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EndBASIC 0.12: The end of an era

It has been almost two years since the release of EndBASIC 0.11. Fear not, though, for the development hasn’t stopped since then!

If you paid attention last year, you may have seen that I spent the first half of 2025 building the EndBOX and modernizing the website. However, these efforts didn’t come with a corresponding formal release and it’s about time to fix that.

The 0.12 release marks the end of an era. No, EndBASIC is not going anywhere just yet (although I have some thoughts to share on that). No, this release is the last one based on the compiler and symbol-based virtual machine that have existed and slowly evolved since 0.1. I’ve spent all of 2026 to date rebuilding these components from the ground up in what I’ve called core2 and, before I publish those, I want to have a “clean last cut” release of the old platform based on core.

EndBOX DIY kit now available

About a month ago, I officially unveiled the EndBOX: a retro-style micro-computer designed to run the EndBOX OS. And what is the EndBOX OS, you ask? It’s a small NetBSD system engineered to launch you into an EndBASIC interpreter as fast as possible.

Today, I’m excited to announce the DIY guide to build your very own EndBOX and the first official disk images of the EndBOX OS!

Weekly progress reports

Hello EndBASIC followers, and a warm welcome to everyone who joined us after the EndBOX unveiling!

A big part of the previous announcement, which might have seemed premature since the EndBOX isn’t actually available yet, was to gauge interest in the project and determine whether building the EndBOX for public use is worthwhile. The response so far has been mixed: there has been significant news coverage, which tells me people are curious and excited to explore it, but conversions haven’t quite matched that enthusiasm enough to justify actually building the box… yet.

So, let’s spice things up a little by launching the first perk promised in the Buy Me A Coffee sponsorship tiers:

Weekly progress reports—exclusive to supporters!

Unveiling the EndBOX

Remember when turning a computer on meant instantly jumping into code? No bloat, no distractions—just you and a prompt? That’s the experience I’ve been working to bring back with the EndBOX: a small, resilient, nostalgia-packed, all-screen computer that boots straight into the retro-inspired EndBASIC environment you already know.

And today, six months after its inception, I’m excited to formally show you the first working prototypes—though they are still rough and need refinement. Let’s dive into the goals for the EndBOX and what it could become with your help.

New online projects gallery

Back in 2021, the distinguishing feature of the then-current EndBASIC 0.7 release was that it was “cloud-ready”: I created a file-sharing service and integrated it with EndBASIC so that you all had a mechanism to publish your creations with others.

It then took the arrival of EndBASIC 0.9, which wasn’t released until a year later, to have the ability to automatically launch shared projects via an specially-crafted URL. But even with that feature, projects written and shared from within EndBASIC were stuck in a pretty obscure garden. Nobody was able to discover them unless they signed up for an EndBASIC account and used the command line interface to inspect the cloud, or unless you explicitly shared those URLs somehow. A… very tall order.

The situation changes today as I have modified the Gallery section of the EndBASIC website to display a dynamic view of projects. Visit it now to have some fun or read on for more details on how this unfolded!