PANEX(6)
NAME
xpanex - Panex X widget
SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/xpanex [-geometry
[{width}][x{height}][{+-}{xoff}[{+-}{yoff}]]] [-display
[{host}]:[{vs}]] [-mono] [-{foreground|fg} {color}]
[-{background|bg} {color}] [-{border|bd} {color}] [-tile
{color}] [-pyramid{0|1} {color}] [-tiles {int}] [-{mode
{int}|hanoi|panex}] [-delay msecs] [-username {string}]
DESCRIPTION
The original Panex puzzle is from the Japanese Magic Com-
pany from the 1980's. Mathematicians at Bell Laboratories
estimated the number of moves to swap 2 columns of order
10 to be 27,564 <= N <= 31,537. It came in two varieties:
one with a blue and a yellow pyramid of order 10 on silver
tiles; in the gold version pieces of each color look alike
(i.e. no pyramid is drawn on them), this is a little
harder.
The original Tower of Hanoi puzzle is the invention of
Edouard Lucas and was sold as a toy in France in 1883.
The legend of 64 disks in the great temple of Benares of
the god Brahma is also his invention.
FEATURES
Press "mouse-left" button to move a tile the top tile in a
column. Release "mouse-left" button on another column.
It will not move if blocked.
Double click on "mouse-right" button or press "R" or "r"
keys to reset the puzzle.
Press "M" or "m" keys to toggle between hanoi (one pyramid
column) and panex (two pyramid columns) modes (they each
have different rules). In Hanoi, one can not place
larger trapezoid on a smaller trapezoid. Here the goal is
to move the pile from the left peg to the rightmost peg.
In Panex, a tile can not go lower that its initial start-
ing point. Here the goal is to exchange the 2 piles.
Press "I" or "i" keys to increase the number of tiles.
Press "D" or "d" keys to decrease the number of tiles.
Press "S" or "s" keys to auto-solve. Unfortunately, its
only implemented from the starting position.
Press "U" or "u" keys to undo last move.
Press "G" or "g" keys to get a saved puzzle.
Press "W" or "w" keys to save a puzzle.
Press "Q", "q", or "CTRL-C" keys to kill program.
Unlike other puzzles in the collection there is no way to
move pieces without drag and drop.
The title is in the following format (non-motif version):
x{hanoi | panex}: <Number of rows> @ ( <username>|"NEVER
noaccess"}) - <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 panex
window (resource name "geometry").
-display host:dpy
This option specifies the X server to contact.
-mono This option specifies to display as if on a
monochrome monitor (resource name "mono").
-{foreground|fg} color
This option specifies the foreground of the panex
window (resource name "foreground").
-{background|bg} color
This option specifies the background of the panex
window (resource name "background").
-{border|bd} color
This option specifies the border color of the
tiles in the panex window (resource name "border-
Color").
-tile color
This option specifies the tile color of the tiles
in the panex window (resource name "tileColor").
-pyramid0 color
This option specifies the foreground of the first
pyramid (resource name "pyramidColor0").
-pyramid1 color
This option specifies the foreground of the second
pyramid, if it exists (resource name "pyramid-
Color1").
-tiles int
This option specifies the number of tiles in a
column (resource name "tiles").
-mode int
This option specifies the hanoi (0) or panex (1)
mode (resource name "mode").
-hanoi This option specifies the hanoi mode (resource
name "mode").
-panex This option specifies the panex mode (resource
name "mode").
-delay msecs
This option specifies the number of milliseconds
it takes to move a tile or a group of tiles one
space (resource name "delay").
-username string
This option specifies the user name for any
records made or else it will get your login name
(resource name "userName").
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.
mode: 0-1 <0 hanoi, 1 panex>
tiles: 1-10 <number of tiles in a column>
moves: 0-MAXINT <total number of moves>
startingPosition: <array pairs of column and posi-
tion of each tile>
This is then followed by the moves, starting from 1.
move #: <from_column> <to_column>
from_column is the top tile of the column
to_column is where that tile is moved to.
Caution: the program may crash on corrupted input.
REFERENCES
Sliding Piece Puzzles (Recreations in Mathematics Series)
by L. E. Horden, Oxford University Press 1986, pp 144,
145.
Puzzles Old & New (How to Make and Solve Them) by Jerry
Slocum & Jack Botermans, University of Washington Press,
Seattle, 1987, p 135.
Quantum January/February 1996 pp 55-57, 50-51. (Author's
name not present on my copy).
SEE ALSO
X(1) xrubik(6) xskewb(6) xdino(6) xpyraminx(6)
xoct(6) xmball(6) xmlink(6) xcubes(6) xtriangles(6)
xhexagons(6) xabacus(1)
COPYRIGHTS
(R) Copyright 1996-97, David Albert Bagley
BUG REPORTS AND PROGRAM UPDATES
Send bugs (or their reports, or fixes) to the author
David Albert Bagley, lt;bagleyd@bigfoot.com
The most updated source could be found on ftp.x.org under
/contrib/games/puzzles.