I know what you mean - for a programming learning device then a near instant boot into a programming language style run time (and wow Basic was great for that -

I know what you mean - for a programming learning device then a near instant boot into a programming language style run time (and wow Basic was great for that - I cut my teeth on a DEC PDP 11-70 running RSTSE and the terminal started with the Basic "Ready" prompt) is just about perfect. Coherent, succinct and ready to go. But there are other things to be learned as well - hence my interest at the OS level.