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i was also unable to get the graphics working sensibly either... unfortunately linux/unix consoles do vary quite a bit in their inbuilt capabilities and rendering speed. while the way Josh is creating the 'pixels' is quite ingenious, it is dependent on the console it is running within (a) being able to cope with dimensions (320, 640, or even 800 columns) way beyond what would normally be encountered in a normal terminal screen, along with (b) needing the operating system's font engine being able to intelligently/efficiently scale characters down to 1pt size (potentially only 1 pixel wide x 2 pixels high) and cache those scaled characters.
i would be surprised if any linux terminal had ever been tested at such extremes. on the other hand, i could well imagine Apple optimizing for such 'non-standard' ways for using fonts!
i did try to get the linux mint terminal on my machines (xfce4-terminal) operating with 'sixel' graphics, which divides each character cell into 6 pixels (2 wide x 3 high) but it seems that sixel is not supported in the versions of xfce4-terminal (pre 1.2) that linux mint uses.
Josh: how would you feel about someone writing a custom launcher that could provide your mmbasic_ansi version of mmbasic with access to a graphics window? i think this could be fairly easily done using Lazarus/FPC with mmbasic_ansi just needing to send simple graphics commands to stdout.
cheers, rob :-)
jvanderberg Regular Member Joined: 06/05/2026 Location: United StatesPosts: 47
Posted: 12:19pm 28 May 2026
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I got the graphics version running on a few year old Ubuntu version just running whatever the default terminal was. Nothing special about the Mac. I’d recommend ghostty as a terminal. It runs well on Linux and it has some config options you can use to make the characters have the perfect aspect ratio.
If you want the full graphics experience with sound I’ve already done that with the electron versions, linked in the original post. It will also perform a lot better. This, I admit was a bit of a novelty, and I think the most useful thing is the console only version.
And I’d love it if some somebody wanted to fork or send a PR to do native graphics. But I am not sure that’s a terribly portable route, and MMBasic anywhere is mostly about portability. Edited 2026-05-28 22:20 by jvanderberg
robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2526
Posted: 01:01pm 28 May 2026
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yep, just after i'd posted i realized that what i was describing was really just a variation on what your electron version already accomplishes!
i am quite excited about your text-only version - perhaps even one where the --console-only switch was the default. while i can't speak for others, my interest in mmbasic has always been (1) use on embedded controllers (like the MX170 version) and (2) as a scripting language in the terminal/console. the games/graphics side of things is of little interest to me, but does seem to be the direction 'official' development has headed in in recent years - along with a constant stream of bolted-on 'enhancements'.
unfortunately it (native graphics) is exceptionally un-portable. Lazarus/FPC tries to do it, but is suffering at the hands of wayland vs X11, and GTK2 vs GTK3 vs Qt. not to mention the ever-evolving Apple ecosystem.
prior to your postings i had not heard of Electron before. i may start a thread about Electron on the Lazarus/FPC forums to see if there is any interest in them using it there.
cheers, rob :-) Edited 2026-05-28 23:05 by robert.rozee
Frank N. Furter Guru Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 1100
Posted: 03:40pm 28 May 2026
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@rob:
Yes, it works for me with the --console-only switch...
Frank
gadgetjack Senior Member Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 212
Posted: 07:41pm 03 Jun 2026
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jvanderberg , Did you once say you had a version of mmbasic running on a esp32-c3 device? I have a couple with nothing to run on them of any count. Jack
jvanderberg Regular Member Joined: 06/05/2026 Location: United StatesPosts: 47
Posted: 07:47pm 03 Jun 2026
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I do, in serial only mode - no display support or sound yet. Porting the existing LCD drivers should be easy - VGA I think will be a bit of work, not sure HDMI is doable. I2S support should be straightforward.
If you want to DIY it: https://github.com/jvanderberg/PicoMiteAllVersions/tree/main/ports/esp32_s3_metro
gadgetjack Senior Member Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 212
Posted: 08:23pm 03 Jun 2026
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I am not the best coder but I will give it a play and see what I can do. Thank you! Jack
jvanderberg Regular Member Joined: 06/05/2026 Location: United StatesPosts: 47
Posted: 09:57pm 03 Jun 2026
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I will add a pre-packaged build soon. The current build supports WiFi - though I've only tested it on an Adafruit 'Metro' board, which is an ESP32-S3 - basically all Adafruit added are Arduino headers, PSRAM and an SD card slot, so this build should be reasonably compatible.
gadgetjack Senior Member Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 212
Posted: 10:44pm 03 Jun 2026
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Great!!! Thank you.
gadgetjack Senior Member Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 212
Posted: 10:50pm 03 Jun 2026
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Sorry , I meant I had esp32-s3 boards , not c3. They have the added memory on them.
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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