderström


Mint Homepage

[just greedy, really: Dan]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: just greedy, really: Dann Corbit at 10 August 2000 23:30:17:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: Christian Söderström at 10 August 2000 12:29:24:

[snip]
Anyway, the thing is. Due to sloppy backup routines
by me ("Surely BOTH drives can't fail at once?!") the
last copy of Mint's source code I have is from April
this year ...

How about releasing the source code?
One sure way to get 10000 backups.


my ftp site

[WYx]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: WYx at 11 August 2000 10:09:01:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: Christian Söderström at 10 August 2000 18:25:26:
Hi
I hope, you have further power to development of Mint.
(the style of Mint like me, and Mint medium strength program, with 1800-1900 ELO , must go on !)
Consider it as done, and try out surmount to this problem.
trynyty source code be missing formerly, and I remake crux.
Later - of course- I found trynytys code:))
regards
WYx

[Pete Galati]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Pete Galati at 11 August 2000 18:21:48:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: just greedy, really: Dann Corbit at 10 August 2000 23:30:17:

[snip]
Anyway, the thing is. Due to sloppy backup routines
by me ("Surely BOTH drives can't fail at once?!") the
last copy of Mint's source code I have is from April
this year ...

How about releasing the source code?
One sure way to get 10000 backups.

Hmmm, a Corbit tweaked Mind. Nah, that wouldn't happen.
Hey let me try something here. When I put 2 spaces between a period and the next sentence, the extra space never shows up here or in Mogens' forum, so everything always looks crowded. So I've added the pre stuff before and after this paragraph to see if it solves that problem. It probably won't though. I hope it doesn't add the spaces between lines though!
Pete

[Christian Söderström]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Christian Söderström at 11 August 2000 19:00:16:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: just greedy, really: Dann Corbit at 10 August 2000 23:30:17:

[snip]
Anyway, the thing is. Due to sloppy backup routines
by me ("Surely BOTH drives can't fail at once?!") the
last copy of Mint's source code I have is from April
this year ...

How about releasing the source code?
One sure way to get 10000 backups.

I would easily have released Mint's source code, but I don't think the world is quite ready for it yet Honestly, its such a mess I didn't want to release it I guess out of stupid pride. Some of the basic parts of it were from a "five in a row" program I coded years ago, and even more code was from "Millennia".
So - if I recode the thing entirely you can count on the source code being released, but if I keep working on the old code you might as well search for the Bunyup. (chew on that one)
Trust me Dann, not even you could make sense of Mint's source code
- Christian

Mint Homepage

[Christian Söderström]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Christian Söderström at 11 August 2000 19:02:59:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: ...steadfastness of purpose Chris... geschrieben von: / posted by: WYx at 11 August 2000 10:09:01:

Hi
I hope, you have further power to development of Mint.
(the style of Mint like me, and Mint medium strength program, with 1800-1900 ELO , must go on !)
Consider it as done, and try out surmount to this problem.
trynyty source code be missing formerly, and I remake crux.
Later - of course- I found trynytys code:))
regards
WYx

Despite of the fact that you used a human rating to rate a chess program I will consider your advice I hope I have the further power too, but we will have to wait and see! I might add some new pictures on the homepage though
- Christian


Mint Homepage

[Dann Corbit]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Dann Corbit at 11 August 2000 20:42:18:
Als Antwort auf: / As an answer to: Re: On the future of Mint - the friendly chess engine geschrieben von: / posted by: Christian Söderström at 11 August 2000 19:00:16:

[snip]
Anyway, the thing is. Due to sloppy backup routines
by me ("Surely BOTH drives can't fail at once?!") the
last copy of Mint's source code I have is from April
this year ...

How about releasing the source code?
One sure way to get 10000 backups.

I would easily have released Mint's source code, but I don't think the world is quite ready for it yet Honestly, its such a mess I didn't want to release it I guess out of stupid pride. Some of the basic parts of it were from a "five in a row" program I coded years ago, and even more code was from "Millennia".
So - if I recode the thing entirely you can count on the source code being released, but if I keep working on the old code you might as well search for the Bunyup. (chew on that one)
Trust me Dann, not even you could make sense of Mint's source code

I figure everyone has something to teach me. I have even learned things from looking at the simplest of example programs.
I don't mind looking at tangled code. But I also respect your wish to keep your sources private, for whatever reason.


my ftp site