Pete's QBASIC Site

Re: qbasic won't start

2019-10-17T23:48:38-05:00

Well if the poster returns, what I suggest is to download Qbasic from the internet and put it in its own folder then download DosBox. then run DosBox and run Qbasic from within it.

Statistics: Posted by mikefromca — Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:48 pm

Re: qbasic won't start

2018-11-29T22:52:52-05:00

NTVDM no longer works on Windows 10 32 bit...will never work on 64 bit Windows without DOSbox or something similar.

Poster apparently has never returned...

Statistics: Posted by burger2227 — Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:52 pm

Re: qbasic won't start

2018-11-28T19:49:53-05:00

Charlie, for starters, Welcome to the forums. And welcome back to QBasic.

If you're having trouble with something simple, there may be a simple solution. However, if we are to figure it out, we'll need to know what you know. Are you running a Windows OS? If so, which one (as QB runs different on different versions). Also, have you tried using DOS Box (https://www.dosbox.com/) or another DOS emulator? If not, you may wish to try; it'll help us with a starting point that's familiar to *everyone*. (I have to run DOSBox for the various options it supplies.)

Second, are you just double clicking an icon on your desktop or in the start menu? (Again, assuming you're running WinOS.) You may need to fiddle with some options. I think I remember a qbasic release for a WinOS that did that, providing the program in a start menu, but loading a game to run instead of just running the IDE fresh. Come to think of it, I may have made a few links in my day to load qb games faster.

Third, are you sure you're running QBasic and not VBasic? or FreeBasic? or QB64? I know exactly how QBX works, and ALT+F5 ain't it. It's SHIFT+F5 to run the loaded program. I would posit something else is going on that we can't see that you aren't quite catching either.

I would suggest checking out DOSBox with the above link and copy your qb into a familiar folder to access it through the DB command line. You remember DIR and CD, right? Easy stuff. Good luck, and hope you had a happy T-Day.

Statistics: Posted by nikomaru — Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:49 pm

Re: qbasic won't start

2018-11-12T10:42:27-05:00

What are you running it on?

What is the QB EXE file name?

Statistics: Posted by burger2227 — Mon Nov 12, 2018 10:42 am

Re: qbasic won't start

2018-11-08T10:39:37-05:00

Addendum: clicking on the screen apparently activates the program, and the keyboard works. The program is called 'nibbles'. And pressing Alt f x doesn't stop the program; it's necessary to quit qbasic and restart. >Charlie

Statistics: Posted by CharlieWorton — Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:39 am

qbasic won't start

2018-11-08T10:26:09-05:00

Hi - brand new user to qbasic, not having any success. At all.

When I run Qbasic, it opens with a long program - I think it's called snakes, or something. Instructions say to press Alt/F5 to run it; when I do, I get nothing. When I click on the compile/run button in the upper left, the program runs, and presents me with an opening screen; it invites me to press any key to start. Well, that doesn't work; no key moves me beyond that screen. The only way to get out of that screen is to shut the program down, and restart qbasic. It appears that qbasic isn't recognizing my wireless logitech keyboard, although it sees the companion mouse. The keyboard works for every other app - I'm using it to type this.

So, I deleted the program listing, and gave it something simple:
Print "hello world" (Note that the text editor recognized my keyboard)
...and, I got Error at 1:1: Call to undefined sub "print"
So I tried something even simpler:
Rem This is a test
...and, I got a pile of at least 11 pretty cryptic error messages. They filled the screen from top to bottom, I couldn't find a way to scroll the screen, and I couldn't highlight and copy the text to paste it here.

Man. The whole reason I chose BASIC was that I wanted a language I had some familiarity with. But this sure isn't QBasic from the DOS days.

So: I'd like to know how I can start QBasic without that stupidly long snakes program. Just a blank text screen.
And, I guess that if I can't make really simple commands like Rem and Print work, I'm gonna need a tutorial. Kwap. Any suggestions?

Thanks - Charlie

Statistics: Posted by CharlieWorton — Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:26 am