NAME
xskewb - Skewb X widgets
SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/xskewb [-geometry [{width}][x{height}][{+-
}{xoff}[{+-}{yoff}]]] [-display [{host}]:[{vs}]] [-[no]mono]
[-[no]{reverse|rv}] [-{foreground|fg} {color}] [-
{background|bg} {color}] [-{border|bd} {color}] [-
face{0|1|2|3|4|5} {color}] [-[no]orient] [-[no]practice] [-
{font|fn} {fontname}] [-username {string}]
DESCRIPTION
The original puzzle has each face cut by a diamond, so that
there are 5 pieces, 4 corner pieces and one diamond piece in
the center. This was designed by Uwe Meffert and called the
Pyraminx Cube. Douglas Hofstadter later coined it a Skewb
and it stuck. The puzzle has period 3 turning (i.e. each
half turns with 120 degree intervals). The Skewb has
2^5*3^8*6!/2^6 or 3,149,280 different combinations (with
centers oriented 2^5*3^8*6!/2 or 100,766,960 different com-
binations).
More recently, Disney released Mickey's Challenge, its a
spherical skewb with a pretty good internal mechanism.
Mickey's challenge has 2^5*3^8*6!/36 5,598,720 visually dif-
ferent combinations). It also comes with a pretty neat
book. Also released is the Creative Puzzle Ball or
Meffert's Challenge which has 4 rings in different colors.
Mach Balls of the Hungarian Gyula Mach are similar but they
do not have a ratchet mechanism and do not turn as easily or
smoothly. One must match the 12 different symbols of 4 each
at the 12 intersection points.
FEATURES
Press "mouse-left" button to move a piece. Release "mouse-
left" button on a piece on the same face. (Clicks on dia-
monds are ignored). The pieces will then turn towards where
the mouse button was released.
Click "mouse-center", or press "P" or "p" keys to toggle the
practice mode (in practice mode the record should say "prac-
tice"). This is good for learning moves and experimenting.
Click "mouse-right", or press "R" or "r" keys to randomize
the puzzle (this must be done first to set a new record).
Press "O" or "o" keys to toggle the orient mode. One has to
orient the faces in orient mode, besides getting all the
faces to be the same color. To do this one has to get the
lines to be oriented in the same direction, this only
matters with center diamond piece. This does add complexity
so there are 2 sets of records.
"S" or "s" keys reserved for the auto-solver (not imple-
mented).
Press "U" or "u" keys to undo move.
Press "G" or "g" keys to get a saved puzzle.
Press "W" or "w" keys to write or save a puzzle.
Press "C" or "c" keys to clear a puzzle.
Press "Esc" key to hide program.
Press "Q", "q", or "CTRL-C" keys to kill program.
Use the key pad, "R" keys, or arrow keys to move without
mouse clicks.
Key pad is defined for the Skewb2d as:
/ Counterclockwise
7 8 9 Upper Left, Up, Upper Right
^
4<5>6 Left, Clockwise, Right
v
1 2 3 Lower Left, Down, Lower Right
Note: Top, Left, Right, and Down only work when the control
key is pressed and there is no analog for Skewb3d.
If the mouse is on a diamond, the above keys will not move
cube because the move is ambiguous. Also if the mouse is on
a triangle, not all the keys will function because the puz-
zle will only rotate on the cuts, i.e. a triangle with a
Upper Left - Lower Right cut will rotate only Upper Left &
Lower Right, a triangle with a Upper Right - Lower Left cut
will rotate only Upper Right & Lower Left. Therefore, a
triangle can only move tangential to the center of the face.
No doubt this is confusing, but the physical skewb is the
same way. In fact, that is part of its appeal.
Key pad for Skewb3d, use must use your intuition (is this a
cop out or what?). The key pad is defined differently
depending on which side of the cube your mouse is pointing
at. One thing that stays the same is "5" is Clockwise and
"/" is Counterclockwise.
Use the control key and the left mouse button, keypad, or
arrow keys to move the whole cube. This is not recorded as
a turn.
The title is in the following format (non-motif version):
xskewb{2|3}d<dimension>: (<Number of moves>/{<Record
number of moves> <username>|"NEVER
noaccess"|"practice"}) - <Comment>
If there is no record of the current puzzle, it displays
"NEVER noaccess".
OPTIONS
-geometry {+|-}X{+|-}Y
This option sets the initial position of the skewb
window (resource name "geometry").
-display host:dpy
This option specifies the X server to contact.
-[no]mono
This option allows you to display on a color screen
as if monochrome (resource name "mono").
-[no]{reverse|rv}
This option allows you to see the skewb window in
reverse video (resource name "reverse").
-{foreground|fg} color
This option specifies the foreground of the skewb
window (resource name "foreground").
-{background|bg} color
This option specifies the background of the skewb
window (resource name "background").
-{border|bd} color
This option specifies the border color of the
cubelets in the skewb window (resource name "border-
Color").
-face{0|1|2|3|4|5} <color>
This option allows you to change the color of a face
(resource name "faceColorN"). In mono-mode, color is
represented as the first letter of the color name.
On the 2-D version, the faces are ordered top to
bottom and left to right on the "t" configuration.
The "+-" configuration is physically consistent with
the former, so it is ordered "0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4". If
you has two colors that begin with the same letter
you should have one in uppercase and one in lower-
case to distinguish them in mono-mode. You can
change the colors of the faces to make a stupid cube
(i.e. all White or in mono-mode all "W"). Unfor-
tunately, it will not normally say its solved when
its randomized. This would be cheating.
-[no]orient
This option allows you to access the orient mode
(resource name "orient").
-[no]practice
This option allows you to access the practice mode
(resource name "practice").
-{font|fn} ontname
This option specifies the font that will be used
(resource name "font").
-username string
This option specifies the user name for any records
made or else it will get your login name (resource
name "userName").
RECORDS
You must randomize the puzzle before a record is set, other-
wise an assumption of cheating is made if it is solved after
a get.
SAVE FORMAT
The format is not standard. The reason for this is that
this is simple and I do not know what the standard is.
Skewb2d with default colors, not randomized:
0 R Red
1 2 3 B W G Blue, White, Green
4 P Pink
5 Y Yellow
orient: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true; if 1 then lines on cubies
to be oriented>
practice: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true>
moves: 0-MAXINT <total number of moves>
startingPosition: <2 dimensional array of face and
corner position and center diamond position, each face
has 4 corner pieces and one center piece, if orient
mode then orientation number follows face number: 0 up,
1 right, 2 down, and 3 left>
This is then followed by the moves, starting from 1.
move #: <face> <corner> <direction> <control>
Each turn is with respect to a corner on a face.
The corners start at the upper right and work clockwise.
Direction is represented as 0 upper right, 1 lower right, 2
lower left, 3 upper left, 5 clockwise, 7 counterclockwise, 8
up, 9 right, 10 down, and 11 left.
Control is represented as 0 or 1, 1 if the whole cube is
moved at once (here the corner does not matter), 0 if not.
The xskewb record keeper does not count a control move as a
move, but here we do.
REFERENCES
Beyond Rubik's Cube: spheres, pyramids, dodecahedrons and
God knows what else by Douglas R. Hofstadter, Scientific
American, July 1982, pp 16-31.
Mickey's Challenge by Christoph Bandelow.
Magic Cubes 1996 Catalog of Dr. Christoph Bandelow.
SEE ALSO
X(1), xrubik(6), xdino(6), xpyraminx(6), xoct(6), xmball(6),
xmlink(6), xpanex(6), xcubes(6), xtriangles(6), xhexa-
gons(6), xabacus(6)
COPYRIGHTS
(Reg.) Copyright 1994-2005, David Albert Bagley
BUG REPORTS AND PROGRAM UPDATES
Send bugs (or their reports, or fixes) to the author:
David Albert Bagley, <bagleyd@tux.org>
The latest version is currently at:
ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/tux/bagleyd/xpuzzles
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/games/strategy