Looking for a decent BASIC Language interpreter for Raspbian

[1775]

I have tried SpecBas and the editor was a problem and for some reason would not recognize the " key on my keyboard (which works for everything else). I have read through posts here and BBC BASIC does not exist other than for RISC OS, Tiny Basic does not seem to exist - links all broken on all websites, RTB Basic seems a little odd.

Anyone know of a BASIC Language with a screen editor that works on a RaspPi 2 B in Raspbian OS? And where to download it? Thanks!

Correction - RTB Basic does not download. Tried for link and tried through Synaptic - Synaptic says the package is broken.

[jbeale]

Did you use this method for RTB Basic? https://projects.drogon.net/rtb/rtb-dow ... d-install/

[1775]

Did you use this method for RTB Basic? https://projects.drogon.net/rtb/rtb-dow ... d-install/

Yes - I tried that - followed it exactly. First line went fine - cd /tmp , The second line (wget) results in a message that says I do not have permission to access and that I do not have permission to write to the file. This all through the Raspbian terminal. Tried this several times all with the same result.

+++ Tried again just now and it seems to have installed. I also installed the demo files and the sound dependencies.

Problem is now it will not run - it says type rtb in the command line - the result is rtb is not a command...

[mikerr]

I followed those instructions and similarly found rtb wasn't installed,

they key is you have to run the install again after sudo apt-get -f install :

Code: Select all

cd /tmp
sudo dpkg -i rtb-2.20-1.deb

[1775]

I followed those intructiona and similarly founr rtb wasn't installed,

they key is you have to run the install again after sudo apt-get -f install :

Code: Select all

cd /tmp
sudo dpkg -i rtb-2.20-1.deb

Yes, thank you. I just discovered that myself when I looked for installed software and it was not listed. I have it installed and running. The editor and run box is small - maybe a four inch square. Any way to adjust that larger.

Thanks again!

[mikerr]

I guess you're running it in X windows, not from the console? The console automatically runs fullscreen...

If under X windows, the window it opens isn't resizable on the fly (as you've found), but you can set it to fill the screen when you start it up
(it uses 640 x 480 by default)

so specify the width and height of your screen ( use rtb -D to find your screensize):

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rtb -f -x 1292 -y 992

That -f option makes if fullscreen borderless, remove it if you want it in a window.

[scruss]

If you don't mind the editor not being built in, X11-Basic comes with a highlighting setup for the Geany IDE. It's a slightly unusual dialect of BASIC - based on GFABASIC, which was popular on the Atari St and Amiga in the early 1990s. It's a fast interpreter, and even faster compiler.

[1775]

I guess you're running it in X windows, not from the console? The console automatically runs fullscreen...

If under X windows, the window it opens isn't resizable on the fly (as you've found), but you can set it to fill the screen when you start it up
(it uses 640 x 480 by default)

so specify the width and height of your screen ( use rtb -D to find your screensize):

Code: Select all

rtb -f -x 1292 -y 992

That -f option makes if fullscreen borderless, remove it if you want it in a window.

This is great. Thank you! Is there some reference that shows these additions to rtb such as the -f, etc.? The screen is great - the font is small - is there also a command to force that to large from "standard"? I have the RTB manual but nothing like this in that.

Sorry to be a pest. So far this has helped a lot!

Thank you!

[MarkHaysHarris777]

See this post (read all):

viewtopic.php?f=91&t=107540

See:

http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/

Chipmunk BASIC is fabulous; has some nice X graphics, and is a very solid interpreter that goes back to the very early days of the first macs. Ron Nicholson supports Chipmunk BASIC and has provided a recent download link on his site (second link above) about half way down... has the executable, a man file, and a text file. The first link above is the discussion link for all interested in Chipmunk BASIC for Raspberry PI.

PS you will also need this font package:

sudo apt-get install xfonts-base

[mikerr]

This is great. Thank you! Is there some reference that shows these additions to rtb such as the -f, etc.? The screen is great - the font is small - is there also a command to force that to large from "standard"? I have the RTB manual but nothing like this in that.

man <command> gets you help for any linux command:

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man rtb

NAME
       rtb - A modern BASIC interpreter

SYNOPSIS
       rtb [OPTION]... [FILE]

DESCRIPTION
       RTB  is a contemporary BASIC interpreter. It supports modern structured
       programming concepts such as while and until loops  as  well  as  named
       procedures and functions which support local variables and recursion.

OPTIONS
       -f     Run in full-screen mode.

       -d     Enables double-buffering mode. (Not recommended)

       -h     Tries  to  use  the  hardware frame-buffer directly. (Not recomâ
              mended)

       -s     Disables sound support. (Programs will be quiet,  but  this  may
              also affect timings!)

       -D     Dump  the  available  screen modes. Use with -f to display modes
              available in full-screen mode.

       -l     Switch to large font size. (Double size font)

       -m mode <mode>
              Start in the given screen mode.

       -x <size>

       -y <size>
              Force the screen size to the given value in pixels

       -z <size>
              Force the screen colour depth to the given bits per pixel.  (Not
              recommended)

       FILENAME
              when  the  interpreter starts. This option can be given to cause
              it to load and run the named program file.

So to answer your question .. the -l option gives larger fonts....

[troombatzia]

I would add Gambas to the list of available Basic interpreters for Raspian (here's how to install packages):

http://gambaswiki.org/wiki/install/raspbian

[1775]

This is great. Thank you! Is there some reference that shows these additions to rtb such as the -f, etc.? The screen is great - the font is small - is there also a command to force that to large from "standard"? I have the RTB manual but nothing like this in that.

man <command> gets you help for any linux command:

Code: Select all

man rtb

NAME
       rtb - A modern BASIC interpreter

SYNOPSIS
       rtb [OPTION]... [FILE]

DESCRIPTION
       RTB  is a contemporary BASIC interpreter. It supports modern structured
       programming concepts such as while and until loops  as  well  as  named
       procedures and functions which support local variables and recursion.

OPTIONS
       -f     Run in full-screen mode.

       -d     Enables double-buffering mode. (Not recommended)

       -h     Tries  to  use  the  hardware frame-buffer directly. (Not recomâ
              mended)

       -s     Disables sound support. (Programs will be quiet,  but  this  may
              also affect timings!)

       -D     Dump  the  available  screen modes. Use with -f to display modes
              available in full-screen mode.

       -l     Switch to large font size. (Double size font)

       -m mode <mode>
              Start in the given screen mode.

       -x <size>

       -y <size>
              Force the screen size to the given value in pixels

       -z <size>
              Force the screen colour depth to the given bits per pixel.  (Not
              recommended)

       FILENAME
              when  the  interpreter starts. This option can be given to cause
              it to load and run the named program file.

So to answer your question .. the -l option gives larger fonts....

Terrific! Again, thank you so much!

I will also look at the other BASICs suggested!

[KaylaB]

Try Liberty BASIC 5
Liberty BASIC is a BASIC language that has been around for more than 22 years and is still under active development, Raspberry Pi version is in pre-release beta.

https://www.libertybasic.com