Go Reviews

GoSuite For Pocket PC And SmartPhone
by Roy Laird 3k

       When I switched from the Palm platform to a Pocket PC a few years ago, my only regret was losing the ability to record games and review sgf files with PilotGone. Now I have no regrets -- in fact, quite the contrary, not only can I do all that, I can even play against my PDA! I just downloaded and installed Ashley Feniello's GoSuite, available at no charge from http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoSuite. The handsome graphics, especially in "Oversized Board" mode, made it easy to get involved in a game, but more on that later. I'll probably spend a lot more time viewing sgf files and recording games, and that's where GoSuite really excels.
       GoSuite has all the usual bells and whistles -- toggles for coordinate markers, move numbers on the stones, and so on -- and more. The "Comment Cleanup" feature is especially cool. When the commentary uses coordinates to refer to points on the board, "Comment Cleanup" converts them automatically to marks (for stones) or letters (for vacant intersections), on the board and in the text. There are lots of nice recording features too, like being able to drag a stone if you tap the wrong intersection by mistake. And if you know the difference between a "sibling" and a "child" variation, or between a "branch" and a "node", you'll find many more features too numerous and complex to describe here. In addition, users who want Asian character sets will be pleased to know that GoSuite reads/writes properties in UTF-8 encoding.
       GoSuite also functions as a "front end' for Sid Liu's implementation of GnuGo CE. There are ten strength levels, and the strongest plays rather slowly, so it can be a little like playing on a turn-based server: check in, see if a move has been made, play your response, then back to what you are doing (like writing a product review). I abandoned my first game after GnuGo spent seven hours trying to come up with a move -- I'm still not sure if it was stumped or working overtime -- but I've got one going now. As an AGA 3K, I've played weaker humans, and weaker computer programs. Here's a cute little feature; if you can't decide what to do next, tap the little light bulb at the bottom, and GnuGo will suggest the next move. It's annoying when humans do that - you know who I mean! -- but GnuGo is refreshingly polite, and only suggests when asked.
       On everything from manners to graphics, ease of use to range of features, GoSuite gets top marks, especially as a playing and recording tool, and the ability to play against it is a nice little extra. It's also available for your SmartPhone, but since I don't have one, if I hadn't switched to Pocket PC before, I might do so now!
       Laird is webmaster for the AGA website.