XBEVEL(6)

📦 version 8.9.4, in debian trixie, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 XBEVEL(6) — Bevel X widgets, but make it a group chat 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to xbevel — it lives in the Games Manual (section 6, the fun one), and its whole NAME-level job description is literally just "Bevel X widgets." That's it. That's the pitch. Short, iconic, no notes. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

here's the whole invocation, copy-paste it exactly, don't freestyle:

/usr/games/xbevel [-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}] [-frame {color}] [-delay msecs] [-[no]sound] [-moveSound
{filename}] [-{font|fn} {fontname}] [-view {int}] [-[no]orient]
[-[no]practice] [-userName {string}] [-scoreFile {filename}] [-scores]
[-version]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the original puzzle is giving 2x2x2 Rubik Cube but with extra cuts, like a Skewb, and it's holding 24 inner pieces plus 8 outer pieces. It was designed by Adam G. Cowan in 2005, and the internet mostly knows it as the Helicopter Cube. 🚁

the Bevel version has 7!*3^6*6!^4/2 possible combinations, which is 4.94*10^17 — like, that's a lot of states, ngl.

⚠️ heads up: this program does not permit ~71 degree turns, only 180 degree turns. and if it did allow them? it would have 7!*3^6*24!/4!^6 combinations, aka 1.19*10^22. not doing that. not today. 💅

🎀 FEATURES 🎀

the controls, bestie. learn them. love them.

  • press the mouse-left button to move a piece. release mouse-left on a piece on the same face. (clicks on diamonds get ignored, they're just there for the vibe.) then the pieces will turn towards wherever you let go of the mouse button. ✨
  • click mouse-center, or hit the P or p keys, to toggle practice mode (in practice mode the record should say "practice"). this one is so good for learning moves and just messing around.
  • click mouse-right, or hit Z or z, to randomize the puzzle — and yes, you must do this first to set a new record. no skipping steps. 🙅‍♀️
  • press G or g to read (get) a saved puzzle.
  • press W or w to save (write) a puzzle.
  • press U or u to undo a move.
  • press R or r to redo a move.
  • press C or c to clear the puzzle.
  • S or s to start the auto-solver — currently only implemented when orient mode is off. 👀
  • press O or o to toggle orient mode. in orient mode you have to orient the faces on top of getting all the faces to be the same color. that's extra complexity, so there are 2 sets of records. double the leaderboard, double the chaos.
  • press V or v to change the view of the puzzle.
  • press > or . to speed up the movement of pieces (not implemented).
  • press < or , to slow down the movement of pieces (not implemented).
  • press @ to toggle the sound.
  • press Esc to hide the program. (sneaky. we love a vanishing act.)
  • press Q, q, or CTRL-C to kill the program. bye bestie 🫶

key pad things ⌨️

use the key pad or arrow keys to move without the mouse. the key pad for Bevel2d is defined like this:

  /     Counterclockwise

7 8 9   Upper Left, Up, Upper Right
  ^
4<5>6   Left, Clockwise, Right
  v
1 2 3   Lower Left, Down, Lower Right

key pad for anything that is not Bevel2d? you 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. the one thing that stays the same: "5" is Clockwise and "/" is Counterclockwise. those two are the constants. the anchors. the main characters. 👑

moving the whole cube 🌀

use the control key and the left mouse button, keypad, or arrow keys to move the whole cube. it's also possible to rotate the whole cube with an axis through a face when the alt key is pressed (Tab key when using Windows). this is not recorded as a turn, so go wild.

the title bar format 📛

the title is in the following format (non-motif non-opengl version):

xbevel{2|3}d<dimension>: (<Number of moves>/{<Record number of moves> <user name>|"NEVER noaccess"|"practice"}) - <Comment>

if there's no record of the current puzzle, it displays "NEVER noaccess". sad but honest. 😭

✨ OPTIONS ✨

one bullet per option, every single one, no skips:

  • -geometry {+|-}X{+|-}Y — sets the initial position of the bevel window (resource name "geometry").
  • -display host:dpy — specifies the X server to contact.
  • -[no]mono — lets you display the bevel window on a color screen as if it were monochrome (resource name "mono").
  • -[no]{reverse|rv} — lets you see the bevel window in reverse video (resource name "reverseVideo").
  • -{foreground|fg} color — specifies the foreground of the bevel window (resource name "foreground").
  • -{background|bg} color — specifies the background of the bevel window (resource name "background").
  • -{border|bd} color — specifies the border color of the pieces in the bevel window (resource name "borderColor").
  • -face{0|1|2|3|4|5} <color> — lets you 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's ordered "0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4". if you have two colors that begin with the same letter you should have one in uppercase and one in lowercase 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"). unfortunately, it will not normally say it's solved when it's randomized. this would be cheating. 🚫
  • -frame color — specifies the color of the frame (resource name "frameColor").
  • -delay msecs — specifies the number of milliseconds it takes to move pieces (1-50) (resource name "delay").
  • -[no]sound — specifies if sliding pieces should make a sound or not (resource name "sound").
  • -moveSound filename — specifies the file for the move sound for the twisting of the puzzle (resource name "moveSound").
  • -{font|fn} ontname — specifies the font that will be used (resource name "font").
  • -view <int> — lets you change the view of the cube for OpenGL, with a choice of 4 views (resource name "int").
  • -[no]orient — lets you access the oriented mode (resource name "orient").
  • -[no]practice — lets you access the practice mode (resource name "practice").
  • -userName string — specifies the user name for any records made, or else it will get your login name (resource name "userName").
  • -scoreFile filename — specify an alternative score file (resource name "scoreFile").
  • -scores — lists all the recorded scores and then exits.
  • -version — tells you what version of xbevel you have.

🏆 RECORDS 🏆

you must randomize the puzzle before a record is set. otherwise, if it's solved after a get or an auto-solve, an assumption of cheating is made. they will know. 👀

💾 SAVE FORMAT 💾

here's the format for the xbevel configuration, starting position, and the movement of its pieces.

Bevel2d with default colors, not randomized:

  0       R     Red
1 2 3   Y B O   Yellow, Blue, Orange
  4       W     White
  5       G     Green

then the fields:

  • orient: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true; if 1 then lines on pieces to be oriented>
  • practice: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true>
  • moves: 0-MAXINT <total number of moves>
  • startingPosition: <2 dimensional array of face and outer trianganular pieces and 4 inner triangular pieces, 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 #: <direction> <control> <face> <corner>

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 up, 1 right, 2 down, 3 left, 5 clockwise, 7 counterclockwise, 8 upper right, 9 lower right, 10 lower left, and 11 upper 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 xbevel record keeper does not count a control move as a move, but here we do.

📚 REFERENCES 📚

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

X(1), xcubes(6), xtriangles(6), xhexagons(6), xmlink(6), xbarrel(6), xpanex(6), xmball(6), xpyraminx(6), xoct(6), xrubik(6), xskewb, xdino(6), xabacus(6)

(the whole puzzle-games friend group, honestly. they all hang out.) 🫂

©️ COPYRIGHTS ©️

® Copyright 2023-2024, David A. Bagley

🐛 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/puzzles.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/games/strategy/
and that's the whole page, bestie 💜 this was V8.8.4, dated 15 Aug 2024 — xbevel, Games Manual, section 6. go solve a Helicopter Cube and text me when you do. periodt. 🌸✨
📦 where this page comes from