{"slug": "turbo-vision", "name": "Turbo Vision", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 10, "warners": 0, "score": 6.174, "rising": -1.96, "first": "2025-11-06", "latest": "2026-04-25", "why": "Every time I use a new TUI framework, I'm disappointed. Invariably, Turbo Vision is better.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Every time I use a new TUI framework, I'm disappointed. Invariably, Turbo Vision is better.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/magiblot/tvision", "official_url": "https://github.com/magiblot/tvision", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Turbo Vision"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 766439584, "item_id": 47902474, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47902474", "by": "FpUser", "date": "2026-04-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I did not use TV directly but I loved the design", "excerpt": "I did not use TV directly but I loved the design so I used basic ideas for my own DOS UI library for Turbo Pascal. It was completely graphical and implemented using built in assembly. In order to save RAM my Window manager would save invisible regions to disk.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 766431584, "item_id": 47901974, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47901974", "by": "electroly", "date": "2026-04-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Every time I use a new TUI framework, I'm disappointed. Invariably, Turbo Vision is better.", "excerpt": "I've done some work with this tvision port as well. Every time I use a new TUI framework, I'm disappointed. Invariably, Turbo Vision is better. I'm actually working on my own .NET wrapper, too. I don't think I'm as far as you, though. I'm mimicking the Windows Forms API as closely as possible and I want to have a drag-and-drop TUI designer. Some examples of my wrapper: https://github.com/brianluft/terminalforms/tree/", "context": "", "use_case": "TUI framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 766381952, "item_id": 47898872, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898872", "by": "lepicz", "date": "2026-04-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the author did very good job modernizing the library and i love it.", "excerpt": "it is still very well usable - i used TV 2.0 year ago to do some prototype. i wanted (and succeeded) to create turbovision front end for LLDB debugger... you know, that would behave like Borland's Turbo Debugger. few quick notes: - blimey it was like it where i left it 199x :) you can even compile/run code from 1993 without major issues. - there's even a better internal TV editor based on scintilla, so with syntax hi", "context": "", "use_case": "TUI frontend for LLDB", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 756368529, "item_id": 47273033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273033", "by": "roryirvine", "date": "2026-03-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm with you on the Turbo Vision love, though.", "excerpt": "Yep, pretty much. This website is a bit too hyperactive for my taste, and I can't imagine how they hope to make enough money from it to satisfy the VCs. But Bubbletea really is a great TUI and it's properly open source - so I'm happy to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm with you on the Turbo Vision love, though. Honestly, it felt we were getting to such a good place in the early/mid 90s with beautiful, well-thought-out TU", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next generations of Bubble Tea, Lip Gloss, and Bubbles are available now"}, {"id": 741354384, "item_id": 46334649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46334649", "by": "danparsonson", "date": "2025-12-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love that whole aesthetic; the best of the DOS days IMO.", "excerpt": "Yeah what a joyful blast from the past! I love that whole aesthetic; the best of the DOS days IMO.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A terminal emulator that runs in your terminal. Powered by Turbo Vision"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["tui framework", "tui frontend for lldb", "text-mode ui framework", "text-mode application framework", "terminal ui library"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898597", "title": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46301847", "title": "A terminal emulator that runs in your terminal. Powered by Turbo Vision", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47268662", "title": "The next generations of Bubble Tea, Lip Gloss, and Bubbles are available now", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47088181", "title": "I found a useful Git one liner buried in leaked CIA developer docs", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46897281", "title": "Ask HN: How was enterprise software developed in 1980s?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45830829", "title": "Ratatui \u2013 App Showcase", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 766439584, "item_id": 47902474, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47902474", "by": "FpUser", "date": "2026-04-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I did not use TV directly but I loved the design", "excerpt": "I did not use TV directly but I loved the design so I used basic ideas for my own DOS UI library for Turbo Pascal. It was completely graphical and implemented using built in assembly. In order to save RAM my Window manager would save invisible regions to disk.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 766431584, "item_id": 47901974, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47901974", "by": "electroly", "date": "2026-04-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Every time I use a new TUI framework, I'm disappointed. Invariably, Turbo Vision is better.", "excerpt": "I've done some work with this tvision port as well. Every time I use a new TUI framework, I'm disappointed. Invariably, Turbo Vision is better. I'm actually working on my own .NET wrapper, too. I don't think I'm as far as you, though. I'm mimicking the Windows Forms API as closely as possible and I want to have a drag-and-drop TUI designer. Some examples of my wrapper: https://github.com/brianluft/terminalforms/tree/", "context": "", "use_case": "TUI framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 766401985, "item_id": 47900124, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47900124", "by": "badsectoracula", "date": "2026-04-25", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the best way to learn Free Vision is to read Turbo Vision docs/tutorials/books", "excerpt": "IIRC Borland released the C++ version specifically as PD later on their FTP server, it isn't based on the version from Turbo C++ physical releases. The history is (very briefly) mentioned in the Free Vision wiki page at the FPC wiki[0] (note that the wiki needs cleanup, e.g. it mentions 64bit clean support as a todo item but FV has been 64bit clean for a very long time now). It also mentions that somewhere between th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 766381952, "item_id": 47898872, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898872", "by": "lepicz", "date": "2026-04-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the author did very good job modernizing the library and i love it.", "excerpt": "it is still very well usable - i used TV 2.0 year ago to do some prototype. i wanted (and succeeded) to create turbovision front end for LLDB debugger... you know, that would behave like Borland's Turbo Debugger. few quick notes: - blimey it was like it where i left it 199x :) you can even compile/run code from 1993 without major issues. - there's even a better internal TV editor based on scintilla, so with syntax hi", "context": "", "use_case": "TUI frontend for LLDB", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turbo Vision 2.0 \u2013 a modern port"}, {"id": 756368529, "item_id": 47273033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47273033", "by": "roryirvine", "date": "2026-03-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm with you on the Turbo Vision love, though.", "excerpt": "Yep, pretty much. This website is a bit too hyperactive for my taste, and I can't imagine how they hope to make enough money from it to satisfy the VCs. But Bubbletea really is a great TUI and it's properly open source - so I'm happy to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm with you on the Turbo Vision love, though. Honestly, it felt we were getting to such a good place in the early/mid 90s with beautiful, well-thought-out TU", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next generations of Bubble Tea, Lip Gloss, and Bubbles are available now"}, {"id": 753442048, "item_id": 47090128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47090128", "by": "snozolli", "date": "2026-02-20", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Turbo Vision (their OOP UI framework)", "excerpt": "As someone who came up using Borland's Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, and Turbo Vision (their OOP UI framework), it was called CUI (character-based user interface) to distinguish from GUI, which became relevant as Windows became dominant. I never heard \"TUI\" until the last few years, but it may be due to my background being Microsoft-oriented. One of the only references I can find is the PC Magazine encyclopedia: https://www", "context": "", "use_case": "Text-mode UI framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "I found a useful Git one liner buried in leaked CIA developer docs"}, {"id": 750367569, "item_id": 46897973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46897973", "by": "joaquinbernal", "date": "2026-02-05", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Turbo Vision was the framework under many applications", "excerpt": "Agreed: Borland was at its peak, and Turbo Pascal or Turbo C/C++ were used all the time. Turbo Vision was the framework under many applications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Vision Also, Clipper was very popular at that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_(programming_language)", "context": "", "use_case": "text-mode application framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How was enterprise software developed in 1980s?"}, {"id": 741354384, "item_id": 46334649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46334649", "by": "danparsonson", "date": "2025-12-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love that whole aesthetic; the best of the DOS days IMO.", "excerpt": "Yeah what a joyful blast from the past! I love that whole aesthetic; the best of the DOS days IMO.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A terminal emulator that runs in your terminal. Powered by Turbo Vision"}, {"id": 741353680, "item_id": 46334605, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46334605", "by": "vintagedave", "date": "2025-12-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Who knew Turbo Vision was still being used \u2014 much less updated, Unicode, cross platform, 24-bit color?", "excerpt": "Who knew Turbo Vision was still being used \u2014 much less updated, Unicode, cross platform, 24-bit color? I\u2019ve been struggling around issues in .Net Terminal.GUI v2 recently and it really made me miss the OG solid terminal UI library. Silly thing is back when this was a thing I didn\u2019t even use it at the time. I found this repo linked: https://github.com/magiblot/tvision", "context": "", "use_case": "Terminal UI library", "switched_from": "", "story": "A terminal emulator that runs in your terminal. Powered by Turbo Vision"}, {"id": 733369745, "item_id": 45835609, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45835609", "by": "nobleach", "date": "2025-11-06", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I only wish I had gotten into Turbo Vision.", "excerpt": "CA Clipper database stuff was my jam! I only wish I had gotten into Turbo Vision. I used to watch my users fly through db apps filling out forms, hititng TAB between fields. There was just something so natural about it. The first app we ported to a web-based solution was really painful to watch.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ratatui \u2013 App Showcase"}]}