Full Circle

UBUNTU GAMES
Written by Ronnie Tucker
GoPanda
H
aving watched the AlphaGo
and Lee Sedol matches via
YouTube, I decided to buy a couple
of books and give Go a try.
I managed to easily find a
couple of Go apps for Android, but
had difficulty finding a good piece
of Go software for Linux.
Eventually I came across GoPanda.
GoPanda is basically a front-end
for IGS PandaNet (aka: Panda
Network) that allows players to
watch, play and discuss Go. The
software can also let you review
Go games using the SGF file
format. While having Java-based
software may make some people
groan, at least it allows Linux users
to get involved in playing Go.
Fill in the details such as
username, password, email, etc.
Finally, click ‘Register’, and wait
for a confirmation email. Since the
confirmation email can sometimes
take a little while, let’s get
installing.
INSTALLING
First thing to do is grab the
archive file from: http://pandanetigs.com/communities/gopanda2/1
00/
For using the software there’s
also a PDF manual at:
http://www.pandanet.co.jp/top_ne
wsph-igs/GoPandasmanual.pdf
PLAYING
Top right, in the GoPanda
window, is the login button. You’ll
need to log in to connect to
PandaNet:
You’ll now be in the main room
(shown above) with a list of
currently playing matches. You can
click on one of these matches, and,
from the popup menu, choose
‘Observe’ (shown below).
You are now watching the
match... live.
REGISTERING
Head to the PandaNet site at:
http://pandanet-igs.com/. In the
right-hand-side column, there’s a
button saying ‘Register’. Click that.
Or you can click the big ‘Play on
Pandanet!’ button to get a popup
with a registration button.
Unarchive the .tar.gz file to
somewhere, and open that newly
created GoPanda2 folder. In there,
you’ll see an icon called GoPanda2.
That’s the executable to run
GoPanda. Double-click it and you’re
off and running!
On the first run, the software
will update itself.
full circle magazine #1 08 51 contents ^