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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : TwinBASIC looks promising.

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Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5164
Posted: 09:36am 19 Dec 2025
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I was checking out some versions of BASIC, like Small BASIC. I wanted something that behaved like a 80's PC, so I could just type commands and run them without needing to compile, etc, etc.

I stumbled across TwinBASIC, not what I was looking for, but it grabbed my interest. Still in beta, but it looks like its aiming to be a VB6 like IDE. Its still in development, but I downloaded the beta and gave it a go.

First I changed the theme to a classic looking light background, the dark backgrounds are very hard to see when you eyes aren't as good as they used to be. I then put together a simple form with a button, double clicked the button to see the code behind it, and just added a simple "Hello world" msgbox. Ran it, it worked. Compiled it, it worked, and only 700k. No dependencies, no libraries, no need for a 80Meg .net run time.

Could this be a true replacement for VB6?

I loved VB6, it was easy to use. vb.net was terrible, and I moved away from writing applications for a long time after VB6 support was dropped.

Looks like they plan to have a free community edition, and some paid professional editions ( very expensive though ). I hoping they community edition is not crippled to much, or they release a single home user licence for much much less than the professional editions.

https://twinbasic.com/preorder.html#top

You can get the beta releases from https://github.com/twinbasic/twinbasic/releases

Glenn
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
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mclout999

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Joined: 05/07/2020
Location: United States
Posts: 495
Posted: 10:41am 19 Dec 2025
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Why don't you use MMM Basic for Windows? Use the exact same dialect as are in all of the. MMbasic devices. It's interpreted but very good. The free Twin basic is a crippled version that only produces 32 bit code and intentionaly  Unoptimized, I might add. There are also dozens of other basics. Most of those are free as well. BBC BASIC for SDL is a favorite of mineBBC BASIC FOR SDL
They call me Shai-Hulud (The maker)
 
Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5164
Posted: 01:15pm 19 Dec 2025
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Yes, but none of them look and feel like VB6
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
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PhenixRising
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Joined: 07/11/2023
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1682
Posted: 02:18pm 19 Dec 2025
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If you don't mind running java under the hood

You get VB-like and cross platform.
 
stanleyella

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Joined: 25/06/2022
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2702
Posted: 05:04pm 19 Dec 2025
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bbc basic on rpi 400. if you never used it, like me then it's complicated, as any basic version is different.

 
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