Back to BASICs
by Jan-80 from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5DC01)
I started with computers in the late 70's. A TRS-80 Model I and a Model 4P were my first computers. On the 'one' I learned BASIC, on the second I worked with the interface of the OS. I never was afraid of the CLI. In later MS-DOS times I got to building my own menu-systems, with interlocking BATch-files. Great fun, and easy to use for people who weren't as computer-savvy as I.
Anyway, later I moved towards Windows and the GUI-world, and made a carreer out of IT. The occasional use of the CLI in Windows was a bonus I enjoyed, because my BATch-writing skills were still useful, despite VB-script and PowerShell. Through the years, I was always sad as I saw another batch of computers being thrown out, because they weren't 'powerful' enough any more. While they were powerful enough to run their contemporary versions of the software, and certainly good enough to run DOS and my old menu systems.
A few years ago I switched to Linux. Under Linux I enjoyed using old computers, picked out of the dumpsters of the IT-department, and remembered what I had done under DOS.
That's what I want to re-create now. For starters, a easy-programmable computer, just like the original TRS-80. Then, a CLI system where everything but the games is still text-based. And I want to build that on top of Linux. Any Linux, on any old (compatible) computer.
The first steps are easy: get any Linux distro without a GUI or DE (typically, a server distro), and you have a text-based system. Midnight commander is a great filemanager and can be used as editor, too. That's the first to install. But then what?
Other application programs, text-based, do they still exist? I found this:
https://chen115yaohua.wordpress.com/...t-without-gui/
... and it looks promising. I'm apparently not the first one to go down that road. But spreadsheet (As-easy-as or 1-2-3 clone) and wordprocessing (WP5.1, WORD for DOS) can they still be found ?
Programming can be done in bash, or python. (don't know bash, have to brush up on Python) But I want to expand, and go back at the same time. I'm looking for a real IDE for Python, but text-based, like the QBASIC of old. And why not, a real (Q)BASIC lookalike, also in text? Do these things still exist in pure text, did they ever exist, or do I have to make do with my own combo of editor and program interpreter/compiler?
Any pointers, thoughts or comments ?
Anyway, later I moved towards Windows and the GUI-world, and made a carreer out of IT. The occasional use of the CLI in Windows was a bonus I enjoyed, because my BATch-writing skills were still useful, despite VB-script and PowerShell. Through the years, I was always sad as I saw another batch of computers being thrown out, because they weren't 'powerful' enough any more. While they were powerful enough to run their contemporary versions of the software, and certainly good enough to run DOS and my old menu systems.
A few years ago I switched to Linux. Under Linux I enjoyed using old computers, picked out of the dumpsters of the IT-department, and remembered what I had done under DOS.
That's what I want to re-create now. For starters, a easy-programmable computer, just like the original TRS-80. Then, a CLI system where everything but the games is still text-based. And I want to build that on top of Linux. Any Linux, on any old (compatible) computer.
The first steps are easy: get any Linux distro without a GUI or DE (typically, a server distro), and you have a text-based system. Midnight commander is a great filemanager and can be used as editor, too. That's the first to install. But then what?
Other application programs, text-based, do they still exist? I found this:
https://chen115yaohua.wordpress.com/...t-without-gui/
... and it looks promising. I'm apparently not the first one to go down that road. But spreadsheet (As-easy-as or 1-2-3 clone) and wordprocessing (WP5.1, WORD for DOS) can they still be found ?
Programming can be done in bash, or python. (don't know bash, have to brush up on Python) But I want to expand, and go back at the same time. I'm looking for a real IDE for Python, but text-based, like the QBASIC of old. And why not, a real (Q)BASIC lookalike, also in text? Do these things still exist in pure text, did they ever exist, or do I have to make do with my own combo of editor and program interpreter/compiler?
Any pointers, thoughts or comments ?