# Jago FAQ

This file tries to give you additional start support. Consult it in case of problems. You are still welcome to ask me, if you find problems not mentioned here. You are also welcome to report bugs and suggestions for future versions.

Topics

> Jago does not start!
> Jago does not connect!
> Connection is slow and sometimes even freezes!
> I am behind a firewall!
> Sound does not work!
> The board does not appear!

### Jago does not start!

Jago runs on so many different systems that it is very hard for me to support all of them. On the other hand, there are common steps to analyze what went wrong. Moreover, if you still need help after these steps it is by far best to contact a local computer expert for assistance. If you cannot find one or if he/she fails, please do not hesitate to write me asking for help. In this mail, you should indicate

- the operating system,
- the Java virtual machine,
- the Jago version.

But first of all, please follow the following steps to analyze your problem.

(1) See, if your Java virtual machine works correctly. If Jago starts (the main window comes up with the pre-configured IGS connections, buttons and menus visible), you have no problems in this step and can go to step (2). If not, test your virtual machine. To do this, you will need a test program. You should have a Test.class file together with the documentation of Jago. If not, here is the class for you to download. You get a file named Test.class and you start the program in this file with

>     java Test

in a command line or the corresponding command on your java machine. This may be

>     jview Test

for the virtual machine that comes with Internet Explorer, or

>     jre -cp . Test

for the java runtime environment. Note that we have to set the classpath to contain the active directory in this case. If this prints "Hello", your virtual machine is working well.

(2) It may happen that your virtual machine does not fit to the Jago version you downloaded. Let me repeat that you need a 1.1.x Java version for Jago. To test this, open a command line (DOS prompt, or UNIX shell) and switch to the jago directory. Check, if you have the file `jago.jar` there. In case, you are unable to follow these steps, you really need to consult a knowledgable person. If your system does not have a command line, you might also need additional help.

Then start Jago with one of the following commands

>     set CLASSPATH=jago.jar
>     java jagoclient/Go

or

>     jre -cp jago.jar jagoclient/Go

or

>     jview /cp jago.jar jagoclient/Go

or

>     java -cp jago.jar jagoclient/Go

If all of these command lines produces an error message of any kind, please write it down and try to get assistance (or mail me). If one of them produces no error message, but also no Jago main window, you have a serious problem, which is probably beyond me.

(3) Now we assume your Jago version started without any error message, and you see the main window of Jago with the preconfigured IGS servers, the buttons to connect, and a menu bar. If any of this is missing, please tell me so. Then try to open the topmost help item. If no new window appears, check for an error message in the command window. Likewise, check for command line output in any case of program misbehaviour and tell me the exact output. Preferably start Jago with the just in time compiler switched off, as shown in (5) so you get exact line numbers in case of an exception. Also try to open a local board and enter moves there.

(4) I assume, Jago works but you have problems connecting to the server. Please consult the next section for help on connection problems.

(5) If you can connect to the server but get irregular behaviour, please help me to locate the error more precisely. Start Jago with the -dump switch. I.e.

>     jre -nojit -cp jago.jar jagoclient/Go -dump

This will produce a dump file `dump.dat`, which contains a session log. the -nojit switch turns off the just in time compiler on windows and Java version 1.1.6. If you fail to switch off the compiler, never mind. This is not really important. However, I want get the exact line location in case of an exception message.

Please send the `dump.dat` file and the error message of the command line to me. In Windows, you can simply cut and paste this message from the command line. Moreover, describe what you did before the error occurs and how it showed.

Thank you for a detailed bug report!

### Jago does not connect!

Assuming you can start Jago, but cannot connect to any server, do the following.

- Try a telnet connection to the server. Try one of the following
  - telnet 210.134.78.92 6969
  - telnet 198.36.217.71 9696

  If telnet does not start, get a telnet client working. A telnet client should come with every OS, which runs a net connection. If telnet starts, but if both do not work or time out, you cannot connect to the go servers. This may be due to a firewall (see below), or due to a faulty internet connection. You may try ping 210.134.78.92 to check your connection to igs.joyjoy.net.

- If it worked, try inserting the names instead of the IP addresses.
  - telnet igs.nuri.net 6969
  - telnet nngs.cosmic.org 9696

  If that does not work, your domain name server (DNS) is not in reach. You can still use Jago. Insert the IP addresses as the address for the provider (in the edit connection dialog). Then try to connect from Jago.

If the telnet method works, please check the connection in the edit connection dialog for misspelled names. Make sure, you are running Jago from the command line, using a Java virtual machine, and not from a WWW browser (see below).

###

### Connection is slow and sometimes even freezes!

You are suffering what is called netlag. Connection goes to the inernet go server located somewhere around the world via a lot of bottlenecks. The server itself takes time to response, though IGS administrators keep telling us that the IGS is fast enough to handle lots of traffic (I tend to believe this). In fact, the transatlantic or transpacific connection by sattelite is often overcrowded and really slow.

The only way to avoid this is to choose a server with a better connection to your specific location. There really are choices now. However, I find NNGS slow from here at times too.

Sometimes the server won't react for minutes, which could easily loose a game by time. I have noticed that too and tried to trace down a bug in Jago, but found none. There were some problems with sound on systems without a soundcard, which should no longer exist (since 3.06) and moreover were rare and show themselves by throwing an error message on the command line. I will still try to do my best to avoid this kind of non-reaction, but I am convinced that it is due to netlag too. I experienced a similar behaviour with other clients I tried.

The way out is to connect from the server, reconnect and load your game. The stored command will show your stored games, and you can load any of them with the load command.

### I am behind a firewall!

You need a computer outside the firewall, which can telnet to the internet go server, and runs a telnet server. Jago can telnet to this computer, and you can start a telnet session to the go server on it. See here for more details.

### Sound does not work!

I tested the sound only on Windows 95. Here it worked with all Java versions. The sound is based on the undocumented java.sound API from Sun. There is no guarantee that it will continue to work in future versions. Also Jago somtimes hangs if sound is enabled producing an error message in the command line. I do not know the exact reason of this. If it ever happens to you, please do not use sound, but only the beeps. Future versions of Java will support more sophisticated sound and I will encorporate this as soon as it is available.

To enable sound, you must have a sound card properly installed, and checked "Sound on". If you un-check "Beep only", you should here a "Hi!" spoken by me on program start.

### The board does not appear!

If you enable the true color board, it takes some time to be generated. You should see a "Creating Board" message. On my Pentium 75, a board size of about 400 pixels takes 5 seconds. On program start, Jago starts a thread, which creates a board based on the previous board size. If this board is available, the "Creating Board" message vanishes much faster. If you experience problems, you should switch off the true color board.