XRUBIK(6)

📦
version 8.9.4 · 2 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🧊 XRUBIK ✨

ok bestie, listen. this is the manual page for xrubik 💖 it lives in the Games Manual corner of the world (that's section 6, iykyk) and it is so much. it's giving "toy from 1980 but make it X11 widgets." no cap. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

xrubik — Magic cube X widgets 🦋

like. the cube. but on your screen. as a widget. iconic behavior honestly.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

/usr/games/xrubik [-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}] [-size{X|Y|Z} {int}]
[-[no]orient] [-[no]practice] [-userName {string}] [-scoreFile
{filename}] [-scores] [-version]

that's the whole vibe in one block, bestie. every flag is getting its own moment down in OPTIONS, don't you worry 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

ok so the tea: the original puzzle has 9 squares per face (size = 3). it was designed by Erno Rubik and it's called the Rubik's Cube. and it has

8!*12!*3^8*2^12/12 or 4.3 * 10^19 different combinations.

like. that's the math. that's the number. slay. 🔥

the Pocket Cube has 4 squares per face (size = 2), also designed by Erno Rubik. that one has 7!*3^6 or 3,674,160 different combinations. so much more manageable, ngl 🫶

Rubik's Revenge has 16 squares per face (size = 4), also designed by Erno Rubik. it has 7!*3^6*24!*24!/(4!)^6 or 7.4 * 10^46 different combinations. bestie that is a LOT. 😭

5x5x5 Cube. it has 8!*12!*3^7*2^10*(24!)^3/(4!)^12 or 2.83 * 10^74 different combinations. the numbers just keep going. she's unstoppable. 👑

there's also the Magic Domino 3x3x2 cube which has (8!)^2/4 or 406,425,600 combinations. cute lil baby cube 🌸

a physical 6x6x6 cube is possible but to my knowledge no one has been too successful in building one. 7x7x7 is also possible, but here one must make the center most cubes smaller than the outside cubes, so the corners do not fall off when turned. (imagine your corners just. falling off. could not be me 💀)

✨ FEATURES ✨

ok this is the fun part. here's literally everything you can do 💅

  • Press "mouse-left" button to move a piece. Release "mouse-left" button on a piece on the same face and in the same row. The pieces will then turn towards where the mouse button was released. (so it's giving drag and yeet ✨)
  • Click "mouse-center", or press "P" or "p" keys to toggle the practice mode (in practice mode the record should say "practice"). This is good for learning moves and experimenting. 🧚
  • Click "mouse-right", or press "Z" or "z" keys, to randomize the puzzle (this must be done first to set a new record). ⚠️ like fr fr, do this first or your record doesn't count.
  • 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 auto-solver. Only works on 2x2x2, 3x3x3, and 4x4x4 cubes. (the solver said "not my problem" to everything else 💀)
  • 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 piece, if at all (i.e. those pieces not on a corner or edge). This does add complexity so there are 2 sets of records. 👀 two whole record sets, she's thorough.
  • Press "I" or "i" keys to increase the number of pieces. ⬆️
  • Press "D" or "d" keys to decrease the number of pieces. ⬇️
  • Press "x" key to increase the number of pieces along the x axis.
  • Press "X" key to decrease the number of pieces along the x axis.
  • Press "y" key to increase the number of pieces along the y axis.
  • Press "Y" key to decrease the number of pieces along the y axis.
  • Press "j" key to increase the number of pieces along the z axis.
  • Press "J" key to decrease the number of pieces along the z axis.
  • Press "V" or "v" keys to change the view of the puzzle. 🌈
  • Press ">" or "." keys to speed up the movement of pieces. 🏃‍♀️
  • Press "<" or "," keys to slow down the movement of pieces. 🐌
  • 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 the Rubik2d as:

  /     Counterclockwise

  8     Up
  ^
4<5>6   Left, Clockwise, Right
  v
  2     Down

Key pad for other than Rubik2d, 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. ✨ (so go wild, it's free, no notes)

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

xrubik{2|3}d<dimension>: {1|2|3|4|5|6<cubes per edge on
x-axis>x{1|2|3|4|5|6<cubes per edge on y-axis>x{1|2|3|4|5|6<cubes
per edge on z-axis>} @ (<Number of moves>/{<Record number of
moves> <user name>|"NEVER noaccess"|"practice"}) - <Comment>

If there is no record of the current puzzle, it displays "NEVER noaccess". 💔 never noaccess... the saddest string in the whole program, honestly.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

one bullet per option, bestie, no skipping, we're doing ALL of them 💅

  • -geometry {+|-}X{+|-}Y — This option sets the initial position of the rubik window (resource name "geometry"). 📍
  • -display host:dpy — This option specifies the X server to contact.
  • -[no]mono — This option allows you to display the rubik window on a color screen as if it were monochrome (resource name "mono"). 🖤🤍
  • -[no]{reverse|rv} — This option allows you to see the rubik window in reverse video (resource name "reverseVideo"). 🌗
  • -{foreground|fg} color — This option specifies the foreground of the rubik window (resource name "foreground").
  • -{background|bg} color — This option specifies the background of the rubik window (resource name "background").
  • -{border|bd} color — This option specifies the border color of the pieces in the rubik window (resource name "borderColor").
  • -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 sideways "t" or "+-" 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 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 its solved when its randomized. This would be cheating. 🚨 do NOT do the all-White thing and then act surprised, bestie, that's cheating and the program KNOWS. 😭
  • -frame color — This option specifies the color of the frame (resource name "frameColor").
  • -delay msecs — This option specifies the number of milliseconds it takes to move pieces (1-50) (resource name "delay"). ⏱️
  • -[no]sound — This option specifies if sliding pieces should make a sound or not (resource name "sound"). 🔔
  • -moveSound filename — This option specifies the file for the move sound the twisting of the puzzle (resource name "moveSound"). 🎵
  • -{font|fn} ontname — This option specifies the font that will be used (resource name "font").
  • -view <int> — This option allows you to change the view of the cube for OpenGL with choice of 4 views (resource name "int"). 👀
  • -sizeX <int> — This option allows you to change the number of pieces on a edge along x-axis (resource name "sizeX").
  • -sizeY <int> — This option allows you to change the number of pieces on a edge along y-axis (resource name "sizeY").
  • -sizeZ <int> — This option allows you to change the number of pieces on a edge along z-axis (resource name "sizeZ").
  • -[no]orient — This option allows you to access the oriented mode (resource name "orient"). ✨
  • -[no]practice — This option allows you to access the practice mode (resource name "practice"). 🎀
  • -userName string — This option 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 — This option lists all the recorded scores and then exits. (just a lil peek at the leaderboard, then she's out 🚪)
  • -version — This option tells you what version of xrubik you have. ⭐

✨ 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 or an auto-solve.

⚠️ fr fr bestie, randomize FIRST. get or auto-solve → solve → record = the program assumes you cheated. and honestly? it's right. 🙈

✨ SAVE FORMAT ✨

Here is the format for the xrubik configuration, starting position, and the movement of its pieces. The format is not standard. The reason is that this is simple to produce and the standard notation is no good for variable number of pieces. 💅 (she said "standard notation could NEVER")

Rubik2d with default colors, not randomized (front is face 2):

  0       R     Red
1 2 3   Y W G   Yellow, White, Green
  4       O     Orange
  5       B     Blue
sizeX: 1-6 <the number of cubes per row along x-axis>
sizeY: 1-6 <the number of cubes per row along y-axis>
sizeZ: 1-6 <the number of cubes per row along z-axis>
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 piece
position, each face has size1 * size2 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> <position>

Each turn is with respect to a face and position.

Position is 0 to size * size - 1. Position 0 is in the upper left.

Direction is represented as 0 up, 1 right, 2 down, 3 left, 5 clockwise, and 7 counterclockwise.

Control is represented as 0 or 1, 1 if the whole cube is moved at once (here position does not matter), 0 if not. The xrubik record keeper does not count a control move as a move, but here we do.

If you have a Rubik's Cube you cannot solve (2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4) enter it in rubik.log file. Have size = 2 or 3, orient = 0, practice = 0, randomized = 1, and moves = 0 and the number representation for the color of the piece (usually 0=R, 1=Y, 2=W, 3=G, 4=O, 5=B). Bring up xrubik, hit 'g' so it will get your configuration and then 's' to solve your cube and then 'w' to write out the steps. Then examine your rubik.log file. 🧠✨ (yes this is literally how you get the program to solve your real-life cube for you. main character energy.)

✨ REFERENCES ✨

  • Inside Rubik's Cube and Beyond by Christoph Bandelow, Birkhauser, 1982. pp 44, 45, 88, 89
  • Magic Cubes 1996 Catalog of Dr. Christoph Bandelow.
  • The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube, James G. Nourse, June 1981
  • Rubik's Cube Newsletter by Ideal Aug 1982 Vol.1 No. 2
  • Rubik's Cube The Solution, Ideal Toy Corporation, 1981
  • Rubik's Revenge Puzzle The Solution, Ideal Toy Corporation, 1982

ok and there's still more coming bestie, don't you dare close the tab, we are NOT done yet 💖🦋✨

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

okay bestie, if you're obsessed with this one (and you should be), here's the whole squad of sibling puzzles to go stan next:

like… the whole extended universe fr fr 🫶

🌈 COPYRIGHTS 🌈

® Copyright 1994-2024, David A. Bagley

ngl, the lore goes deep: Michael B. Martin, <martinm@sps1.phys.vt.edu> wrote a whole independent program called cubist10.c — for IBM PC, no less — and then the author added the auto-solve code into xrubik, with his permission. collab of the century honestly 💅✨

🎀 BUG REPORTS AND PROGRAM UPDATES 🎀

found a bug? a report? a fix?? don't gatekeep, bestie — send that to the author:

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

and if you want the freshest, most current version (because you deserve nice things 💖), it lives at:

https://www.sillycycle.com/puzzles.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/games/strategy/

and that's a wrap on the whole page, bestie!! 🦋 this edition was version V8.8.4, dated 15 Aug 2024 — go solve something iconic, main character energy only, periodt 👑💅

📦 where this page comes from