fred Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 The biggest new feature in 4.3.5 is the integration of GIB into BBO. GIB is arguably the world's strongest bridge-playing computer program. We are grateful to Matt Ginsberg, the programmer who created GIB, and On Time Systems Inc., the company that owns the license to the GIB software for their help and support with this project. At some point we will start charging a fee for the use of GIB within BBO (don't worry - BBO itself will remain free), but GIB on BBO will be 100% free at least until the 2nd week of August. Furthermore, participating in this "free trial period" will not commit you to anything or result in you getting more spam or... Really there is no downside in you trying this and I suspect that many of our members will find that using GIB greatly enhances the BBO experience. It is possible to have GIB sit in 1, 2, 3, or 4 seats at a table (though 4 GIBs at a duplicate table is not allowed). The table host will see a new GIB button in both the Table Options dialog box and on the toolbar. A window will appear if you click this button. Various GIB-related options can be explored through this window. A lot of aspects of using BBO to play bridge (claims, undos, redeals, alerts, convention cards...) are different when GIB is at the table. I am not going to go into the details here (and besides, most of it is self-explanatory I hope). Please post to Forums if you have questions or problems concerning the use of GIB on BBO. IMPORTANT: When you are playing at a duplicate table with, say, 3 GIBs, you may think that the results at your table are not important. You may find it fun to make strange bids to see how GIB reacts. Obviously GIB won't care if you do this, but the other people who have to play the boards will care. Please be respectful of them and their results and try to play seriously. If you want to fool around with GIB, that is fine, but make sure you are playing at a total points, rubber bridge, or teaching table. GIB can be used to sit in the East and West seats in Partnership Bidding. In this way it is finally possible to get some bidding practice against reasonable opponents. The table host should click the "Opponents' bidding..." button in the Table Options dialog in order to set this up. If you are kibitzing (and if you are not the table host) you can click the GIB button on the toolbar to ask GIB for advice (ie what GIB would bid/play in the current position). There is a new voice option that allows GIB's advice to be spoken to you (as opposed to being displayed in a dialog box). While we are on the subject, I have changed the interface for customizing voice on BBO (available through the Options dialog). Also new in the Options dialog are controls for optionally displaying NSEW symbols and "flashing" those symbols to indicate the player whose turn it is. I have had a LOT of requests for this over the years, so hopefully this addition will make some people happy. The default is for these symbols to be displayed, but not for them to flash. New button in country filter window - "only my country" - its function should be obvious. Vugraph operators will now have the option for starting a vugraph broadcast with a "blank" board showing. You will see how to do this when you try to open a .dup file. Lots of bugs, mostly small ones and a couple of big ones, have been fixed. It would not be at all surprising if I managed to introduce some new bugs with this version (particularly related to GIB - the interface between BBO and that program is quite delicate). Please let me know if you find any problems with the new version (or with old versions) preferrably by e-mail (fred@bridgebase.com). Starting on Tuesday I will be in Atlanta for the ACBL Summer Nationals for 2 weeks. Most likely I will not be able to respond to e-mail or do any "real" work during that time. Instructions for upgrading to 4.3.5 follow: IMPORTANT!!! Make sure you exit the BBO program COMPLETELY before you begin the ugrade process!!! You can upgrade to 4.3.5 at: Click here to update! or download everything (including all the latest files) at: Click here for everything! I suggest you use the first method, but however you do this, please make sure you exit the BBO program COMPLETELY before you start the download process. Fred GitelmanBridge Base Inc.www.bridgebase.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerardo Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Bump this, so it appears in front page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts