# taviso/123elf

A native port of Lotus 1-2-3 to Linux.

Repository: https://github.com/taviso/123elf
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/123elf
Language: C
License Family: other
Topics: lotus, retrocomputing, spreadsheet, terminal, unix
Last push: 2026-06-27T21:45:02+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 63/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 89, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1565, "days_push": 67, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1285, forks 57 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:14.488306+00:00)

## What it is
A native Linux port of Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3, rebuilt from the original UNIX binaries to run directly in the terminal via ncurses. It preserves the classic keyboard-driven spreadsheet experience with multiple sheets, live-updating ASCII-art charts, and context-sensitive help.

## Use cases
- run Lotus 1-2-3 natively on Linux
- use a spreadsheet in a terminal without a GUI
- open and edit legacy Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet files
- work with multiple spreadsheet sheets from the command line
- generate live-updating ASCII-art charts from spreadsheet data
- relive or study retro computing software

## When to choose
- You want the authentic Lotus 1-2-3 experience on Linux without an emulator
- You work in a terminal-only or SSH environment and need a keyboard-driven spreadsheet
- You need to open or modify legacy Lotus 1-2-3 worksheets
- You are interested in retrocomputing or vintage UNIX software

## When to avoid
- You need a modern GUI spreadsheet with xlsx compatibility and cloud collaboration
- You want a turnkey install - building requires original Lotus 1-2-3 for UNIX disk images and a coff-i386-enabled binutils
- You are uncomfortable with retro keyboard-driven menus and 1980s UI conventions

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: terminal-ui, charts, data-visualization
- domain: spreadsheets, developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: lotus-1-2-3, retrocomputing, ncurses, spreadsheet, terminal-application, ascii-art, vintage-software, worksheet-files, command-line, linux

## Member repositories
- taviso/123elf (main) score 63

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:14.488306+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:56:41.595811+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/taviso/123elf (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:14.488306+00:00, sha f26fb0ba5b52)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.