Xtoys

(http://thy.phy.bnl.gov/www/xtoys/xtoys.html)

The directory xtoys contains a set of cellular automata simulators I have written for Xwindows. The executables here are for Linux. The xtoys gallery shows lots of pictures produced by these programs (beware if you have a slow link). To peek at the xising user interface, look here.

A further description of these files is in my contribution to the Lattice'95 proceedings.

The files in the xtoys directory include:

xising.txt, xising.c: a two dimensional Ising model simulator
xpotts.txt, xpotts.c: for the two dimensional Potts model
xautomalab.txt, xautomalab.c: a totalistic cellular automaton simulator
xsand.txt, xsand.c: for the Bak, Tang, Wiesenfeld sandpile model
xfires.txt, xfires.c: a simple forest fire automaton
xwaves.txt, xwaves.c: demonstrates three different wave equations. Makes a nice lava lamp.
schrodinger.c: Play with the Scrodinger equation in an adjustable potential. I haven't written any documentation yet, but if you know about this equation, it should be easy to figure out the program.
xtoys.tar: the above files combined in a tar file. Get this file, do "uncompress xtoys.tar.Z", then "tar -xvf xtoys.tar" and finally "make". (If you are using Mosaic, the uncompress step is not needed as Mosaic does it for you.)
A simple Makefile for these programs.
A Debian package, xtoys_1.5-1_i386.deb containing binaries for these programs with i386 Linux.
amiga: a directory containing similar Amiga programs
windoze: early efforts towards a windows version
develop: some demos for programming X plus some miscellaneous unpolished stuff
contrib: a directory containing variations on these programs contributed by others

If you are on one of our local sparcstations, pointers to the executables are in /usr/local/bin. If this is in your path, typing "xising," etc. will start the corresponding program.

These all look best on a color display.

I want these to compile under generic X; so if you have problems on some machine supporting X, I would appreciate knowing so I can fix things.

Note:

Because of the Unisys patent on the LZW algorithm, compression is disabled for the subset of these programs that create gif files. The programs still work, but the saved graphics files are an order of magnitude larger than with compression. Comments in the source should enable any reasonable programmer to reinstall this feature (hint: search for the word "illegal").

Related links:

The official CA FAQ
J. Dana Eckart's Cellang
The MIT Information Mechanics group
Paul's Page of Conway's Life Miscellany.
The Brookhaven Theory home page

NOTE: No warranties, either express or implied, are hereby given. All software is supplied as is, without guarantee. The user assumes all responsibility for damages resulting from the use of these features, including, but not limited to, frustration, disgust, system abends, disk head-crashes, general malfeasance, floods, fires, shark attack, nerve gas, locust infestation, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis, local electromagnetic disruptions, hydraulic brake system failure, invasion, hashing collisions, normal wear and tear of friction surfaces, comic radiation, inadvertent destruction of sensitive electronic components, windstorms, the Riders of Nazgul, infuriated chickens, malfunctioning mechanical or electrical sexual devices, premature activation of the distant early warning system, peasant uprisings, halitosis, artillery bombardment, explosions, cave-ins, and/or frogs falling from the sky. (stolen from the fortunes db)

Mike Creutz

creutz@bnl.gov

File last modified: Feb 2001