Windows or Linux

[aurel]

ah yes compiling from source
that is a nightmare for me

[mnrvovrfc]

Fortunately QB64 is one of the "easiest" programs to compile from source. Especially on a popular platform such as Debian or anything based on it, or Fedora/Red Hat family.

Lua is even easier to come up with out of the tarball from the original developers, but the libraries I've seen available for some of the distros...

This morning I got into Debian Bullseye to compile Milky Tracker v1.03. (Music software that emulates the venerable Fasttracker II.) Had to go get "cmake" and a few dependencies actually used by the app that was to be built. The result is a file that could be run from "bash" command line but confuses the desktop processor, the latter thinks the program is a shared library. This was one of my few successful attempts to compile from source.

In the short time I had Ubuntu Studio installed I attempted to run a project which produced several music plug-ins by one author. This was stuff that I found out later it couldn't be used easily. The compilation hung the system because it ran out of memory, and none of my attempts availed to fix it. "Use make -j8 if you run out of memory" was in the instructions but it was useless. Oh well.

[cage]

I use QB64pe on Arch Linux and only have problems when a program it designed to specifically run on Windows.  I really like using the program but sometimes I feel like the preverbable back seat driver since QB64 is geared more towards Windows. However I did use it allot when I was using Windows up until I changed over to Linux. Great work to the development team for all you hard work.

[BSpinoza]

I'm using Linux (Q4OS) since many years. It's very fast and painless on my old Dell vostro 1520 comparing to Windows and also with QB64!

[mnrvovrfc]

I use QB64pe on Arch Linux and only have problems when a program it designed to specifically run on Windows.  I really like using the program but sometimes I feel like the preverbable back seat driver since QB64 is geared more towards Windows. However I did use it allot when I was using Windows up until I changed over to Linux. Great work to the development team for all you hard work.

Boy you took the plunge! You're better than me then, I could do no better than Manjaro. Tried EndeavourOS, had to go online while installing to get the desktop environment I wanted, it's OK but I wanted to avoid the AUR on something not Arch itself.

I think if a program is ported from QB45 or BASIC PDS v7.1, or an early version of Visual Basic or maybe even Freebasic 32-bit then it might be too much in favor of Windows. But writing from scratch in recent time shouldn't matter if the app should be for Windows or for Linux. It's a matter of scrutiny about path names, locations of important files, assuming libraries installed on the system, to use regular expressions instead of BASIC string functions for parsing and more.

[SMcNeill]

I use QB64pe on Arch Linux and only have problems when a program it designed to specifically run on Windows.  I really like using the program but sometimes I feel like the preverbable back seat driver since QB64 is geared more towards Windows. However I did use it allot when I was using Windows up until I changed over to Linux. Great work to the development team for all you hard work.

I'll take the blame for a lot of the non-Windows stuff in the language.  I've always been the type of developer who adds what I personally need into the language.  Unfortunately, I tend to only have Windows PCs and tend to code almost exclusively in Windows.  When I need to sort out how to do something, my first response is to look for a quick and easy way to do what I need via the windows APIs and functions.  When I was writing a Rogue-like game which I wanted to run in the $CONSOLE, I needed to tweak the heck out of QB64 to bring all the extended functionality into the language.  Fellippe was the only guy on the dev team who was working on a Mac, and Luke was the Linux guy...

I ended up doing my thing and working with the windows commands to add functionality for the $CONSOLE (color, locate, inkey$ input, mouseinput, width/height, fonts, ect), but I have no real clue as to what Linux/Mac would need to do the same things.  (Probably the easiest solution would be to just import the ncurses library or such for crossplatform usage, but I'd have to learn it to implement it, so I just stuck to what I know as a windows programmer.)

Which is how we ended up with Linux and Mac taking a backseat in many cases to Windows development.  Luke was going to college and busy with exams and tests and the life of a young fellow.  Fellippe had his family and kids and such things to deal with.  Me?  I'm a retired farmer with nothing but limitless time to put into my hobbies!  I have a bad habit of swapping between my hobbies as the mood takes me -- writing, programming, reading, tv binging, arguing political/social issues on various media -- but when I sit down and start to truly devote time to one of them, I crank out volumes of whatever crap I'm working on at an incredible pace.  In the case of QB64, this ends up with a large blurge of windows-related content suddenly appearing in the language, while the poor Linux and Mac guys are busy with actual life and it causes a backlog of "things that we need to implement to be cross-platform, but haven't gotten around to yet".

Honestly, I just need to bite the bullet and learn more of what's required for Linux/Mac cross-platform compatibility, and start making certain I add those things into the language myself, rather than leaving it to other people -- but life is always so busy!!  A new book to write!  A program which I want to do something which sparked my interest!  There's a new season of Hollywood Strippers just released on the TV!  That latest movie just came out!  One of my favored authors just published a new book!  GAH!! I want to get my website up and going proper!  The dog needs to see the vet again for his checkup!  The doctors claim I need to hurry up and wait to have surgery before I die!

It's always something -- even for a retired mook with nothing that he really has to do!   Who has time to learn cross-compatible commands?  Especially when they're for OSes which you're never going to use yourself?  Especially especially when there's always something out there to try and distract you!  It's enough to make a guy go insan....

BOOBS!!  THAT GIRL IS DANCING TOPLESS ON TV!!  BOOBS!!!!

..Wait...  What was I saying again?  

Must not've been anything important!  At least, not compared to those BOOBS!!

[Pete]

Boobs on Windows? Oh, you're back to working on your old satellite mammogram project again!

Pete

[cage]

mnrvorfc there is nothing wrong with the AUR. It's just a user repository. Think of it as the creators and maintainers of QB64. The programs in that repository are experimental Windows type programs written and maintained by a group or single individual. Eventually they do end up in the Arch Repository. Another plus is that you don't have to compile the programs because the programs contain the script to automatically compile the program for you. Can this possibly lead to malware? It is possible but not probable, but is much less of a problem then downloading a free Windows program and installing it.

Smcneill
I hear you and have been there. I have used basic from the days of the first basic thru VB6. I have written many programs on Windows both for private and commercial. Most of my programs though were database programming. The programs I have written with qb64 were written without using Windows APIs. Yeah it takes a little bit more programming and planning but it will work on any OS. It's just a matter of simulating the API call with universal commands. In any case Qb64pe does what I need it to do how ever would be nice if it source was Windows only to state it so. It's not always the case.

[madscijr]

ah yes compiling from source
that is a nightmare for me

Tell me about it... I tried setting up gcc under Puppy Linux, and ran into all sorts of issues with missing header files and the like. 
Evidently just to get GCC working under Puppy, you need a special developer SFS session, with the right files. 
The problem is, the SFS files are specific to the various Puppy versions and flavors, and finding the ones that match the versions of Puppy I have is not so easy. 
Especially for someone not that comfortable with Linux. 
Eventually when I have the time to really dive into this, I'll give it more effort, but it isn't as simple as compiling a QB64 program!

[SMcNeill]

There's *FINALLY* an ultimate solution to this whole Linux or Windows debate!

Did you guys know there's now a Windows 12 Lite out?? It's a Linux distro!

Windows *or* Linux?? PSSHHH!! Now you can have Win-ux! https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/new...CCwdJ.html