Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines https://ift.tt/3IAJ47e

Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines I started writing Thoreau BASIC because I wanted a small, old-fashioned BASIC interpreter: line numbers, immediate mode, simple graphics, strings, arrays, the sort of environment where the computer starts with a "Ready" prompt and you can immediately make it do something. Then I wondered: why should it need an operating system? So I made it boot directly on x64 machines using UEFI. The UEFI version uses the Graphics Output Protocol for its framebuffer and gets its keyboard input directly from the firmware. There is no Windows or Linux underneath it. The machine boots into BASIC. It supports the usual BASIC machinery plus graphics primitives, 32-bit colour, floating point, file operations and other features I've been adding as I encounter programs that need them. There is now also a Windows version, which makes it considerably easier to try. One of my goals is compatibility with the style and behaviour of old Microsoft BASICs rather than creating a modern language that merely happens to use BASIC syntax. I'm currently porting my text adventure Pixel Prose to Thoreau BASIC. That's becoming a much better test suite than artificial tests because every missing feature or subtly wrong behaviour eventually gets exposed by an actual program. The project is deliberately small. The UEFI version greets you with: "I make myself rich by making my wants few." — Henry David Thoreau followed, somewhat ironically on a modern PC, by something like: 27,340,685,312 bytes free I'd be interested in hearing from people who wrote BASIC in the 80s/90s, interpreter/compiler people, and anyone sufficiently strange to still find a Ready prompt inviting. https://ift.tt/3NRMFG9 August 23, 2026 at 02:48PM

Show HN: Hookpost – Open-source social media scheduler with AI Agent copilot https://ift.tt/2rHW4mh

Show HN: Hookpost – Open-source social media scheduler with AI Agent copilot https://ift.tt/TaUCvI7 August 24, 2026 at 03:49AM

Show HN: Open-source calculator for "will my GPU run this LLM?" https://ift.tt/ZzVNho8

Show HN: Open-source calculator for "will my GPU run this LLM?" https://jaeseok614.github.io/llm-gpu-checker-ko/ August 24, 2026 at 02:04AM

Show HN: Neostatic, a tiny site/blog generator for neocities https://ift.tt/kfXSr3y

Show HN: Neostatic, a tiny site/blog generator for neocities https://ift.tt/fBi04ts August 23, 2026 at 08:51PM

Show HN: CtrlTool – 132 free online tools for developers and everyday tasks https://ift.tt/xfcdUrZ

Show HN: CtrlTool – 132 free online tools for developers and everyday tasks Hey HN, I built CtrlTool because I kept needing small tools for random things and didn't want to install something or sign up for another website. It currently has 132 tools for things like JSON, JWT, Base64, URLs, text, hashes, PDFs, SEO, converters, generators, and other everyday stuff. The main thing I tried to focus on is making the tools fast and simple. For tools where it makes sense, everything runs locally in the browser so the data doesn't need to be uploaded to a server. It's still very new, so I'm mostly looking for feedback on the UX, which tools are actually useful, and what you think is missing. https://ctrltool.wtf Would appreciate any feedback. https://ctrltool.wtf August 22, 2026 at 10:44PM

Show HN: EchoVault, an app that interviews you and answers as you after death https://ift.tt/FAa1Pxc

Show HN: EchoVault, an app that interviews you and answers as you after death https://ift.tt/R3yvBOa August 21, 2026 at 09:14PM

Show HN: Just describe your idea and let AI build a playable game for you https://ift.tt/uX7ka90

Show HN: Just describe your idea and let AI build a playable game for you https://run.ceo/coder/ August 21, 2026 at 02:04AM