Remote xboard without Desktop Environment

[Beco <rcb@beco.cc>]

Hello fellows,

I find it hard to ask exactly what I need as solution, and so, to
avoid XY problem I'll openly discuss the main objective here.

So, I have this hobby, chess, and I've being developing since 94 a
chess engine (Xadreco) that runs with xboard protocol. (Oldtimes, it
just used conio.h/curses.h to print a fine board using ascii-art text
to let you play on console).

Its a console application, very simple.

Now suppose I have this 2 computers:

[Fox]->ssh->[Lizard]

Fox and Lizard run Debian Wheezy.

Fox is a very fast notebook (intel i5, 6GB Ram), with KDE.

Lizard is an old computer (pentium 200Mhz MMX, 96MB RAM) used as a
backup. It has no DE nor WM. Just plain console.

I will work on Fox only. No use of Lizard keyboard/mouse/monitor. I
connect to Lizard by ssh.


(1) How can I run xboard and play against xadreco issuing the command
fox$ xboard -fcp xadreco

First: I cannot start xboard on lizard. Xboard needs " display ". I
cannot start it from Fox, nor from Lizard directly.

It would be great if xboard would just run on a console. I tried the
option "-noGUI", but I think its not about that.

So the commands:

fox$ xboard -fcp xadreco
fox$ xboard -fcp xadreco
lizard$ xboard -fcp xadreco

Wont work.

Of course, it tells me: no display.

The obvious solution is to install a DE. The machine is too old and
slow. I don't want to install a DE unless necessary.


(2) xboard can connect to a chess server (a third computer). So the
configuration would be:

[Fox] -> ssh -> [Lizard] -> xboard-protocol -> [Flik]

Flik is not mine, I suppose it runs linux. I don't need to know. Flik
runs a chess server (ICS), so I can talk to it using xboard protocol (
text commands over the internet that tells the opponents moves, and
send the engine moves, in a fashion notation that reminds the
coordinates of a naval battle game)

In this case, the "graphical interface" (or the chess board) is really
unnecessary, as people will play chess at their computers. Xboard only
need to keep the connection alive and send the "text" commands from
the protocol (like moves, etc.).


(3) Now, how can I keep xboard running on lizard, after I turn off fox.

Also, it happens that the connection break some time. So I would
connect via ssh from Fox to Lizard to restart xboard again.


Ultimately, the main objective is keep Lizard on, running xboard and
xadreco, connected with Flik, playing games. If something goes wrong,
use Fox to restart the program.
And: saving as much RAM as possible of Lizard, without installing
anything unless necessary.

[Fox] -> ssh -> [Lizard] -> xboard-protocol -> [Flik] <-
xboard-protocol <- [netizens]


Thanks any help here (specially with "concepts" to try to understand
and solve the best way possible each approach).

Beco



-- 
Dr Beco
A.I. researcher

"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by
doing them" (Aristotle)