magiblot/tvision

Turbo Vision is a framework for building text-based user interfaces that runs on modern cross-platform systems with full Unicode support.

The original Turbo Vision was a DOS-era framework for terminal applications. This project solves the problem of using that proven, battle-tested design on contemporary systems by porting it to Unix, Linux, and modern Windows while maintaining source-level compatibility with legacy applications. The approach preserves the original architecture and API while adding Unicode support integrated into the existing design, rather than attempting a major rewrite that would break compatibility.

Developers should choose this tool if they are maintaining or extending existing Turbo Vision applications and want them to run on modern platforms without rewriting. It suits projects that need a complete widget toolkit for terminal interfaces—including windows, menus, dialogs, buttons, input fields, and scroll bars—without the burden of handling terminal capability differences across environments. The framework abstracts away platform-specific terminal I/O concerns, so developers focus on application behavior rather than terminal workarounds. This is particularly valuable for applications that must produce consistent results across Linux consoles, Windows terminals, and other environments.

The project began as a personal effort in late 2018 and reached feature parity with the original by mid-2020, at which point it was made open. Development continued through 2020 with the addition of full Unicode support and a new text editor demonstrating the capabilities. The maintainer has explicitly stated that the original goals have been achieved and that further improvements would require either API extensions or breaking backward compatibility, indicating a mature, stable codebase focused on maintaining compatibility rather than pursuing aggressive feature expansion.