[Eliot-general] some technical and UI questions

[Bruce vanNorman]

Background: My wife loves Scrabble. Her platform, like mine, is Fedora 
(FC-13).
---
I have reliable, repeatable installation instructions for eliot on 
Fedora - about 1/2 a page. If anybody cares, I can send them somewhere.
---
UI - the computer strength setting seems to have no effect.
UI - the ability to exchange tiles does not function on any of my Fedora 
hosts.
* these may be consequences of Fedora as opposed to Ubuntu. I don't 
expect so. The Ubuntu forums have been very helpful with working around 
some Fedora problems. Everything seems to apply equally except the 
package retrieval command.
---
Is there any reasonable way to saw the lady (eliot is a lady?) in half? 
I would like to rework the UI in wxPython without modifying the C++ 
core. Specifically, my wife is handicapped and must avoid certain UI 
characteristics. Any code I might develop will be GPL. I am familiar 
with Google code & subversion and am willing to either, go it alone or 
as part of a team.
---
A generic practical interface for alternative UI development might be a 
good starting point. There is nothing special about Python in this regard.
---
I am working on the early stages of an Email Scrabble (uses wxPython) 
with a grandson (in college). Platform agnostic, no AI. PS. Personally, 
I do not Scrabble. My wife, children, and grandchildren do.
---
My preference would be to "plugin" into the C++ engine - where "main" 
remains with C++. This is not a big issue. Whatever is the most straight 
forward approach, is OK by me.
---
I have not developed a Python - C++ interface wrapper yet; but I can 
learn. There are plenty of recipes on how to go about it - and I do 
program in both ANSI and K&R "C" {not much love for C++, though I can 
read it well enough}.
---
I have the pyScrabble source. It is not the right architecture. It is 
"real time". The "twisted" framework is not suitable for solitaire or 
Email use. However, I am not above borrowing code from it for my purposes.
---
A common, published, interface architecture is always a good thing.
--- Thank you in advance