
       ͻ
            This file gives you some extra information about       
              the REBEL 9.0 program and also contains the          
            last minute changes not mentioned in the manual.       
       ͼ

        REBEL 9.0 PARAMETERS
        ====================
        - REBEL W1  The hash table is limited to 512 KB
        - REBEL W2  The hash table is limited to   1 MB
        - REBEL W3  The hash table is limited to   2 MB
        - REBEL W4  The hash table is limited to   4 MB
        - REBEL W5  The hash table is limited to  13 MB
        - REBEL W6  The hash table is limited to  28 MB

        Especially made for Windows users who want more than 512 KB
        on Hash tables. If you experience problems with the Windows
        swap file, simply lower the hash table level.


        The REBEL FAQ (frequently asked questions)
        ------------------------------------------
        The REBEL FAQ is maintained by Manfred Rosenboom and
        contains lots of valuable information and hints.
        You can find the REBEL frequently asked questions at:

        http://www.xs4all.nl/~rebchess/faq.htm




        Below is a list of useful hints in case you experience
        a problem running REBEL 9.0 on your PC.








        Graphical problems (VESA)
        -------------------------
        Some (older) graphical adaptors are not fully VESA compatible.
        You can bypass REBEL's VESA mode by running REBEL with the "V"
        option. Example: REBEL.EXE V
















        Graphical problems (MODE)
        -------------------------
        Some graphical adaptors while running REBEL do give
        problems due to the MODE + EGA setting in your
        AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file. Since REBEL is a VGA related
        application, on some PCs you must remove the following
        line from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

        MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((850) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)

        and restart your PC again to activate the new setting.
        This seems to be *not* needed using Win95.









        Graphical problems (Matrox and Cirrus)
        --------------------------------------------
        If you have an old version of the Matrox or Cirrus Logic
        graphical adaptor, the pull down menus in REBEL 9.0 may be
        unreadable. You can fix this in the following way:
        - Start REBEL 9.0
        - Press "F6" (is CFG menu)
        - Press "UP ARROW" 4 times
        - Press ENTER

        Menu is now ok!
        Press ALT_X (exit program) plus save changes.

        Problem solved forever. Your Cirrus Logic or Matrox video
        card does not support a font of REBEL 9.0 . So actually it's
        their bug we have to fix. Also you can find a bugfix for
        your Matrox card on the Internet at: http://www.matrox.com/




        Memory problems (64 MB)
        -----------------------
        On *some* PCs with 64 MB of memory, REBEL may report
        "Insufficient memory". Reason unknown. All we know is that
        it is HIMEM.SYS related.

        From input we received from REBEL 8 users we recommend:


        Running DOS 6.x
        ---------------
        Remove HIMEM.SYS from your CONFIG.SYS and the problem is over.









        Running Windows 95
        ------------------
        1.  Run REBEL 9.0 by using the shortcuts provided in the Rebel9
            directory (REBWIN64.PIF etc.).

        2.  Don't run REBEL 9.0 from the Win95 MSDOS prompt because this
            seems to be the problem maker. Again, reason unknown.
            There seems to be a different HIMEM.SYS behavior under Win95
            than under the Win95 MSDOS prompt while having a 64 MB PC.

        3.  However if you insist on playing on MSDOS the only solution
            to bypass this 64 MB problem is to follow the exact rules
            as pointed out in the "Windows 95 (F8 trick)" described below.
            This will always work.







        Swap File problems (Hash tables)
        --------------------------------
        In starting REBEL 9.0, the program will automatically look
        for the best hash table settings since this is closely
        related to the playing strength of REBEL 9.0. In running
        Windows 3.x or Windows 95 this may cause slow response times
        in making moves on the chess board because the entire contents
        of REBEL's hash table is written to hard disk, the Windows
        swap file, resulting in a spinning hard disk for 10-30
        seconds or more. Solutions are many. The best way is to
        use the "Wx" options. Example: REBEL.EXE W1

        Using DOS there are of course no such limitations.








        Mouse not working
        -----------------
        Be sure that MOUSE=ON in the CFG menu.


















        Mouse problems Windows
        ----------------------
        In case you (sometimes) experience an unexpected crash
        while moving the mouse, run REBEL 9.0 with START.BAT.
        You might have an incompatible mouse driver. Running the
        START.BAT fix may fix the problem.















        Windows 95 (Direct_X)
        ---------------------
        Direct_X is a new software development for Windows
        applications in order to speed up the graphics of
        various Windows programs. Unfortunately *some*
        Direct_X versions are not completely bug free and may
        cause problems with DOS and Windows applications.
        If your Win95 is not stable (in case you have problems
        with many other programs) you should consider uninstalling
        your Direct_X drivers.











        Windows 95 (F8 trick)
        ---------------------
        - Start / Restart your computer.
        - Press F8 as soon as "Starting Windows 95" appears.
        - Select MSDOS SAFE mode from the menu.
        - Load your mouse driver (MOUSE.COM, LH MOUSE etc.)
        - Start the program with REBEL.EXE from the REBEL9 directory.
        - You have started REBEL 9.0 with the strongest settings.













        Other platforms (Mac)
        ---------------------
        - We officially do not support the Macintosh.
        - REBEL 9.0 will not run on any Mac.
        - REBEL 9.0 will most probably run with a PC card.
















        Other platforms (OS/2)
        ----------------------
        - We officially do not support OS/2.
        - REBEL 9.0 may or may not run on OS/2.

















        Other platforms (WIN NT)
        ------------------------
        - We officially do not support WIN NT.
        - REBEL 9.0 may or may not run on NT.

















        Additions to the manual (part 1)
        --------------------------------

        1. Under the CFG pull down menu you'll have the capability
           to switch on/off the mouse.

        2. When in the database overview you can go back to the normal game
           by using ALT-X, clicking in the upper left corner or selecting
           the option of pull down menu DB-files "Leave database ESC".

        3. In the database with small boards activated there will appear
           two symbols above the boards "" and "" meaning that the
           position on the last board will go down or up by 6 moves.
           Keyboard users: CTRL PGUP and CTRL PGDN.

        4. When you have entered a PGN-database and have selected and
           loaded some games, then ALT-N (next game) and ALT-P (previous
           game) will work for your selection of PGN games.



        Additions to the manual (part 2)
        --------------------------------

        5. When a database function is called (other than "Next game" or
           "Previous game") and you had just entered the PGN database or
           selected PGN games, then automatically you will be switched
           to the database of the REBEL format.

        6. In selecting the options "Search on material" or "Search
           pattern" the default will be a former setting. If this is
           not convenient for you, just choose one time "Remove all"
           from the POS menu.

        7. When you save a game into a database this game will become
           automatically selected. When you overwrite a selected game,
           this game will stay selected in the database.

        8. Importing PGN files: in case of errors there will be a file
           with the extension "ERR" that contains the error messages and
           and the names of the players of the games that were skipped.

        Additions to the manual (part 3)
        --------------------------------

        9. Every time you exit REBEL 9.0 the current board position
           is written to an EPD file called "REBEL.EPD" including, if
           present, REBEL's main variation (time, score, ply depth etc.)

       10. If you start REBEL 9.0 including a PGN or EPD in the command
           line, REBEL 9.0 will bypass the welcome screen and will
           automatically analyze the loaded PGN or EPD file with the
           last time control setting you used.

           The above points 9 and 10 are useful for third party programs
           to call REBEL 9.0 and get the REBEL 9.0 analysis and pass
           the results to their own application.  We received many
           requests for such a facility.





        The super warroom (limitations)
        ===============================
        From the 4 main lines displayed in the super warroom, only
        the first one is 100% reliable (from the point of view of
        the program of course.)  The second/third and fourth main lines
        are not always correct but in most cases the moves will show
        you *WHY* the move is worse than the best move found so far!

        The reason for this is the typical behavior of the
        ALPHA-BETA algorithm used in the chess program. Without this
        algorithm the 4 main lines will look better, however the ELO
        rating of the program would drop 700-800 points without the
        ALPHA-BETA algorithm!








        An example
        ----------
        e2e4 e7e5 g1f3 b8c6 f1b5  (the main line)
        d2d4 d7d5 g1f3 g8f6 a2a3  (the second choice of the program)
                            ^^^^
        Of course a2a3 is not a good move here.
        Such a variation may happen because of the ALPHA-BETA concept.
        However the SECOND move (d7d5) is ALWAYS reliable (from the point
        of view of the program of course)












        REBEL 9.0 ELO rating option
        ---------------------------
        At program start, REBEL 9.0 tries to calculate the playing
        strength on your specific PC. This is done by looking for
        the type of your processor (386, 486, Pentium etc.) and
        calculating the speed (MHz) of your PC. Combining this
        information will result in an estimated ELO rating for
        REBEL 9.0 on your PC as displayed in the pull down menu OPT.

        This estimated ELO rating value has to be considered in a
        range of -50 / +50 since it is impossible to calculate
        an exact ELO rating for every PC.

        As a base of the estimated ELO rating, we have chosen
        to support the formula of the SSDF ELO figures. So the
        displayed ELO rating for a Pentium 90 MHz should be as
        close as possible to the REBEL 9.0 entry on the SSDF list.

        To convert REBEL 9.0's estimated SSDF ELO rating to a normal
        FIDE ELO rating, we suggest you subtract 50-70 ELO points.

        Credits
        =======
        Chess program   : Ed Schrder
        IO and graphics : Robert Kemper
        Database design : Ed Schrder
        Book opening    : Jeroen Noomen
        Engine testers  : Jeroen Noomen, Ed Schrder
        Manuals         : Robert Kemper, Jeff LaHue, Manfred Rosenboom,
                          Gerda Caneel, Andres Valverde, Efrn Navarro
                          Vincent Lejeune, Franois Bertin, Stefano Lupini
                          Stefano Gemma, Jack van Rijswijck, Dennis Breuker
        Box design      : ADCOM
        CD-ROM design   : ADCOM
        Leaflet design  : Douglas Design
        Beta testers    : Enrique Irazoqui, Thorsten Czub, Moritz Berger,
                          Hans van Raaij, Wybe Koopmans, Jeff LaHue,
                          Dave Gomboc, Komputer Korner, Manfred Rosenboom,
                          Peter Schreiner, Juergen Faas, Jeroen Noomen
        Internet design : Cyber Happy


        You can contact us on the Internet on our home page at:

                    http://www.xs4all.nl/~rebchess/


















End.
