Best way to play Go on Mac for beginners?

saltyd · Post by **saltyd** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:57 pm

It seems like there are a lot of options for Go software, but there are always problems whenever I try to download anything. I have OSX 10.6.8. Goban requires a newer version. And Mac Gnu go requires an older version. What's the best Mac software for beginners that will actually work with my computer?

oren · Post by **oren** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 8:00 pm

I would suggest KGS which will work on the mac.

saltyd · Post by **saltyd** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 8:09 pm

Is that a standalone or can you only play it online? I'm looking for something that can be both because my Internet isn't so great right now.

oren · Post by **oren** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 8:14 pm

saltyd wrote:Is that a standalone or can you only play it online? I'm looking for something that can be both because my Internet isn't so great right now.

It is just online except as a game editor.

saltyd · Post by **saltyd** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 8:20 pm

Anything that works offline as well?

lobotommy · Post by **lobotommy** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 12:54 am

KGS works offline - viewing games, editing, etc.

leichtloeslich · Post by **leichtloeslich** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:56 am

If you want to play against a computer opponent, I recommend gogui, which is written in java, so should run everywhere (tm).

You can plug any GTP bot into gogui. Good free bots are gnugo, pachi and fuego, although you may have to compile pachi and fuego from source; I don't think there are precompiled binaries for mac available.

Be prepared that pachi and fuego are fairly strong on smaller boards (assuming "normal" hardware).

RBerenguel · Post by **RBerenguel** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:41 am

Gnugo can be compiled in Mac OS 10.6.8, likewise fuego and pachi. I've had them all in my old mac (which is 10.6.8.) They all can be compiled in 10.9.1 without major trouble (did it recently)

alexdavey · Post by **alexdavey** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 11:50 am

Sen:te Goban is a nice mac app which supports GnuGo and Pachi with an extension, and an older version is available free. There is also a post on this forum with a list of some other mac apps.

saltyd · Post by **saltyd** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 1:33 pm

I tried to install gnugo but it won't let me because "the classic environment is no longer supported." I tried downloading the version of Goban and it also wouldn't work. GoGui is just really confusing to set up and talks about having to compiling it from the sources whatever that means. I didn't know this would be so difficult...

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 1:43 pm

alexdavey wrote:Sen:te Goban is a nice mac app which supports GnuGo and Pachi with an extension, and an older version is available free. There is also a post on this forum with a list of some other mac apps.

As said in the opening post, the current (Mac Appstore) version doesn’t seem to run on 10.6.8.

I have an archive of the old, free version of Goban which should run fine on 10.6.x, IIRC. Won’t spread it publicly, though, cause otherwise I’m gonna be hanged, drowned and then shot.

Greetings, Tom

Mike Novack · Post by **Mike Novack** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 2:25 pm

saltyd wrote:I tried to install gnugo but it won't let me because "the classic environment is no longer supported." I tried downloading the version of Goban and it also wouldn't work. GoGui is just really confusing to set up and talks about having to compiling it from the sources whatever that means. I didn't know this would be so difficult...

Explanation for you.

"Open Software" really only means that the source code is available gratis (technically there can be the "normal and customary charge for good copy on standard medium but these days with bandwidth and the internet that's moot). It doesn't mean that somebody is going to provide you with a complied run exec ready to run on your computer. Somebody can do that for you but nobody is obligated to if you don't know how to compile << source code has to be compiled into executable code before you can run it >>

hyperpape · Post by **hyperpape** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 3:16 pm

Mike Novack wrote:"Open Software" really only means that the source code is available gratis (technically there can be the "normal and customary charge for good copy on standard medium but these days with bandwidth and the internet that's moot). It doesn't mean that somebody is going to provide you with a complied run exec ready to run on your computer. Somebody can do that for you but nobody is obligated to if you don't know how to compile << source code has to be compiled into executable code before you can run it >>

We should have a forum drinking game...

xed_over · Post by **xed_over** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:06 pm

I have Mac OSX 10.6.8 and I don't have any issues with CGoban or Gnugo

-- oh, you mean old CGoban? CGoban1?
Just use the latest CGoban (is it 2 or 3 now?) -- whatever you get using KGS. 3 I think.

Boidhre · Post by **Boidhre** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:51 pm

xed_over wrote:I have Mac OSX 10.6.8 and I don't have any issues with CGoban or Gnugo

10.6.8 still had support for "Classic Apps." Lion got rid of that, to much chagrin from a lot of people. Last time I checked on 10.6.8 I could run any of the older apps I had anyway.

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