MISSING_LINK(6)

✨ MISSING_LINK(6) — the games manual glow-up ✨

okay bestie, sit down, we're learning xmlink today and honestly? it's giving retro puzzle icon energy 🧩💖 this one lives in section 6 of the games manual, so make yourself comfy.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

xmlink — the Missing Link X widget, no cap 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

/usr/games/xmlink [-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|6|7} {color}] [-tile {color}] [-frame {color}]
[-[no]stippleFrame] [-[no]install] [-picture {filename}] [-delay msecs]
[-[no]sound] [-bumpSound {filename}] [-moveSound {filename}] [-{font|fn}
{fontname}] [-tiles {int}] [-faces {int}] [-[no]orient] [-[no]middle]
[-[no]practice] [-base {int}] [-userName {string}] [-scoreFile
{filename}] [-scores] [-version]

like yes it's a lot of flags, but we're built different, we can handle it 🫶

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so. it's Ideal's The Missing Link, a 4x4 puzzle, and it rode in on the wave of the whole Rubik's Cube craze like the main character it is. 🌈

there are so many variations on this theme, bestie — including the "6x6" puzzle and Babylon Tower. but here's the tea on why the Missing Link is genuinely a harder puzzle to solve: the 2 center positions rotate together. that's it. that's the chaos. 😭

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💖 FEATURES 💖

Press "mouse-left" button to move a tile. Release "mouse-left" button in the same row would move the tile towards the space (unless there is no space in that row). Release on a different row will move the tiles up or down. 🖱️

Click "mouse-right", or press "Z" or "z" keys, to randomize the puzzle — and lowkey you must do this first to set a new record. no skipping, iykyk.

Press "G" or "g" keys to read (get) a saved puzzle.

Press "W" or "w" keys to save (write) a puzzle.

Press "U" or "u" keys to undo a move.

Press "R" or "r" keys to redo a move.

Press "C" or "c" keys to clear the puzzle.

Press "S" or "s" keys to start the auto-solver. 👑 heads up though: only works where tiles = 4 and faces = 4.

Press "O" or "o" keys to toggle the orient mode. slightly more challenging on (default is off).

Press "M" or "m" keys to toggle the middle mode. all the middle tiles rotate together, and this is considerably more challenging on (default is on). 🫠

Press ">" or "." keys to speed up the movement of tiles.

Press "<" or "," keys to slow down the movement of tiles.

Press "@" key to toggle the sound. 🔊

Press "Esc" key to hide program. 🙈

Press "Q", "q", or "CTRL-C" keys to kill program. 💀

Use the key pad or arrow keys to move without the mouse. Key pad is defined for Missing Link as:

  8     Up
  ^
4< >6   Left, Right
  v
  2     Down

Use the shift key and the up or down arrow keys to rotate all the tiles. 🌀

Use the control key and the keypad or arrow keys to reduce or enlarge the complexity of the puzzle.

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

xmlink: <row>x<column> {norm|ind<control of movement of middle
tiles>} @ (<Number of moves>/{<Record number of moves> <user
name>|"NEVER noaccess"|"practice"}) - <Comment>

Movement of middle tiles are either move together or independent. If there is no record of the current puzzle, it displays "NEVER noaccess".

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⭐ OPTIONS ⭐

okay this is the long part, but every single one matters, bestie, we do not skip 💅

• -geometry {+|-}X{+|-}Y — sets the initial position of the missing link window (resource name "geometry").
• -display host:dpy — specifies the X server to contact.
• -[no]mono — lets you display the missing link window on a color screen as if it were monochrome (resource name "mono").
• -[no]{reverse|rv} — lets you see the missing link window in reverse video (resource name "reverseVideo").
• -{foreground|fg} color — specifies the foreground of the missing link window (resource name "foreground").
• -{background|bg} color — specifies the background of the missing link window (resource name "background").
• -tile color — specifies the tile color of the tiles in the missing link window (resource name "tileColor").
• -{border|bd} color — specifies the border color of the tiles in the missing link window (resource name "orderColor").
• -face{0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7} <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. The 0th face is the last face face on missing link because I wanted that one to remain white by default when there are more or less faces.
• -frame color — specifies the color of the frame (resource name "frameColor").
• -[no]stippleFrame — lets you toggle the frame stippling (resource name "stippleFrame").
• -[no]install — specifies if the colormap should be installed or not (resource name "install").
• -picture filename — specifies the file for the picture (resource name "picture").
• -delay msecs — specifies the number of milliseconds it takes to move a tile or a group of tiles one space (1-50) (resource name "delay").
• -[no]sound — specifies if a sliding tile should make a sound or not (resource name "sound").
• -bumpSound filename — specifies the file for the bump sound for the sliding of (resource name "bumpSound").
• -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").
• -tiles <int> — lets you change the number of links in a row (resource name "tiles").
• -faces <int> — lets you change the number of faces in column (resource name "faces").
• -[no]orient — lets you access the oriented mode (resource name "orient").
• -[no]middle — lets you access the middle rigid mode (resource name "middle").
• -[no]practice — lets you access the practice mode (resource name "practice").
• -base int — specifies the base used (default is base 10) (resource name "base").
• -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 xmlink you have.

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🔥 RECORDS 🔥

You must randomize the puzzle before a record is set, otherwise an assumption of cheating is made if it is solved after a get. 🚨 no shortcuts, bestie, the record keeper is watching.

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🌈 SAVE FORMAT 🌈

Here is the format for the xmlink configuration, starting position, and the movement of its pieces.

tiles: 1-8 <number of tiles in a row>
faces: 1-8 <number of tiles in a column>
middle: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true; if 1 then middle moves as one unit>
orient: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true; if 1 then chain linked in order>
moves: 0-MAXINT <total number of moves>

startingPosition: <array of tile positions where 0 is the empty
space>

This is then followed by the moves, starting from 1.

move #: <direction> <tile> <shift>

Direction is represented as 0 up, 1 right, 2 down, and 3 left. Tile is the column of tile. Shift is represented as 0 or 1, 1 if the whole puzzle is moved at once (here Tile does not matter), 0 if not. The xmlink record keeper does not count a control move as a move, but here we do. 💅

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🧚 REFERENCES 🧚

L. E. Horden, Sliding Piece Puzzles (Recreations in Mathematics Series), Oxford University Press 1986, Plate X.

you are about to find the solution: The Missing Link, Ideal Toy Corporation, 1981.

James G Nourse, The Simple Solutions to Cubic Puzzles, Bantam Books, New York, November 1981, pp 16-23.

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

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

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🍓 COPYRIGHTS 🍓

® Copyright 1994-2024, David A. Bagley

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💜 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/

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okay that's the whole thing bestie, you're officially fluent in xmlink 🫶✨ this was V8.8.4, dated 15 Aug 2024 — go solve something iconic 💖🧩🎀