I am very interested in your product. Can it be used on my
device?
PocketGrandmaster should work on almost all Windows Mobile Pocket PCs. To make sure it
works on your device, just download, install and test it!
See here for a (incomplete) list of devices on which PocketGrandmaster
was successfully tested.
I downloaded PocketGrandmaster from Handango but the setup program said
my hardware is not supported?
You probably have a Pocket PC with an older version of Windows Mobile or
with a MIPS (e.g. Cassiopeia) or SH3-processor (e.g. Jornada 540)
and tried to install PocketGrandmaster for StrongARM-processors.
You can download PocketGrandmaster for your version of Windows and hardware from the
download page.
How to get the program to play White? And is there a 2-player-mode?
If you want PocketGrandmaster to make the first move,
just start a new game and press "!".
If you don't want to play against the computer, open the "Options - playing"
dialog and uncheck "Autoanswer".
Autoplay is also possible, when you select "Replay moves" and no
more previous move is available.
I am clearly not up to the level of the game. How do I change the level?
For weaker play select the menu "Tools - Levels - Fixed" and limit the
depth to e.g. 1 or 2.
You can also select "? - Help" to show the helpfile which also describes the
Blitz- and Tournament-levels.
When playing you can press "?" (Hint) and PocketGrandmaster will suggest a good move
for you.
Which program is stronger? Have you all done a comparison?
We didn't really play enough games, but we think PocketGrandmaster
using the Toga-engine is currently one of the strongest chess programs for Pocket PC.
I have to hard boot my Pocket PC, can I simply re-download the demo from handango
then re-input my registration key?
Yes, your registration key will work unless you change your name in
the owner information of your Pocket PC (in that case please contact us for a new key).
Note that a hard-reset clears the owner information, therefore
you have to enter your name again before registering.
I bought a new Pocket PC, installed PocketGrandmaster and saw my PGM Device-ID
had changed. Can I use my old registration key?
Yes, if your owner name remains the same (see also previous question).
I bought a new Pocket PC that runs Windows Mobile 6.5. How can I enter my owner information?
On new devices like the HTC HD2 you have to enter your owner information in the "My Contact Card".
Please slide to the People tab on the Home screen and then tap "All People". Now tap "Me" to open the
My Contact Card screen and enter your first and last name.
Why is my registrationkey not working?
A registration key is rejected if there is a difference between
the name we computed the key for and the name entered in the owner information
of a Pocket PC. Sometimes the name given in the order (e.g. "Bill Gates")
differs from the name in the owner information (e.g. "William H. Gates III")
and then we can't compute a working key. In this case please send us
the PGM Device-ID you find in the "Register"-dialog within PocketGrandmaster
and the name you entered in the owner information and we will generate a new key.
Another way to make your registration key work is to change the name in
the owner information of your Pocket PC to the name we used to generate your
key.
How do I install a chess engine in PocketGrandmaster?
PocketGrandmaster lets you choose between different chess engines, currently
PocketEngine.pge (Anaconda), Fruit, Toga, Ruffian and SOS. To install a new
engine, download it from the
download-page, and follow the described installation process.
After installation, start PocketGrandmaster, open the "Engine"-page of the "Options"-dialog
and select the newly installed chess engine.
After installing the Announcements, there is no option to turn
the announcements ON.
This can happen, when PocketGrandmaster or the announcements are not
installed in their standard folder. When the PocketGrandmaster executable is
installed in
\.. any path ..\PocketGrandmaster\PocketGrandmaster.exe
then the announcements have to be installed in
\.. any path ..\PocketGrandmaster\announce
Perhaps you have to move the annouce-folder into the PocketGrandmaster folder.
I have PocketGrandmaster 2.x, how do I install PocketGrandmaster 3.x or 4.x?
You should first uninstall PocketGrandmaster 2.x to remove any files no longer
needed by the new version. Then you can install the new version just like the
old one. Your registration key remains valid if it was purchased after
18th December 2005, otherwise please get an update here.
I purchased PocketGrandmaster from Handango/PocketGear/SWReg/Clickgamer but have not been sent
a registration code to date.
First, please check your account/order statistics on the web site of the
registrationservice
(Handango,
PocketGear,
SWReg or
Clickgamer) you used to register.
If your order was processed correctly and we did not send a key for
one or two days, please let us know. Possible problems are:
The e-mail address we tried to send the key to didn't work and our
mail was undeliverable. Please check if the e-mail address you gave when ordering
was correct and send us short note if it was wrong.
After a purchase we usually get a notification-mail from the
registrationservice you used.
However, there have been a few cases where we were not notified
of a purchase because of a technical problem at the registration service.
They told us the problem is fixed now, and furthermore we now do frequently check
for new orders ourselves.
Some customers did not get their key, although we sent it and our
mail did not bounce. The reason is very likely a mail-filter on the
customer's side. In this case please let us know and we will send
the registrationkey in a letter.
The keyboard (SIP) does not appear, when I try to enter the registration key?
Try to switched your default input option to "Transcriber". Also, if you
have an external keyboard, make sure that it's driver does not interfere
with the virtual keyboard. As a workaround, you can also use cut&paste
to copy text from a texteditor to PocketGrandmaster.
How do I play online?
Playing online is easy, but if you're new to playing on FICS or
ICC, please visit their websites
first and read their introduction for new users before playing there. You may also want
to try to login from a PC first to get used to it. Then
Make sure your Pocket PC has a working internet-connection before
logging in. Try to open your favourite website in the Internet Explorer
to make sure you're connected.
Good ways to connect a Pocket PC to the internet are
ActiveSync: just put the Pocket PC in the cradle and let your Desktop PC share the internet connection with the Pocket PC
WLAN
Phone carrier: Note that going online using a phone can be very expensive, if you don't
have a data-flatrate
Use the FICS guest login for a quick start. On FICS, guests can use most
features, except playing rated games.
Press "Observe", select a game and watch it.
Go to the "Seek"-page, press "Start Seek" and wait for a game to begin.
In case of problems, you can send commands directly to the server in the "chat"-window.