How to run QBasic on Windows 7 and forward

[terryZ]

i recently came across this site: http://www.qb64.net

to quote it's wiki page: "QB64 is a modern version of the Basic programming language that allows programs created using Quick Basic 4.5 or Qbasic to run on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, Linux and Mac OSX. It will work on 32 or 64 bit machines ..."

i have been using it since the beginning of january for a few legacy QBasic programs/systems here and have not had problems at all. well, one minor printing format problem but that's it! i'm using it on two window 7 machines (here at work). i tested it on a windows 10 machine here and it works perfectly!

there is also a program (DavsIDE) that makes editing and compiling very easy: http://www.qbasicnews.com/dav/projects.php#DAVSIDE

"Alternative IDE for the QB64 compiler. You can write, edit, print, compile & run QB64 programs from within it. Displays Extended ASCII characters. Does Syntax highlighting, Autocompletion, Autocases keywords, autoindents lines like QB does. User defined IDE colors. Loads files fast. Built-in syntax HELP for all keywords. "

i'm staring windows 10 upgrade in the face knowing that my virtual xp maching that i use to run my old basic programs will not be available. these two sites are a god-send to me.

just posting in case any other people out there are in the same situation.

[jdc2000]

Thanks for the info. I may have some uses for that.

[Train]

Basic was easier than Fortran to deal with for the same answers.
1984 that was.

[terryZ]

one of the qbasic programs i have deals with a binary file database which, at the moment, contains over 25,000 records each 1,000 characters long. one of the things it does is print a record determined by the user and then a "history" of other records related to this chosen one. when running as xpvm, there was no problem. when running qb64 i had " ... one minor printing format problem ... " as mentioned in my OP. the problem was that it would print some of this history and then form feed. rinse and repeat.

also, this particular process was much slower than the xpvm system. it never occurred to me that the slower processing was causing the form feeding but it was - indirectly.

after much angst over the only 2 dozen or so lines of code where this occurrs, i started googling.

what i came to realize is that my printer (hp p2035 laser) sorta "times out" if nothing is sent to it for a while and then form feeds. this was the problem! the xpvm version of the program ran so fast that this "time out" was never reached. the slower qb64 version allowed "dead time" to occur between LPRINTs and so produced the intermittent form feeds.

my solution was to write the "output" to a temp file and the re-read (LINE INPUT) that file and LPRINT it all at once. it works perfectly now!

i hope this gives a heads-up to anyone experiencing this problem.

[jdc2000]

Thanks for the updated info. That particular issue is just one reason why I am not fond of HP printers.

How long a delay are you getting when running the program using qb64, and how old/slow or fast/new is the computer you are using to run it?

[terryZ]

i'm running on a dell optiplex 360. going on 6 years old.

the "timeout and print" business i discovered on a discussion of kyocera printers. i then assumed all printers did this. i discovered at least the hp i have does.

overall, the qb64 versions run around half as fast as the xpvm versions.

when writtten, i did not take into account that the database that this particular programs deals with would get to 25,000 records! i've added some code into it so that it only looks at records less than 5 years old. much better time. and if we need to go back further, it's easy to remove that code.

[jdc2000]

If you are running Windows 7 on that OptiPlex 360, you should have at least 4 GB of RAM installed. Even then, it will be slow, and since the qb64 introduces overhead that was not present on systems with the original QBasic, that would explain the slower speed. Sending the report to a temp or a text file something I usually do anyway.

25,000 records is a lot for a QBasic program to handle. A VB6 or a VB.Net version of the program would probably run faster, even with the extra overhead those systems introduce.

You should easily be able to simply add a run-time option question to the report to exclude the old records.

[Train]

4 GB is the upper limit.
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compat...l/optiplex-360

And you may want to look at replacing the hdd with a SSD.

My Dell Optiplex 755 with Win 10 Pro runs just fine with a SSD and 2 GB of ram.
Win 7 is on a hdd and is bunchs slower.

[jdc2000]

I use an OptiPlex 760 at one location. It has 4 GB of RAM, which was slow but acceptable with IE8 and IE9, but has to be rebooted every few hours with IE11. It will soon have 8 GB of RAM (maximum capacity). Even then, I expect it to be slower than a new system would be.

[Train]

Yes, it will slower, But, then I never use IE. But read and write to the SSD sure makes a nice difference.

[terryZ]

thanks, jdc.

Even then, it will be slow, and since the qb64 introduces overhead that was not present on systems with the original QBasic, that would explain the slower speed.

ah ... that explains it then.

You should easily be able to simply add a run-time option question to the report to exclude the old records.

already did. on the reports, letters, etc that it generates, i set a limit of 3 years back. for the more extensive search functions, i added a question as to how many years back to search.

i'm still thrilled i found this qb64. train knows first hand what hoops we had to jump through to get this working in the virtual xp!

[bkar]

Terryz, Others: I did not really follow all the discussion here (way over my head) but I think you may be able to help me.

I am running a Dell desktop with Windows 10 and I would like to load QBASIC to it. Can you suggest a good site to download from. one that will not saddle me with unwanted tool bars, etc.? Thanks. ... bkar

[bkar]

FWIW, I use Chrome as my browser. .... bkar

[jdc2000]

The link in the first post in this thread should be the place to get qb64. You can always scan the downloaded file to chack for any malware before installing.

[bkar]

jdc2000: Thanks much. I've started the d/l and installation process. really appreciate the help I get here. ... bkar