XABACUS(6)

📦
version 8.5.1 · 2 versions
  • 8.5.1 · debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking (latest)
  • 8.3.5 · ubuntu jammy
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🎀 XABACUS 🎀

ok bestie come SIT DOWN because we are talking about xabacus from the Games Manual, and she is that girl 💅 this is the Abacus X widget, she's ancient, she's iconic, and she has like a hundred options. buckle up 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

xabacus — Abacus X widget. that's it, that's the name, she's an abacus and she's an X widget, main character energy fr 💖

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

/usr/games/xabacus [-geometry
[{width}][x{height}][{+-}{xoff}[{+-}{yoff}]]] [-display [{host}]:[{vs}]]
[-[no]mono] [-[no]{reverse|rv}] [-{foreground|fg} {color}]
[-{background|bg} {color}] [-{border|bd} {color}] [-frame {color}]
[-primaryBeadColor {color}] [-leftAuxBeadColor {color}]
[-rightAuxBeadColor {color}] [-secondaryBeadColor {color}]
[-highlightBeadColor {color}] [-primaryRailColor {color}]
[-secondaryRailColor {color}] [-highlightRailColor {color}]
[-lineRailColor {color}] [-bumpSound {filename}] [-moveSound {filename}]
[-dripSound {filename}] [-[no]sound] [-delay msecs] [-[no]script]
[-[no]demo] [-demopath {path}] [-{demofont|demofn} {fontname}]
[-{demoforeground|demofg} {color}] [-[no]teach] [-[no]rightToLeftAdd]
[-[no]rightToLeftMult] [-[no]lee] [-rails {int}] [-leftAuxRails {int}]
[-rightAuxRails {int}] [-[no]vertical] [-colorScheme {int}] [-[no]slot]
[-[no]diamond] [-railIndex {int}] [-[no]topOrient] [-[no]bottomOrient]
[-topNumber {int}] [-bottomNumber {int}] [-topFactor {int}]
[-bottomFactor {int}] [-topSpaces {int}] [-bottomSpaces {int}]
[-topPiece {int}] [-bottomPiece {int}] [-topPiecePercent {int}]
[-bottomPiecePercent {int}] [-shiftPercent {int}] [-subdeck {int}]
[-subbead {int}] [-[no]sign] [-decimalPosition {int}] [-[no]group]
[-groupSize {int}] [-[no]placeOnRail] [-[no]decimalComma] [-base {int}]
[-subbase {int}] [-[no]subdecksSeparated] [-[no]altSubbeadPlacement]
[-anomaly {int}] [-shiftAnomaly {int}] [-anomalySq {int}]
[-shiftAnomalySq {int}] [-displayBase {int}] [-[no]pressOffset]
[-romanNumerals {none|ancient|modern}] [-[no]latin] [-romanMarkers
{none|ancient|modern|late|alt}]
[-{chinese|japanese|korean|russian|danish|roman|medieval|generic}]
[-museum {it|uk|fr}] [-version]

like. look at her. SO many flags. she's high maintenance and we love that for her 😭💖

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so this is an implementation of the classic Chinese Abacus (Suanpan), which has its origins in the 12th century. ancient. historic. literally the blueprint 🫶

the device has two decks. each deck, separated by a partition, normally has 13 rails on which are mounted beads. each rail on the top deck contains 1 or 2 beads, and each rod on the bottom deck contains 4 or 5 beads. each bead on the upper deck has a value of five, while each bead on the lower deck has value of one. beads are considered counted when moved towards the partition separating the decks — i.e. to add a value of one, a bead in the bottom deck is moved up, and to add a value of 5, a bead in the top deck is moved down. okay so the whole vibe is "beads slide toward the middle, that's when they count" ✨

the basic operations of the abacus are addition and subtraction. multiplication can be done by mentally multiplying the digits and adding up the intermediate results on the abacus. division would be similar where the intermediate results are subtracted. there are techniques like using your thumb and forefinger which does not apply with mouse entry 🙈 also with multiplication, one can carry out calculations on different parts of the abacus for scratch work — here it is nice to have a long abacus.

the pre-WWII Japanese Abacus (Soroban) (or Korean Jupan) is similar to the Chinese Abacus but has only one bead per rail on the top deck. the later Japanese Abacus was further simplified to have only 4 beads per rail on the bottom deck.

the Roman Hand-Abacus predates the Chinese Abacus and is very similar to the later Japanese Abacus, but seems to have fallen out of use with the Fall of the Roman Empire (at least 3 are in existence). the Roman Abaci are brass plates where the beads move in slots. in addition to the normal 7 columns of beads, they generally have 2 special columns on the right side. in two examples: the first special column was for 12ths (12 uncia (ounces) = 1 as) and had one extra bead in the bottom deck. also the last column was a combination of halves, quarters, and twelfths of an ounce and had no beads in the top deck and 4 beads at the bottom (beads did not have to come to the top to be counted but at one of 3 marked points where the top bead was for halves, the next bead for quarters, and the last two beads for twelfths). in another surviving example: the 2 special columns were switched and the combination column was broken into 3 separate slots. if available, decimal input is ignored.

the Russian Abacus was invented in the 17th century — here the beads are moved from right to left. it has colored beads in the middle for ease of use. quarters represent 1/4 Rubles and are only present historically on the Russian Abacus (Schoty). some of the older Schoty have an extra place for the 1/4 Kopek (quarter percent) as well as the 1/4 Ruble (quarter).

the Danish Abacus was used in the early 20th century in elementary schools as a teaching aid 🎀

the Medieval Counter is a primitive form of the abacus and was used in Europe as late as the 1600s. it was useful considering they were using it with Roman Numerals. this is similar to the Salamis Greek Tablet from 4th or 5th Century BCE.

the Mesoamerican Nepohualtzintzin is a Japanese Abacus base 20. the Mesoamericans had base 20 with the exception of the 3rd decimal place where instead of 20*20=400 the third place marked 360 and the 4th place was 20*360, etc. they independently created their own zero (only the Sumerian and early Babylonian culture (base 60) and India (base 10) have done this) but the anomaly took away its true power 😭

an easy way of figuring out time in seconds given hours, minutes, and seconds can be done on the abacus with Sumerian abacus with topFactor 10, topNumber 5 and bottomNumber 9 using base 60. no written record of such a device exits but its plausible that one did. (yes bestie, the original says "exits", we are not fixing it, we are respecting the lore 💅)

the Chinese Solid-and-Broken-Bar System is a base 12 numbering system and not really an abacus. when the abacus is setup in this way though (topFactor 3, topNumber 3, bottomNumber 2, base 12, displayBase 12), it is easy to relate the two.

the signed bead is an invention of the author, and is not present on any historical abacus (to his knowledge) and is used to represent negatives. "New & Improved" abacus models have two auxiliary decks stacked above the principal deck that enable multiplication, division, square-root, and cube-root computations to be performed with equal ease as addition and subtraction (well, so I have read).

🔥 FEATURES 🔥

ok this is the fun part, all the stuff you can actually DO:

  • click "mouse-left" button on a bead you want to move. the beads will shift themselves to vacate the area of the column that was clicked. slay 🫶
  • click "mouse-right" button, or press "C" or "c" keys, to clear the abacus.
  • press "-" or "_" keys to complement the beads on the rails.
  • press "U" or "u" keys to undo last move.
  • press "R" or "r" keys to redo the last undo.
  • press "I" or "i" keys to increment the number of rails. press "D" or "d" keys to decrement the number of rails.
  • press "F" or "f" keys to switch between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Danish, Roman, and Medieval formats. there is an extra "Generic" format — this allows one to break some rules binding the other formats (for example, if one wanted more beads on top deck than on bottom deck you would use this, in addition to resource option changes).
  • press "V" or "v" keys to change the Roman Nvmerals format. (pardon typo/humor, but ran out of letters 😭)
  • press "~" key to toggle Latin Numerals (when Roman Nvmerals and quarter beads or twelfth beads are activated).
  • press "G" or "g" keys to toggle (usu.) commas between groups of digits.
  • press "#" key to toggle place on rail (or between rails) for group and decimal separators.
  • press "|" key to toggle vertical placement (best for Russian and Danish Abacus, and Medieval Counters).
  • press "S" or "s" keys to toggle the sign bead.
  • press "P" or "p" keys to change the piece setting from none|quarter|eighth|twelfth beads. originally intended for the Roman Hand Abacus (twelfths) and the Russian Abacus (quarter rubles).
  • press "T" or "t" keys to change piece percent setting for none|quarter|eighth|twelfth beads. originally intended for the older Russian Abacus (quarter kopeks).
  • press "B" or "b" keys to change subdeck setting to be interpretted as none|quarter|eighth|twelfth beads. originally intended for Roman Hand Abacus twelfths and possibly eighths. for twelfths, the the lowest value of two at bottom of the rightmost column of beads are a twelfth of the column second from right. middle is worth a quarter and the top is worth a half. for eighths, middle and bottom are both worth an eight and the top a half. (for quarters, all are worth a quarter.)
  • press "K" or "k" to toggle the subdeck separation.
  • press "L" or "l" to toggle which side the subdeck symbols are placed.
  • press "M" or "m" keys to switch between it, uk, and fr museum formats.
  • press "Z" or "z" keys to change the Roman markerz on the frame. (markerz 💀 we keep it)
  • press "O" or "o" keys to toggle the demo mode.
  • press "$" key to toggle the teach mode.
  • in teach mode, "+" key toggles starting side to sum, ""*" key toggles for starting side for multiplicand.
ngl that line in the original is a little cursed but we reproduce it exactly, bestie, no cap 🙈
  • press ">" or "." keys to speed up the movement of beads. press "<" or "," keys to slow down this movement.
  • press "@" key to toggle the sound.
  • press "Esc" key to hide program.
  • press "Q", "q", or "CTRL-C" keys to kill program.

the abacus may be resized. beads will reshape depending on the room they have.

Demo Mode: in this mode, the abacus is controlled by the program. when started with the demo option, a second window is presented that should be placed directly below the abacus-window. descriptive text, and user prompts are displayed in this window. pressing 'q' during the demo will quit it. clicking the left mouse-button with the pointer in the window will restart the demo (beginning of current lesson).

💅 OPTIONS 💅

so many options. one bullet each. let's go ✨

  • -geometry {+|-}X{+|-}Y — sets the initial position of the abacus window (resource name "geometry").
  • -display host:dpy — specifies the X server to contact.
  • -[no]mono — lets you display the abacus window on a color screen as if it were monochrome (resource name "mono").
  • -[no]{reverse|rv} — lets you see the abacus window in reverse video (resource name "reverseVideo").
  • -{foreground|fg} color — specifies the foreground of the abacus window (resource name "foreground").
  • -{background|bg} color — specifies the background of the abacus window (resource name "background").
  • -{border|bd} color — specifies the foreground of the bead border (resource name "borderColor").
  • -frame color — specifies the foreground of the frame (resource name "frameColor").

...and bestie we are SO not done, there's more coming 💖 don't go anywhere 🦋

  • -primaryBeadColor color — sets the foreground of the beads, bestie ✨ (resource name "primaryBeadColor").
  • -leftAuxBeadColor color — the foreground of the beads for the left auxiliary abacus in Lee's Abacus 💅 (resource name "leftAuxBeadColor").
  • -rightAuxBeadColor color — the foreground of the beads for the right auxiliary abacus in Lee's Abacus 🎀 (resource name "rightBeadColor" — yes, that's what it's called, no I'm not kidding, write it down exactly like that).
  • -secondaryBeadColor color — the secondary color of the beads 🦋 (resource name "secondaryBeadColor").
  • -highlightBeadColor color — the highlight color of the beads, it's giving main character bead 💖 (resource name "highlightBeadColor").
  • -primaryRailColor color — the foreground of the rails 🌸 (resource name "primaryRailColor").
  • -secondaryRailColor color — the secondary color of the rails 💜 (resource name "secondaryRailColor").
  • -highlightRailColor color — the highlight color of the rails, periodt ✨ (resource name "highlightRailColor").
  • -lineRailColor color — the color of the lines when you're using checkers 🔥 (resource name "lineRailColor").
  • -bumpSound filename — points at the file for the bump sound, aka the lil noise the beads make when they move 🫶 (resource name "bumpSound").
  • -moveSound filename — the file for the move sound, for when the decimal point marker slides around 🎀 (resource name "moveSound").
  • -dripSound filename — the file for the drip sound, which plays when you change the format 💧 (resource name "dripSound").
  • -[no]sound — decides whether a sliding bead makes a sound or not, no cap 🔊 (resource name "sound").
  • -delay msecs — how many milliseconds it takes to move a bead (or a whole group of beads) one single space ⏱️ (resource name "delay").
  • -[no]script — logs the application to stdout every single time the user clicks to move the beads 📝 (resource name "script"). The output is a set of auxiliary, deck, rail, beads added or subtracted, and the number of text lines (4). You can edit this to add text to the lesson and use it as a new demo, keeping the generated numbers and the number of lines constant. (The Windows version writes to abacus.xml.)
  • -[no]demo — runs it in demo mode 👑. In this mode the abacus is controlled by the current lesson (resource name "demo"). When you start it with the demo option, a window holds descriptive text, and the user prompts show up in that window. Pressing 'q' during the demo quits it. Clicking the left mouse-button with the pointer in the window restarts the demo (beginning of the current lesson). The demo uses abacusDemo.xml, and currently there are 4 editions possible: Chinese, Japanese (and Roman), Korean, and Russian (and Danish) 🌈.
  • -demopath path — the path for the demo, possibly something like /usr/local/share/games/xabacus 🗺️ (resource name "demoPath"), with the file name of abacusDemo.xml. For this to actually work, the program must be compiled with XML2 — otherwise it'll use a brief static fallback demo. (Not me warning you in advance, fr fr.)
  • -demofont fontstring — the font for the explanatory text that shows up in the secondary window during the demo 🎀. The default font is 18 point Times-Roman (-*-times-*-r-*-*-*-180-*). The alternate font is 8x13.
  • -demofg color — the foreground of the abacus demo window ✨ (resource name "demoForeground").
  • -demobg color — the background of the abacus demo window 💅 (resource name "demoBackground").
  • -[no]teach — runs it in teach mode 🍓. In this mode the abacus is controlled by 2 numbers separated by an operator: "+" for addition, "-" for subtraction, "*" for multiplication, and "/" for division. The square root operation is represented by the number to be operated on followed by the character "v" — which leaves you with an answer from which you must divide by 2. Similarly, the cube root operation is represented by the number to be operated on followed by the character "u" — which leaves you with an answer from which you must divide by 3. Press the return key to progress through the steps (resource name "teach").
  • -[no]rightToLeftAdd — sets the order for the teach starting side for addition and subtraction 🧮. The default is the traditional left to right. Right to left seems easier though (resource name "rightToLeftAdd").
  • -[no]rightToLeftMult — sets the order for the teach starting side for multiplication ✨. The default is the traditional left to right. Right to left seems more straight forward (resource name "rightToLeftMult").
  • -[no]lee — lets you turn the two extra auxiliary abaci on and off 🎀 (resource name "lee").
  • -rails int — the number of rails (resource name "rails").
  • -leftAuxRails int — lets you set the number of rails for the left auxiliary abacus in Lee's Abacus 💜 (resource name "leftAuxRails").
  • -rightAuxRails int — lets you set the number of rails for the right auxiliary abacus in Lee's Abacus 🦋 (resource name "rightAuxRails").
  • -[no]vertical — lets you set the abacus to allow a Russian orientation 🇷🇺 (resource name "vertical").
  • -colorScheme int — the color scheme for the abacus 🌈 (resource name "colorScheme"), where 0-> none, 1-> darken middle bead (2 beads if even), 2-> darken first bead of a group, 4-> use secondary color for second half of a row of beads (but if odd color middle bead), 8-> use secondary color for second third of a row of beads, 16-> use secondary color in alternate groups. Use a mask of 31 for combinations.
  • -[no]slot — lets you have either slots or rails ✨ (resource name "slot").
  • -[no]diamond — lets you have either diamond or round beads 💎 (resource name "diamond").
  • -railIndex int — the index of color for the rails of the abacus 🎀 (resource name "railIndex"), where a value is 0 or 1.
  • -[no]topOrient — the orientation of the beads on top ⬆️ (resource name "topOrient").
  • -[no]bottomOrient — the orientation of the beads on bottom ⬇️ (resource name "bottomOrient").
  • -topNumber int — the number of beads on top (resource name "topNumber").
  • -bottomNumber int — the number of beads on bottom (resource name "bottomNumber").
  • -topFactor int — the multiply factor for the beads on top ✖️ (resource name "topFactor").
  • -bottomFactor int — the multiply factor for the beads on bottom ✖️ (resource name "bottomFactor").
  • -topSpaces int — the number of spaces on top (resource name "topSpaces").
  • -bottomSpaces int — the number of spaces on bottom (resource name "bottomSpaces").
  • -topPiece int — the number of pieces on top (resource name "topPiece").
  • -bottomPiece int — the number of pieces on bottom (resource name "bottomPiece").
  • -topPiecePercent int — the number of piece percents on top 💯 (resource name "topPiecePercent").
  • -bottomPiecePercent int — the number of piece percents on bottom 💯 (resource name "bottomPiecePercent").
  • -shiftPercent int — the shift of rails for piece percents, and it also may influence the precision of the calculation 🧠 (resource name "shiftPercent").
  • -subdeck int — the special subdecks column (resource name "subdeck").
  • -subbead int — the special subbeads (resource name "subbead").
  • -[no]sign — lets you set the abacus to allow negatives ➖ (resource name "sign").
  • -decimalPosition int — the number of rails to the right of the decimal point (normally 2) 🔢 (resource name "decimalPosition").
  • -[no]group — lets you group the displayed digits for readability ✨ (resource name "group").
  • -groupSize int — the group size to the left of the decimal point (normally 3) 🎀 (resource name "groupSize").
  • -[no]placeOnRail — lets you place the decimal and group separators on the rail (or just after) 💅 (resource name "placeOnRail").
  • -[no]decimalComma — lets you swap "." for "," so you can have a different display format 🔄 (resource name "decimalComma").
  • -base int — the base used on the abacus (default is base 10) 🔟 (resource name "base").
  • -subbase int — the base for the Roman subdeck, can be set to 8 or the default of 12 🏛️ (resource name "subbase").
  • -[no]subdecksSeparated — lets you have the subdecks separated ✂️ (resource name "subdecksSeparated").
  • -[no]subdecksSeparated — lets you have the subdecks separated (resource name "placeOnRail").
Okay bestie, not me pointing out that the manpage literally lists -[no]subdecksSeparated twice 🙈 — same flag, but the second one carries a different resource name, "placeOnRail". I'm not fixing it, I'm not merging it, I'm just reporting the facts, because that's what the page says. Periodt.
  • -anomaly int — the offset from the base for a multiplicative factor of the rail with the anomaly (if there's none, this is set to 0) 🌸 (resource name "anomaly").
  • -shiftAnomaly int — the offset from the decimal point for the anomaly (usually 2) 🦋 (resource name "shiftAnomaly").
  • -anomalySq int — this sets the offset from base for the second anomaly. If there’s no second anomaly, this is set to 0. Resource name: "anomalySq". ✨
  • -shiftAnomalySq int — this sets the offset in rails from the first anomaly (usually 2). Resource name: "shiftAnomalySq". Also the original manpage literally has a chaotic lil doing). at the end of this entry, so we’re preserving that lore 💀
  • -displayBase int — this sets the base displayed (default is base 10). Resource name: "displayBase". If this is different from "base", then it is implemented using "long long" and the calculation is limited by its bounds. Also the fractional part does not scale with the "displayBase", so if the "displayBase" is greater than the "base" it loses some precision. Also no rounding is done. Periodt.
  • -[no]pressOffset — lets you put a pixel space between all the beads so there is room for the bead to move when pressed. Resource name: "pressOffset". Cute.
  • -romanNumerals {none|ancient|modern} — lets you set the abacus to allow Roman Numerals. Resource name: "romanNumerals". Modern Roman Numerals above 3999 are normally represented with bars on top, but due to ASCII constraints this is represented instead in lower case (historically case was ignored). Roman Numerals above 3,999,999 were not represented historically. Roman numerals change with displayBase in an "experimental" way. When used with twelfths and subdecks, named fraction symbols are used. Due to ASCII constraints the sigma is represented as E, the backwards C is represented as Q, the mu as a u, and the Z with a - through the center as a z. If available, decimal input is ignored. 💅
  • -[no]latin — lets you set the abacus to allow latin fractions instead of symbolic in the Roman numeral output. Resource name: "latin". Obsessed.
  • -romanMarkers {none|ancient|modern|late|alt} — lets you set Roman numerals of a specific type on the frame of the abacus. Resource name: "modernRoman". Yes, the resource name is modernRoman, not romanMarkers. The lore is lore-ing.
  • -chinese — specifies the format on the abacus (resource name "format") to "Chinese" for the Chinese Suanpan. ✨
  • -japanese — specifies the format on the abacus (resource name "format") to "Japanese" for the Japanese post-WWII Soroban. This is also similar to the Roman Hand Abacus.
  • -korean — specifies the format on the abacus (resource name "format") to "Korean" for the Korean Jupan or Japanese pre-WWII Soroban.
  • -russian — specifies the format on the abacus (resource name "format") to "Russian" for the Russian Schoty. To complete, specify piece" to be 4, for the older Schoty also specify piecePercent" to be 4. The quotes are doing their own thing, iykyk.
  • -danish — specifies the format of the abacus (resource name "format") to "Danish" for the Danish Elementary School Abacus teaching aid.
  • -roman — specifies the format on the abacus (resource name "format") to "Roman" for the Roman Hand Abacus, note beads move in slots. To complete, specify romanNumerals". Yes, that quote is in the original. We don’t question the icon.
  • -medieval — specifies the format of the abacus (resource name "format") to "Medieval" for the Medieval Counter, with counters instead of beads.
  • -generic — specifies the format on the abacus (resource name "format") to "Generic". This option specifies a format that is more configurable by using resources, since there are few rules to govern its behavior.
  • -museum {it|br|fr} — specifies the country code for the museum of the abacus in the Museum of the Thermae, Rome, the British Museum, London, or the Cabinet de medailles, Bibliotheque nationale, Paris.
  • -version — tells you what version of xabacus you have. 💖

✨ REFERENCES ✨

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

💖 COPYRIGHTS 💖

® Copyright 1994-2021, David A. Bagley

Luis Fernandes, <elf AT ee.ryerson.ca> wrote an independent program (xabacus 1.00) with a demo mode and postscript file. I tried, with his permission, to take the best features of both into one program. Also, I had help with some of the abacus in the Java version by Sarat Chandran, <saratcmahadevan AT yahoo.com> and some of these ideas were ported back into this X version.

😭 BUG REPORTS AND PROGRAM UPDATES 😭

Send bugs (or their reports, or fixes) to the author:

David A. Bagley, <bagleyd AT verizon.net>

The latest version is currently at:

https://www.sillycycle.com/abacus.html http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/apps/math/

This page is serving V8.3.6, dated 23 Apr 2021, and it’s XABACUS(6) — slay, bestie. 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from