I was able to get one of the Commander X16 early Development Boards (one of the last ones, #108) over the summer. It has been a lot of fun right out of the box!
For development on the system:
BASLOAD is a version of BASIC that doesn't require line numbers. It is not quite like QuickBASIC, but it does also allow symbolic GOTOs. BASLOAD combined with X16EDIT has made on-system development a lot easier and fun.
Prog8 is another programming environment available to the Commander X16, along with support by cc65.
And of course the VERA FX updates has shown that system is very viable for real on-system 3D effects (including shading and lighting). You can see some of those results in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n_4kE2SPt0The X16 Discord community is active and we continue to add more PRG software free for download at the X16 Forum Download section.
The next round of X16 hardware pre-order is now up! 1000 units have been allocated for production at a Richardson, Texas facility (making it an "Assembled in USA" system!).
We'll be shoring up documentation and sample programs between now and when the pre-orders are scheduled to begin delivery next February!
Link to the pre-order is here:
https://texelec.com/2023/10/01/pre-orde ... ition-now/