Choosing a interface is an important decision to make. Which is the best interface for playing on FICS?
The answer will depend on your preferences and use patterns (time controls, variants played etc.).
Also, deciding which interface fits your needs best is difficult if you haven't tried many of them.
There are many interfaces around, the following chart compares the most popular one, for older
interfaces which might be more of historical interest check
this list.
There are also interfaces for mobile devices available now some of which are included in this list.
Interface/Feature | Babaschess | Odesys | Raptor | eboard | Javaboard | Jin | Thief | Thinkerboard | Winboard/Xboard | iNemesis | Mobialia |
Variant Support | All | ? | All | Partial | All | Partial | All | ? | All | All | ? |
Engine Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Autosave Game | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Premove | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No |
Smart Move | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | No | No | No |
Sought Graph | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | ? |
Multiple Boards | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
Piece Sets | 21 | ? | 15 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 45 | ? | 1 | 41 | 5 |
Custom Events | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | 54 | ? | 16 | No | No |
Custom Buttons | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No |
Custom Right Click | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No |
Platforms/Operating Systems | Windows | Smartphones | Windows, OS X 10.4-10.6 , Linux (Java) | Linux/ Unix/BSD | Windows, OS X, Linux (Java) | Windows, OS X, Linux (Java) | Windows | Pocket PC | Windows, Linux | Windows | Android |
Current Version | 4.0 | 2.0 | .98u3f5 | 1.1.1 | 1.0.4 beta | 2.14.1 | 1.25 | 0.2.0028 beta | 4.7.1 | 5.0 | 4.3.2 |
Homepage | Babaschess | Odesys | Raptor | eboard | Javaboard | Jin | Thief | Thinkerboard | Winboard/ XBoard | iNemesis | Mobialia |
Active Development | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Source available | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Price | Freeware | Payware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Free/Pay |