PowerBasic - will it recover or is the Air out?

Theo Gottwald · December 15, 2012, 08:15:27 AM

Powerbasic was known for its reliability in the past.

Kev Peel · December 15, 2012, 09:28:00 AM

Hi folks,

I have this horrible vision that the server is located in someones basement and gets shut off at bed time

This yo-yoing is extremely negative for PowerBASIC's reputation, of which a large part is the user community on the forum. If the forum is offline then this will give hundreds of potential new users a bad impression. Not to mention the existing community as we see here. We expect these things (server down,lack of info) of the numerous tinpot languages out there, not PB.

I was very sad to hear of Bob passing away, I communicated with him by email many times over the years and always got a professional response. As some on here know I have been an avid PB user since age 15, dropping VB6 in favour of it in 1999. I expect Bob would never had let something like this happen and it's a great shame.

Unfortunately PB was written in very well coded assembly language which would be hard for 99.9% of any modern programmer to maintain, at least to a good standard. I hope they find a good, skilled team to take it on, or even an investor/buyer to guarantee a future for this language. Turbo Basic was BIG in the 80s, many serious apps were written with it, and it is a tribute to the language that it's still going strong in the 2010s (30 years), so it would be such a loss for it to end now.

I personally have a bridge between PB and MSVC, working with both, so it would not harm me as much as others here if there were no new developments with PB. Even so, a compiler runs forever so I will always have it at hand on my desktop even if the worst happens and we get no more updates. I recommend you do the same -- this would be the ultimate tribute to Bob in my opinion.

Whew! thanks for reading.

Eros Olmi · December 15, 2012, 11:10:37 AM

If it is true that PB is developed using ASM language, why they didn't switched to PB to develop PB?
PB developed using PB would have been a logical move

Theo Gottwald · December 15, 2012, 12:24:48 PM

We are UP again (15-12-12/ 12:24 MEZ)

Frederick J. Harris · December 15, 2012, 08:44:02 PM

Quote
Even so, a compiler runs forever so I will always have it at hand on my desktop even if the worst happens and we get no more updates. I recommend you do the same -- this would be the ultimate tribute to Bob in my opinion.

Yes, that's a done deal for me Kev (good to hear from you too!).

Chris Holbrook · December 16, 2012, 08:38:40 AM

We are DOWN at 07:37 GMT
That's 02:37 EST

Eros Olmi · December 16, 2012, 09:04:59 AM

The last exiting from the office ... switch off the light and ... switch off the server

Theo Gottwald · December 16, 2012, 09:30:24 AM

Thats just what i thought now, Eros.
16-12-12 09:28 we are down again.
I suggest that if we are up again that you get this Tool from Garry to download the forum to your local computer.
Slowly i get the strange Idea, that they are afraid that peple write things and nobody can check it.
So if the office is empty they shut down the server?
No its not possible

Patrice Terrier · December 16, 2012, 10:06:07 AM

French: Lamentable.
English: Pathetic.

...

James C. Fuller · December 16, 2012, 11:20:07 AM

Quote from: Eros Olmi on December 15, 2012, 11:10:37 AM
If it is true that PB is developed using ASM language, why they didn't switched to PB to develop PB?
PB developed using PB would have been a logical move

It IS developed in ASM but I suspect the sheer size of the source would prohibit a move to PB.

I did suggest (In an email to Bob - with no response ) to investigate JWasm. I assumed it would be easier to do a TASM -> JWasm translation than TASM -> "c" which would be needed for cross platform versions. JWasm is 100% masm compatible with versions for both Windows and Linux supporting 32/64.

James

Chris Holbrook · December 16, 2012, 11:25:42 AM

http://beprepareduniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/bioelectrical_power_pedal_power_generator_human_power.jpg

The lady needs to rest...

Theo Gottwald · December 16, 2012, 11:39:44 AM

This is from the Firefly Forum:

QuoteI called PB today and talked to Jim Bailey. He confirmed that Tom Hanlin is one of their
off site programmers. Jim said all the staff is off for an early Christmas Holiday. He's the
only one in the office today. Said they had moved the website to their in house servers
and have been having some issues with their ISP. He believes the issues have been resolved.
Over the holidays PB may be a little slow in responding to emails and questions left on the
forum as he is the only one in the office but asked for patience during this transition period.

http://www.planetsquires.com/protect/forum/index.php?topic=3234.msg23789;topicseen#msg23789

Carlo Pagani · December 16, 2012, 11:57:24 AM

I'm sorry, but this is THE time where everyone should be cancelling their leave and showing the metal required. The amount of up and down is not a good reflection, even here in Africa it is frowned on

As I said in an earlier post, the time to provide bug fixes to PB 10 will be an indication of future possibilities. For me however, this is a BIG wake up call.

Theo Gottwald · December 16, 2012, 12:33:56 PM

Today I have asked Jose if he could not Team up with Hutch, Paul Dixon and Dominic etc. and make a PB compatible compiler, that the PB Syntax would survive.

His answer was very short and did not make me much hope for now.

He gave me a hint that he plans to enjoy the coming years and that he does not plan to sit in front of the computer as long as until now.
With the result that only a few people will even recognize the difference between his work and the other stuff out there that is lower quality and less in quantity.

I would like the PB Syntax to survive and get extended, but how can it be done, does anybody have a Plan B?

Eric Pearson · December 16, 2012, 01:14:20 PM

I'm just not getting why everybody is so negative. We are operating on virtually null data here, and IMO people's fears are getting the better of them. Recruiting people to create a replacement compiler? Really?

Gentlemen, haven't you ever had the rug pulled out from under you by an unexpected death or sudden event? Besides this one, I mean. When you got up one morning and everything was different? How long did it take you to put things back together?

Bob died on November 6. Today is December 16. Unless I'm mistaken, Vivian is in her seventies and has a medical history, as they say. PowerBASIC is a relatively small company, just a few employees. Their job is probably just to keep PB on the rails, not keep their online fans posted as their plans evolve.

If was running PB, Inc. right now I would not want to start a communication with the forum regulars until I had all the details in place. An investor, a new staff member, a plausible game plan, whatever. Seriously, I would turn off the forums during the hours when I could not monitor them in real time. Just to keep a lid on comments and fear-based speculation like I see here. And I'd make sure that my staff could take a break for the holidays, after the death of somebody so close. The fate of the world is not at stake.

I have to say that I'm disappointed in some of you.

-- Eric