Download help needed

[grampa]

Hi. I just discovered this board. I'm a retired engineer who, while working, programmed many Fortran-based number crunching routines. On retiring some years ago, my first PC supported Qbasic in DOS (that was in Windows 3.1 days), so I rewrote some routines I was still using in retirement. I recently bought a new computer using Windows XP which, as purchased, does not support Qbasic. Can anyone suggest any sites where I can download (free, hopefully) Qbasic with whatever interpreters or compilers the current version comes with? Thanks.
Grampa

[Mikrondel]

"I recently bought a new computer using Windows XP which, as purchased, does not support Qbasic."

Windows XP does support QBasic. It may not do so as well as we would like, but anything not requiring fancy graphics, sound, or other hardwarey stuff is almost certain to work. Most graphics work fine as well.

The thing is, QBasic is an editor/interpreter for DOS. (QuickBasic is an editor/interpreter/compiler for DOS.) Windows XP has decent enough support for DOS applications; it runs them in an environment called NTVDM (NT Virtual DOS Machine), which essentially pretends to be a computer running DOS and behaves more or less as DOS would. As I said, not perfect, but number crunching will certainly run fine.

Therefore Windows XP supports QBasic.

You can also run DOS programs in other OS or PC emulators such as DOSBox, which may have better support for graphics or sound. (These are good for DOS games that use advanced sound or graphic techniques.)


Now, Windows XP does not come with QBasic. But as it's freeware anyway, it's easy and legal to download it. However, most people would like a compiler as well (Usually QuickBasic 4.5 or 7.1), and although this is technically illegal, they are not being produced or sold anymore and I have never heard of anyone getting into trouble.

You may acquire the three most popular ones here:

www.brisray.com/qbasic/qdload.htm


There is no "current version" of QBasic. The last version produced was QuickBasic 7.1 in about 1990, also called QBX or PDS (Professional Development System). That was 'succeeded' by Visual Basic (which I personally avoid). However there are lots of other BASIC flavours out there, I would highly recommend FreeBasic. It's free, compiles for Windows, Linux and DOS (and allows you to use GUI elements), but still supports most QB code (with a bit of tweaking often necessary).


Now, an occasional common problem with NTVDM is that C:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt goes missing for I don't know what reason (and you get a 16-bit subsystem error or some such). Usually a spare copy is available from C:\windows\repair; you just need to copy it across.


Now if you're the type who loves to fiddle with computers (You're an engineer, so I'll assume you do) I recommend having a look at Linux. It's free and open source, and it's a terrific operating system. You can make bootable Linux CDs if you haven't got a spare computer or partition (bootable floppies, too! Although they will clearly be somewhat restricted - nonetheless I have a Linux distribution with an HTTP, FTP, and many more servers on a single floppy) although I find it most gratifying to find an old PC and fiddle with cards and make it all work, and then make it do stuff...


I'll finish here, but there's a lot more I could say... if you're curious about things (in particular C, Linux, or BASIC) I'd be happy to share my knowledge and assistance.

[grampa]

Mikrondel
Thanks for your rapid and informative response. You are far more conversant with different OS's and architectures than I, so I won't even try to work in the NTVDM environment you mention. I'll try the downloading site you mentioned after this holiday weekend.
Grampa

[Mikrondel]

One thing to add:

The NTVDM is simply the way in which Windows NT/2000/XP caters to DOS programs. It is automatically started whenever you try to launch any DOS program from Windows, and closes when the program exits. You'll hardly notice it unless you open the Task Manager.

It's a detail that you don't really need to be aware of to run QBasic/QuickBasic in Windows; although I find it interesting and it answers certain questions.

Have a good holiday weekend.