User Profile for Paul Reuvers

Enigma Simulator 1.0 (Mac OS X)

A realistic Enigma simulation  

As a newbee on Mac OS X, I've been on the lookout for an Enigma Simulator ever since I purchased my MacBook Pro. Being interested in historical cipher machines, and the Enigma in particular, I like to study the mechanical and electrical properties of these devices. High quality - reliable - simulators have been around for some time both Windows and RISC OS, but unfortunately not for the Mac. Until now that is... I was pleasantly surprised when I learned about Terry Long's new Enigma Simulator for Mac OS X, so I downloaded it immediately. Being only 1MB, it's a fairly small application which installs in seconds. After that, the Enigma is just a click away. Once started it presents a large window, containing what looks and feels like a real Enigma machine. The cosmetics are very good and the program is very intuitive to use. It currently simulates only the Naval three-wheel Enigma (M3), which is 'compatible' with the standard German Army service machine, albeit with letters on the wheels rather than numbers. At present, the famous Stecker board hasn't been implemented, nor is the Ringstellung, but apart from that, it is absolutely wonderful. If you bare in mind that this is the first real application the author has ever written on a computer, it's a promise for the future. If you are interested in the history behind the Enigma machine, and want to explore it on your favourite OS, don't hesitate and download it immediately. And watch this space for future enhancements. Oh yes, and don't forget to motivate the author for adding additional features. [alert admin]

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Monday, July 23 2007 @ 07:10 AM PDT

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