ICC Help: unix-timestamp

See help timestamp for general information about timestamp.

1. Finding the right version of timestamp for you

Unix timestamp binaries are currently available for many platforms. You can get them via anonymous ftp from ftp.chessclub.com. Go to directory pub/icc/timestamp, and do "ls" to see what's available.

Do "uname -a" on your machine to find which operating system you are running. Find the timestamp that most closely matches your system.

2. Using Timestamp

Here's how to use the program: Ftp it to your Unix machine. Rename it "timestamp" using the "mv" unix command. Then type:

./timestamp 207.99.83.228 5000

* If Unix says "permission denied", then do "chmod a+x timestamp".

* You may not HAVE to include the IP# and 5000 on the command line, it depends on which version of timestamp you have.)

This will open a telnet session to ICC with timestamping added. The program must be run on the unix machine where you run telnet. For example, using ZIICS on a PC with MSDOS, you run timestamp on the Unix machine that you dial up with your modem. It is easy to modify scripts that run your interface to invoke timestamp instead of telnet. For example, in ziics, you would replace the telnet command in your ziics.cnf file with the timestamp command. Please note that some services may not allow you to run timestamp, since it is not an "approved" program.

After you've logged in, do "ping" to see if it's really working. You can ping others also to see if they're running the timestamp.

To use timestamp with xboard, give this command:

xboard -ics -icshost 207.99.83.228 -telnet -telnetProgram timestamp

You must invoke timestamp in a different way to use it with xics (and some of the Macintosh interfaces). This method also works with xboard, but the one given above is simpler. Use:

./timestamp 207.99.83.228 5000 -p 5500 &

This starts the timestamp process on your machine, and creates a new port (5500 in this case) ON YOUR OWN MACHINE, and you can then connect to it with xboard or telnet, etc. So, for example, to run xics, do:

xics your.machine.here 5500

To use this method with xboard, do:

xboard -ics -icshost your.machine.here -icsport 5500

Where "your.machine.here" is the name of the machine running timestamp. (If port 5500 is being used for something else, you can use any other port. The port specified in the timestamp command and in xics or xboard must be the same.)

There's a way you can avoid invoking timestamp by hand each time. You can start a shell script running in the background which always leaves an instance of timestamp running. Put the following lines into a file, and call it "script.csh".

#!/bin/csh while 1 ./timestamp -p 5000 end

Now do "chmod a+x script.csh", then start it with "script.csh &". This will keep a timestamp always waiting for you in port 5000.

If you have questions, contact Daniel Sleator <sleator@cs.cmu.edu> (ICC name Darooha), the author of the timestamp program.

See also: timestamp, win-timestamp