What is Hodoku?
Hodoku is a Sudoku generator, solver, trainer and analyzer. HoDoKu generate sudokus in five different and fully configurable difficulty levels. Solve them yourself (with the help of HoDoKu hint system) or leave HoDoKu do it for you.

A short list of things you can do with HoDoKu:
  • Make sudokus in five different and fully configurable difficulty levels.
  • Make sudokus that contain specific techniques (eg new ways of solving sudokus practice).
  • All sudokus made by HoDoKu have of course a guaranteed unique solution.
  • Solve sudoku puzzles yourself, use the hint system if you get stuck (of course fully configurable).
  • Show all available steps in a Sudoku grid to study the different solution techniques and to create various solutions in a single Sudoku.
  • Choose from a list of over 90 different by Hodoku supported solution techniques.
  • Mark steps available in the Sudoku grid (a great tool for learning new techniques).
  • Use HoDoKu filters to find easier and faster simple steps so you can focus on the hard to find steps.
  • Unlimited undo and redo.
  • Print Sudoku booklets in different versions.

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE version is 1.6
  • HoDoKu consumes a lot of memory when you use the "All available steps" function. Take the following specification (fat) in the line:
    java -Xmx512m -jar hodoku.jar.


Hodoku on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing Hodoku
Download hodoku.jar. Create a folder (directory) "Hodoku". Copy the hodoku.jar file to the new folder "Hodoku". Create a new program object or copy it from the file below. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: Hodoku]\Hodoku\Hodoku.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "Hodoku"

The used cmd file
Hodoku works well with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have created an Hodoku.cmd file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160\bin
[drive: Hodoku]
cd [drive: Hodoku]\Hodoku
rem java  -Djava.io.tmpdir=[drive: Hodoku]\Hodoku\temp -Duser.home=[drive: Hodoku]\Hodoku -jar hodoku.jar
 2>hodokubugs.txt
java  -Djava.io.tmpdir=[drive: Hodoku]\Hodoku\temp -Duser.home=[drive: Hodoku]\Hodoku sudoku.Main 
 2>hodokubugs.txt
I had to break up the line "java -Djava.io.tmpdir=...", in the commandfile they are one line, mind the space between "hodoku.jar" or "sudoku.Main" and "2>hodokubugs.txt". I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Hodoku with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: Hodoku] = drive with Hodoku

should be replaced with real drive letters. Save the file and name it Hodoku.cmd or use the commandfile from the distribution. This file is copied to the Hodoku folder (directory). Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs.
I show you here two methods of starting up. The first and being inhibited method is the classic boot method "-jar". The second method is interesting for yourself if you want to change the compiled-jar file, for example if you want to translate and check directly the program if it goes well. So you do not have to wait for inclusion in the compiled program! To find out which branch you have to start, copy the file to a new file with the extension zip. Extract this zip to a temporary folder (directory) and study the modules. You can always try it with the developer if you get stuck.
The addition "2>hodokubugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "hodokubugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo!

Download
In the file you can find the above command file (all drive letters are on set to C:) and an OS/2 Hodoku icon: Hodoku-eCS.zip.

revision March 19, 2017