Arcus
Arcus is a Rubik's Cube Simulator written in Java featuring 3D display and cube manipulation. Besides conventional solving, getting from any pattern to any goal pattern is supported. Allows the user to bidirectionally walk through the cube's history.

Features;
  • 3D display of the cube, including animated rotations and layer turns.
  • Besides solving the cube (that is, from any pattern getting to the state with one color on each side), Arcus is able to get from any pattern to any other goal pattern, which is a more general task.
  • 3D Pattern Editor to specify the goal pattern.
  • Pattern Store to gather and store pretty patterns.
  • Keeping track of each turn, allowing the user to bidirectionally walk through the cube's history.
  • Easily configurable Look and Feel, colors, mouse behaviour, etc. Most of the changes take effect immediately.

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE version 1.6.0
  • Tested with JRE version 1.6.0 Build 27 GA5 (2013-02-17)


Arcus on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing Arcus
Download the zip file arcus-os2.zip. Create a folder (directory) "arcus" or something similar which fits your needs. Open the zip file and copy everything to the new created folder (directory). That's it! This zipfile contains not only the program, but also a manual (English), icons and the command file.

The used arcus.cmd file
Arcus works with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have made a "arcus.cmd" file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
[drive: arcus]
cd [drive: arcus]\arcus
java -Duser.home=[drive: arcus]\arcus -jar arcus-0.3.2.jar 2>arcus-bugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Arcus with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: arcus] = drive with Arcus

should be replaced by real drive letters. Adjust the file from the distribution, ie. different drive and directories. Save "arcus.cmd" and copy it to the "arcus" folder(directory) or your choice of folder(directory).

Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: arcus]\arcus\arcus.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 "Arcus". The download also has an OS/2 icon.

I want to point out that this is a way to start the program, OS/2 and its successors do have much more ways for starting a java program.

Arcus on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Parameters / options explained
  • The specification "-Duser.home=[drive: arcus]\arcus" will ensure that Arcus will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The addition "2>arcus-bugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "arcus-bugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo! The file stays empty on my machine, good sign.


revision June 4, 2020