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                PMICS User Guide: version 0.9 (beta)
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PMICS is an interface for playing chess through the Internet Chess Server.
It is intended for connecting to a host system through the serial port; other
modes of connecting to ICS such as direct telnet from OS/2 may be supported
in the future.

PMICS comes with source (for what it's worth...) and is freely redistributable
under the terms of the GNU General Public License.  The author has no
connection with the Free Software Foundation, so all bugs are his
responsibility.  Comments are welcome at chow@netcom.com.

-------------------
Running the program
-------------------

Typing "start pmics" will run the program in its own session.  By default
it grabs the first openable COM port at 9600 baud.  If this auto-mode doesn't
doesn't work for you, specify your COM port and baud rate explicitly with
/Cn and /Pnnnn, e.g.  "start pmics /c2 /p2400" for COM2 at 2400 baud.  

After the chessboard window comes up, connect to your host system by typing
your modem's dial commands (e.g. ATDTnnnmmmm).  Once you are connected to
ICS enter the command "style 8" so that pmics can parse the game status
messages.

If the window is not the right size, in particular if it is too big, use the
command line parameters /Xnnn and /Ynnn to override the default window
dimensions (currently 600x600).  An invocation suitable for VGA is
"start pmics /x600 /y480".  On the other hand if you have 1024x800 resolution
or better then try: "start pmics /x800 /y800 /b2".  This uses larger bitmaps.

Options summary:
   /Bn                specify board size 1=normal, 2=large, 3=huge
   /Cn                specify serial port to use
   /Pnnnn             specify serial port baud rate    
   /Dxya              specify a modem init string.  this can be a dial 
                      command.  to include blanks, enclose in quotes,
                      e.g. /D"ATE1 DT2419796"
   /Xxxx              specify X dimension of window
   /Yyyy              specify Y dimension of window
   /wpc colour-spec   specify colour of white pieces
                      colour-spec is either a colour name or a hex string
                      of the form rrggbb specifying RGB intensity.  
	              recognized colour names are: blue, red, pink, green,
		      cyan, yellow, neutral, darkgray, darkblue, darkred,
		      darkpink, darkgreen, darkcyan, brown, palegray.
   /bpc colour-spec   specify colour of black pieces
   /wsc colour-spec   specify colour of white squares
   /bsc colour-spec   specify colour of black squares

-------------
Playing chess
-------------

Use the left mouse button to grab the piece you want to move and drag it to the
target square.  Clicking the right button reissues the last move you made.

When the board is "locked" only ICS status messages cause it to update; this
is the default.  Unlocking the board from the Board menu causes your moves
to occur immediately.  The Board menu also has a Flip option to rotate the
board 180 degrees.

PMICS recognizes challenge messages and pops up a requester informing you of
the match parameters.  Your choices are to accept, decline, or ignore.  You can
make a counter proposal by changing the time control field and pressing Accept.
If you select Ignore no action is taken and the challenge remains pending.

Currently there are no options to save the game score or replay moves.
(The PrintScreen key does work, after a fashion).

------
Quirks
------

The list boxes grab the focus and won't let go -- you find that pressing
keys scrolls the windows madly.  Press ESC to get out of this mode.

If the displayed position gets scrozzled, or you suspect it's out of sync,
first press the Refresh button on the right side of the window, then pull
down the Board menu and select Replot.  (The second step is only necessary if
the board is "unlocked").

--------------
Update history
--------------
5/28	0.91    pieces plotted illegibly on some systems; added color options
5/19	0.9 	first release

----------------
Acknowledgements
----------------

PMICS was inspired by the excellent DOS interface, GIICS, written by
Tony Acero.  The bitmaps for the pieces are taken from the GNU program xboard.
Serial port IOCTL magic was adapted from the PD comm program comtalk.

Kevin Nomura
chow@netcom.com
5/19/93