Newton ChessPDA  v1.04 (ReadMe & Manual)  4/21/95
Copyright 1995 PICA Inc.

To obtain a registered copy of ChessPDA with the SAVE game feature enabled
and including several 100-game and problem libraries, send $25 (U.S.) or $20
(U.S) if you are a Newton User Group member (mention user group name) to:

PICA Inc.
Attn: Ken Presley
Star Route 1, MailBox 110A
McDaniels, KY 40152
(502)257-8065

(The default disk format is Macintosh, if you need DOS disk format, please send a
note with your payment. Thank you!)

For Newton ChessPDA Updates:
Registered users of Newton ChessPDA can receive the latest update by sending
$5 (U.S.) to the above address. Watch the on-line services for new features and
other information concerning the latest update.

DISCLAIMER
===========

Use this program at your own risk. I, Ken Presley, and PICA Inc., take no 
responsibility for any damages (monetary or otherwise) caused by, or as 
a result of, the use of this program. 


																												INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Newton ChessPDA!   ChessPDA is a full-featured chess database for the
Apple Newton MessagePad (all Newton variants). ChessPDA allows you to enter games
or chess problems (arbitrary positions) and replay them automatically or one move
at a time. You may also take back moves, temporarily mark positions for analysis,
revert to previously marked positions, and much more!  ChessPDA does legal move
verification (legal verification can be turned off) and thus can be used by two players
as an electronic chessboard. You may also replay library games or chess problems.
Several games and problems are included in the online version and are automatically
loaded into the ChessPDA soup (the Newton's loose equivalent of a data file) that is
created when ChessPDA is run for the first time.

                                                       INSTALLATION

Installation of Newton ChessPDA is simple. Just use the Newton Package Installer
on the MAC diskette (or Newton Connection Kit, for MAC or DOS) to copy the Newton
ChessPDA application package (Newt ChessPDA.pkg) to your Newton. You may also
optionally copy any or all of the chess library application packages to your Newton.
The chess library packages are named Newt ChessLib1.pkg (famous short games),
Newt ChessLib2.pkg (Bobby Fischer's games), and Newt ChessLib3.pkg (Chess Life
chess problems). After installing the packages on your Newton, run the ChessPDA
package first which will automatically create the ChessPDA database soup with
several sample games and problems already stored. After you take a few minutes
to familiarize  yourself with ChessPDA's features, you may wish to run one of the
chess library packages and transfer some or all of its games to the ChessPDA soup.
After transferring some or all of the games from a chess library package to the
ChessPDA soup, you may remove the chess library package from your Newton, if you
wish. See the SPECIAL NOTES at the end of this document for information on heap
space usage by ChessPDA and the chess library packages.


																				FEATURES - THE BASICS, HOW TO USE
                                   (How to Move, Replay, Save and Load a game)

                                                       Making Moves

The basic operation of ChessPDA is very simple.  Whenever you launch ChessPDA on
the Newton, it is ready for you to enter a game.  To make a move, tap on the piece
you wish to move, then tap on the move-to square (the square the piece is moving to).
To make a castling move, just move the king, the rook will be moved for you (if legal
move verification is ON).  En passant pawn moves are also supported, simply tap on
the pawn to move, then tap on the normally blank en passant destination square, the
enemy pawn being captured "in passing" will automatically be removed.

                                              Replaying and Saving Games

After entering all of the moves for a game, you may replay the entire game. To replay
the game, simply tap the RESET button to return the pieces to their original starting
positions, then tap the PLAY button to replay one move at-a-time, or tap the AUTO
button to automatically replay the entire game.  When the AUTO button is hilited,
simply tap it again to stop the automatic playback.  You may also save the game with
a name of your choosing to the ChessPDA database soup by using the SAVE option from
the ACTION button picker list (SAVE is enabled only in registered copies of ChessPDA).
You may also take back moves at any time using the BACK button. If you are entering
an active game by tapping in moves, the BACK button takes back the last move and
allows you to enter a different move (which is then recorded as the current move).
If you are replaying an entire gamescore, the BACK button simply removes the last
move from the board (i.e. the game goes in reverse to any previous move). The BACK
button can be used repeatedly to take back an entire game's worth of moves. You may
also start a new game at any time by tapping the NEW button.

                                             Loading Library or Saved Games

To load a previously saved or supplied library game use the LOAD option from the
ACTION button picker list.  When you choose the LOAD option, after a few seconds
you will be presented with a scrolling list of all games that are in the ChessPDA
database soup.  Simply scroll to the game of your choice (using the normal Newton
arrows at the bottom of the Newton screen) and then tap on the name of the game
to select it.  You may also navigate to a game by tapping on a letter in the special index
selector which is just below the list of games.  After selecting a game, then tap the
close box at the bottom right-hand corner of the games list screen to return to the
main chessboard screen.  Then simply replay the game as described above. If the game
was an incomplete game, you may also use the FINAL POSITION option to fast-forward
to the final position and then continue entering moves in the normal manner. After
completing the moves for the game, simply SAVE it again.


																				FEATURES - ADDITIONAL and ADVANCED
                                (How to Mark Positions, Create and Save Problems)

                                            Marking and Reverting Positions

ChessPDA can be used for more advanced analysis of a game or problem by using the
MARK and REVERT position features.  When creating or replaying a game, use the MARK
position option from the ACTION button picker list to temporarily save the position.
This will turn off move recording and allow you to make various move "trys" or to
analyze a series of "what if moves".  After MARKing the position, make the move trys
in the normal fashion.  The moves will be made on board, but will not be recorded.
When you are done with the series of "side moves", use the REVERT position option
from the ACTION button picker list to revert the game to its previously MARKed
position.  Move recording will be turned ON again, and you can continue to record or
replay moves.  If you have another "sideline" to explore, simply MARK the position
again.

                             Creating and Saving Chess Problems or Positions

ChessPDA can be used to create, store and replay chess problems that start from a 
certain position.  To replay a saved problem, simply use the LOAD game feature
described above.  The chess problem will start at the pre-determind position and you
can simply replay it as a normal game.  The supplied sample problems show you which
side is to move in the title of the problem, i.e. [W] (White) or [B] (Black) to move. If
no additional description is supplied, it means White (or Black) to move and win.

To create a chess problem or position with ChessPDA, first use the EDIT/LEGAL
option from the ACTION button picker list to set up the position.  When EDIT/LEGAL
is selected, it toggles (ON/OFF) legal move verification.  With legal move verification
OFF, you may move the pieces to any square just by tapping on a piece, then tapping
on the move-to square (just as you do in a "normal" legal move).  However, you may
also remove a piece or "blank" a square by tapping on an empty square and then tapping
on an occupied square (thus moving a "blank" square to an occupied square).  You
should excercise care when removing a piece.  Once you remove it, it is gone and can
not be used again to help set up the current position. Of course, if you remove too
many of a certain type of piece such that you cannot setup the position, you can start
over by choosing NEW game and EDIT/LEGAL again.  Once you have the position edited
to your satisfaction, then choose EDIT/LEGAL to turn legal move verification back ON.
The next step is to make ChessPDA "remember" the position using the RETAIN option
from the ACTION button picker list.  After you RETAIN the position, then make the
moves for the chess problem or position in the normal manner.  If Black is to move
first, use the "To move..." option from the ACTION button picker list to skip White's
move in the gamescore.  After recording the problem's moves, then use the SAVE
option from the ACTION button picker list as you would for a normal game (once
again, this works only with registered copies of ChessPDA).  After SAVEing the chess
problem, you may use the LOAD option from the ACTION button picker list to load and
replay the chess problem at any time.

                                          The Special Gamescore Options

You may wish to indicate in the gamescore how a game concluded.  Use the ACTION
button picker list options DRAWN game, RESIGN game, and MATE game to place one of
these keywords as the last move in a gamescore.

                                            ChessPDA Soup Information

If you wish to examine or transfer soup entries using REMOVEIT or SLURPEE or other
similar (and excellent!) shareware programs, here is a bit of ChessPDA soup info.
A soup entry for ChessPDA consists of a frame with the following slots:

{Version:1, Title:string, Moves:string, Position:string}

An example ChessPDA soup frame is as follows:

{Version:1,
 Title:"Kasparov-Karpov 1992",
Moves:
"f2-f4	(tab char)	e7-e6
g2-g4	(tab char)	d8-h4mate",
Position:
"rnbqkbnr
pppppppp
EEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEE
PPPPPPPP
RNBQKBNR"}

Note that the above position string is the starting position and not the ending position.
It is actually superfluous in the above example, because the example is a game (fool's
mate, the shortest chess game possible) and not actually a chess problem, where the
starting position would be necessary information. Also note that the position string
can be standard Forsythe-Edwards notation. The FEN position string for the above
position would be "rnbqkbnr/8p/8E/8E/8E/8E/8P/RNBQKBNR".


                                                     FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS

That's about it for now.  In the future, we are planning a computer opponent option,
when the Newton becomes fast enough to support it.  NewtonScript on current Newtons
is about 100 times slower than an old Mac Plus!!  But we are also the creators of
HyperNetwork CHESS for the Macintosh, and have written quite a bit of various chess
software, so we are trying to work around it.  We are also planning on creating more
game and problem libraries.  Please have fun!  We thank you for your support!

                                                        SPECIAL NOTES

An advisory is in order here. ChessPDA uses quite a lot of Newton heap space under
various playing conditions (also see revision history below). Under normal circum-
stances the heap space requirements should prevent no problems. But if you save a
large number of games to the ChessPDA soup (more than about 100), you might ex-
perience slowness or other problems. Much of this is due to the Newton OS and the
way the standard scrolling proto-textlists were implemented in the Newton OS, and
thus is beyond my control. We therefore recommend that you keep the number of
games saved at any one time down to a dull roar . This also applies to the game
libraries supplied with registered versions of ChessPDA. Since the currently supplied
libraries total about 300 games, it would be wise when transferring them to the
ChessPDA soup to transfer them 50 or 100 games at a time.  We are currently trying
to work around the Newton OS and proto-textlist limititations. Subsequent versions
of ChessPDA will hopefully improve this situation. Thank you for your patience! (You
can gain some additional heap space by closing the Extras drawer after launching
ChessPDA.  Re-setting your Newton will also often reclaim "lost" heap space).

                                                       REVISION HISTORY

v1.01 - first release version - 3/11/95
v1.02 - minor changes to help manage heap space - 3/17/95
v1.03 - minor changes to various text messages - 3/25/95
v1.04 - minor PLAY bug fixes, also added FINAL POSITION feature - 3/28/95