Main
Date: 09 May 2006 12:36:29
From:
Subject: Chess program with no installation
I'm running a chess club at a school in the UK but we don't have a
regular room so I need some chess software I can carry around on a USB
thumb drive. I have several great programs, including Fritz 9, but I
need something that just runs from an exe file and doesn't register
with the OS.

The best I've found is BabyChess, but the Windows versions don't
support position set-up, or importing of PGN or FEN.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.





 
Date: 11 May 2006 22:17:20
From: Mike Leahy
Subject: Re: Chess program with no installation

<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm running a chess club at a school in the UK but we don't have a
> regular room so I need some chess software I can carry around on a USB
> thumb drive. I have several great programs, including Fritz 9, but I
> need something that just runs from an exe file and doesn't register
> with the OS.
>
> The best I've found is BabyChess, but the Windows versions don't
> support position set-up, or importing of PGN or FEN.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thanks.

While both Bookup and MasterChess come with Windows installers, the programs
don't add DLL's or do anything that would keep them from running from a USB
drive. Try downloading the free Bookup 2000 Express, installing it and then
moving the program folder to the USB drive to check it out.


Mike Leahy
"The Database Man!"
www.bookup.com




 
Date: 10 May 2006 19:16:41
From: Simon Waters
Subject: Re: Chess program with no installation
On Tue, 09 May 2006 12:36:29 -0700, nostrebornitsuj wrote:
>
> I'm running a chess club at a school in the UK but we don't have a
> regular room so I need some chess software I can carry around on a USB
> thumb drive. I have several great programs, including Fritz 9, but I
> need something that just runs from an exe file and doesn't register
> with the OS.

Some of the bootable GNU/Linux CDs include XBoard, GNU Chess (and Sjeng in
at least one).

Knoppix for one has Xboard, GNU Chess. The DVD version has the GNU
Chess opening book as well.

http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

Added political advantage of not only installing nothing, but going no
where near what is installed on the machine, its OS, not having a writable
media so it can't spread novel viruses (obviously if there were something
bad on the CD image when it was created).

I pondered doing a bespoke chess bootable CD, as they are relatively easy
to create, and most of the general purpose ones waste a lot of space
including stuff like OpenOffice, Firefox etc, when that space could be
used for PGN archives, puzzles, SCID, and other stuff I might actually
want on a bootable CD. Would this be useful to anyone else?

OFSET do Freeduc, an educational LiveCD, which might be of interest.
Although it looks like they removed GNU Chess, and went for the Priy
school end of the educational spectrum. Which is at least underestimating
priy school kids, I know some have beaten me at chess.



 
Date: 09 May 2006 17:07:27
From: mate-in-30
Subject: Re: Chess program with no installation
[email protected] wrote:
> I'm running a chess club at a school in the UK but we don't have a
> regular room so I need some chess software I can carry around on a USB
> thumb drive. I have several great programs, including Fritz 9, but I
> need something that just runs from an exe file and doesn't register
> with the OS.
>
> The best I've found is BabyChess, but the Windows versions don't
> support position set-up, or importing of PGN or FEN.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thanks.

Get winboardx and Crafty -- let me know if you need the files sent to
you. I have a nice winboardx set up with a custom board.



 
Date: 09 May 2006 23:32:24
From: Stefan Renzewitz
Subject: Re: Chess program with no installation
<[email protected] > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:[email protected]...
> I'm running a chess club at a school in the UK but we don't have a
> regular room so I need some chess software I can carry around on a USB
> thumb drive. I have several great programs, including Fritz 9, but I
> need something that just runs from an exe file and doesn't register
> with the OS.
>
> The best I've found is BabyChess, but the Windows versions don't
> support position set-up, or importing of PGN or FEN.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thanks.
>

Do you know if the computers have the Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1
installed?

Regards,

Stefan