Chromebooks can run decimal BASIC when Linux is enabled.
See Chromebook Help Setting up Linux on a Chromebook
https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9145439?hl=en
There are two types of Chromebook CPUs: Intel and ARM.
Intel type ... Intel, AMD
ARM type... QualComm (Snapdragon), MediaTek, Rockchip, etc.
To find out the CPU type, In the address field of your Chrome browser, type chrome://system and look for cpuinfo, and click expand... .
For Intel systems
BASIC8154En_Linux64_Qt5.tar.xz
For ARM systems
BASIC0934En_Linux_ARM64_Qt5.tar.xz
Please download and copy it to your Linux files folder. ( If you don't know the CPU type, try both.)
Also download the program for launcher registration Qt5LaunchEn.bas (right click and save as), copy it to your Linux files folder.
Select the Linix file folder and right-click to launch Terminal and extract the archive file.
tar Jxfv BASIC0934En_Linux64_Qt5.tar.xz
or,
tar Jxfv BASIC0934En_Linux_ARM64_Qt5.tar.xz
(J in Jxfv uppercase)
Note. You can probably enter it by copying and pasting. Once pasted into the terminal, press the right arrow key, then press the enter key.
<Supplements>
Extracting from ChromeOS disables basic execution privileges.
In that case, start Terminal in the destination folder (the folder where basic is located), type
sudo chmod 775 basic
and grant execution privileges.
At the terminal, do
sudo apt install libqt5pas1
Right-click the destination folder (the folder where basic is located) and launch "Terminal". Enter the command
./basic --platform xcb -NI
and BASIC will start.
Register for Chromebook Launcher
Load Qt5LaunchEn.bas from the BASIC file menu and select "Run" from Run menu.
When "Finished" is displayed, exit BASIC.
If "Decimal BASIC" does not appear in the launcher's "Linux apps", please log out or restart.
The installation is now complete.
Execution
Click "Decimal BASIC" in "Linux Apps" in the launcher to start BASIC.
After the program runs, when windows such as text output, graphics output, etc. are not displayed, they may be hidden inside the penguin icon.
![]()
You can manually shift the positions, but switching windows using the penguin mark icon may be the correct way to use your Chromebook.
Whenever a window first appears, it is always centered.
There are also problems where the window specified to be displayed on the front side is hidden behind, or the window specified to not be minimized can be minimized.
When debugging, be careful not to click the border icon in the debugging window (it will be hidden behind the penguin icon when minimized). Please note that the debug window will be newly displayed each time you proceed with debugging, so it will always be displayed again in the center.
Setting Options
If you want to permanently change option settings, please start without -NI in the terminal.
Known glitch
Help files will not be shown on clicking HELP button. You can display it by double-clicking BASICHelp.html, or see:
Decimal BASIC web help
although the specifications are slightly different.
Troubleshooting
When starting up, the window may become violent due to the inability to recover the window position recorded at the last exit.
When starting from a terminal, you can enter Ctrl-C into the terminal to exit basic.
Then, under "Files" in ChromeOS, check "Show hidden files" in the ⠇ menu and remove .basic.ini from "Linux files".
If basic is successfully started, the same applies even if you select Option Settings − Initialization from the Options menu.
From then on, start with ./basic -NI or ./basic --platform xcb -NI
Troubleshooting
In the GTK2 version, pasting may not work. This is a ChromeOS glitch.
If you cannot fix it by updating ChromeOS, please refer to this page and replace it with the Qt5 version.