Update Information: July 2, 2016 (Updates)

by Ron , Saturday, July 02, 2016, 17:56

Engine Updates

Bumblebee 1.0.36898e1 (UCI)
Linux, Win
fixed eval bug: bishop outpost bonus was essentially random
fixed eval bug: open file evaluation in king safety routine was incorrect
https://github.com/zd3nik/BumblebeeReleases/releases

Ethereal 7.69 (UCI)
C source; Win64
- "added mobility, fixed bug"
https://github.com/AndyGrant/Ethereal (source)
https://github.com/AndyGrant/Ethereal/releases/ (downloads0

Sayuri 2016.06.29 (UCI)
C++ source (Japanese comments); mp (up to 64 threads); Linux, Mac, Win
https://github.com/MetalPhaeton/sayuri/releases

SJCE 28-06-16
Strong Java Chess Engines packages
- XB engine changes: unknown, not specified
- UCI engine updates: unknown, not specified
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sjce/files/chess_engines_nb-src/

SmarThink 1.96 (XB/UCI)
Win; multiPV; formerly commercial; supports Syzygy egtbs
- "estimated Elo gain: +30-40"
http://www.sdchess.ru/download_engines.htm (SDChess)
http://genes1s.net/smarthink.html (homepage)

Supra 23.0 (UCI)
C++ source; Win
http://www.supra-chess-engine.info/

Wasp 1.02 (UCI)
Win; successor to Zarkov
http://www.amateurschach.de/main/_wasp.htm (Frank's Chess Page)

Chess News

Norm Pollock site
PGN, EPD & TXT Utility Suites and Opening Book PGN Databases
- removed EPD program; epdSort (use txtSort in TXT programs instead)
http://www.hoflink.com/~npollock/40H.html

Chess Programming Blogs

Tarrasch Chess GUI blog: https://triplehappy.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/new-features-2/

Updated Wiki Pages

Engine Download List
- added some older engines, thanks to Guenther Simon
http://www.computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:download:engine_download_list

Bonus Notifications (recent releases of free stuff)

Advisory:

- alpha releases have new features; crashes and bugs are to be expected
- beta releases have new features; they may contain bugs or crash
- release candidate software may contain minor bugs; crashes are rare

NOTE: I had an argument with Microsoft. I thought I owned my computer, they thought they did. Microsoft won by cheating: they clobbered my sys admin settings. Microsoft won the battle, but lost the war. If I can't trust a company to do an update, how can I trust it at all? All future updates of Windows-only software will no longer be listed here.

4MLinux 18.0
independent Linux distro; JWM desktop; #54 in popularity
http://4mlinux.com/

AdBlock 3.0.6
Google Chrome extension to block ads, thereby preventing malware infections
- not related to AdBlocck Plus
http://www.getadblock.com/

Adblock Plus 1.12.1 for Chrome, Opera and Safari
free, open source browser plugin that blocks most web advertisements
- not related to AdBlocck
http://adblockplus.org/en/

Alpine 3.4.1
independent Linux distro; XFCE desktop; #46 in popularity
http://www.alpinelinux.org/

BleachBit 1.12
free and open-source disk space cleaner, privacy manager, and computer system optimizer for Linux & Windows
http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

Calibre 2.61.0
cross-platform open source ebook manager supporting all popular ebook readers
with format conversion, news feeds, and integrated e-book viewer
http://calibre-ebook.com/

D Programming Language 2.071.1
popular cross-platform, open-source, static, C-like systems programming language
- intended as a safer, practical, improved form of C++
- classes, overloading, closures, functional, templates, associative arrays, productive, etc.
http://dlang.org/

Eclipse 4.7
open source extensible IDE framework supporting plugins for almost all programming languages
w/ syntax highlighting, intellisense, code completion, templates, version control, more
http://www.eclipse.org/ (homepage)

FileZilla Client 3.19.0
open source cross-platform ftp client; recommended
http://filezilla-project.org/ (homepage)
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?show_all=1 (downloads)

Firefox 47.0.1
popular, free, open source browser
http://www.mozilla.com/ (homepage)

Ghostery 6.3.0 for Firefox
free browser addon; alerts you about web bugs, ad networks and tracking widgets on every web page you visit;
"See who's tracking your web browsing and block them"
http://www.ghostery.com/download

GnuCash 2.6.13
free, cross-platform, open source, personal/small-business accounting software
- track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses
http://www.gnucash.org/

HHVM 3.14.2
Facebook's open-source replacement/improvement of the PHP programming language
- HHVM programs run much faster than PHP programs
- package includes the Hack programming language, version 3.14.2
https://github.com/facebook/hhvm/releases

ImageMagick 7.0.2-2
cross-platform, open-source program to manipulate images
- create, edit, compose, or convert images files (200+ formats)
- bmp, png, jpg, gif, tiff, svg, etc.
- resize, flip, mirror, rotate, distort, shear and transform
- adjust image, apply special effects,
- draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses & Bézier curves
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php

IzPack 5.0.9
free Java cross-platform installer for packaging, distributing and deploying applications
http://izpack.org/

LibreCAD 2.1.1
open source, cross-platform 2D CAD app
http://www.librecad.org/

MariaDB 10.1.15 Stable
open source fork of MySQL; completely compatible w/MySQL; w/extra DB engines & extra features
"MariaDB is a binary drop-in replacement for MySQL"
MariaDB restores several significant features that Oracle has dropped from MySQL
- gaining popularity from MySQL, a work-alike competitor with fewer features
- 5.x version stays in sync with MySQL 5.x; version 10 is an improved version of it
http://kb.askmonty.org/ (homepage)
http://kb.askmonty.org/v/mariadb-versus-mysql-features (extra features vs MySQL)
http://kb.askmonty.org/en/what-is-mariadb-100 (What is MariaDB 10?)

Mercurial 3.8.4
free, cross-platform, open-source distributed version control management tool
https://www.mercurial-scm.org/

Mint 18
Ubuntu-based distro; desktops: Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, MATE, Xfce; #1 in popularity
http://linuxmint.com/

MongoDB 3.3.9
free, open source NoSQL database; uses document store model
http://www.mongodb.org/downloads

Pale Moon 26.3.3
open source, efficiency-optimized build of Firefox source code for Windows or Linux
- 32 & 64-bit versions available
http://www.palemoon.org/

Sabayon 16.07
Gentoo-based, rolling release distro; choice of desktops: GNOME, KDE, MATE or Xfce; #32 in popularity
http://www.sabayon.org/

Slackware 14.2
independent Linux distro; Blackbox, Fluxbox, FVWM, KDE, WMaker, Xfce desktops; #16 in popularity
- one of the few distros remaining that avoids use of systemd
http://www.slackware.com/

SolydXK 201606
based on Debian(stable); KDE or Xfce desktops; #88 in popularity
- there is also available a rolling "enthusiast's version" based on Debian(testing)
http://solydxk.com/

Thunderbird 45.2.0
Mozilla's excellent open source email program
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/ (homepage)

VirtualBox 5.0.24
open source, general-purpose, full virtualizer for x86 and AMD64/Intel64 hardware
runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris as host
install one or more guest operating systems onto the same computer
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes (list of guest operating systems)
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog (changelog)
http://www.virtualbox.org/ (homepage)

XAMPP 7.0.8
XAMPP 5.6.23
XAMPP 5.5.37
cross-platform, open source web-server (Apache), SQL database (MySQL) w/ admin, PHP, ftp server, Tomcat, & more
- this is probably the easiest way to install a working, web-aware PHP into Windows
- it is also easy to add web apps like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, SugarCRM, phpBB, DokuWiki, etc.
- version numbering reflect the PHP version that is supported
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html

Meaning of Colors

Red = New or Warning
Green = Updated
Gray = Info Only

Engine List: http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:chess_engine_list
Chess News: http://computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:lists:chess_news_list

NOTE: If you want me to track a website for you, please email me and I will add it.
ron _at_ computer-chess _dot_ org