FOSSPicks
NRubik
Rubik's Cube and its multifarious copies and variations are as popular as ever, because it's perhaps one of the best toys invented. Oddly satisfying to move, seemingly accessible to start, and yet challenging to solve. Even when you've mastered the basics of solving the cube, you quickly get obsessed with shortening your time, perhaps starting with five minutes with an aim to get from random to solved in less than 30 seconds. All solutions require good memory, problem solving, dexterity, and perseverance, and this is why perhaps the cube is still so popular. With so many distractions, focusing on solving a cube for a few minutes is a wonderful reset switch, and while the physical cube is always likely to be best, virtual recreations in software present their own challenges as you try to transpose your knowledge onto a two-dimensional (2D) projected image that is much more mentally challenging than the original.
Several good cube applications for the desktop range from 2D to OpenGL-based 3D, which can be the easiest to use, as you drag your mouse across the various layers to mimic the movement of your fingers. The problem is that you usually can't see the reverse sides very quickly. This isn't a problem with NRubik, however, because it runs from the command line, using curses to display a simple planar view of a virtual cube. All the controls are displayed onscreen and allow you to turn each row, as well as mix up the cube. These controls are all you need to create a solution. Although it's difficult even with a memorized set of sequences, the challenge is perfectly in keeping with what makes the challenge of the cube so long lived.
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