Does NG really work?

Started by ms62, September 29, 2017, 00:18:28

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ms62

Ok, it seems something good is going on!

Is NG BlitzMax 64-bit?

Can I install 32-bit module in it?

Can I use xors3D, wxWidget, sqlite3? How about old stuff, maxgui?

If you guys guide me, I will move my works from BlitzMax (hobbies, I am retired) to the NG version.

RonTek

Quote from: ms62 on September 29, 2017, 00:18:28
Ok, it seems something good is going on!

Is NG BlitzMax 64-bit?

Can I install 32-bit module in it?

Can I use xors3D, wxWidget, sqlite3? How about old stuff, maxgui?

If you guys guide me, I will move my works from BlitzMax (hobbies, I am retired) to the NG version.

I'm not sure for the later versions but it does work, as long as you make some tweaks to make it NG compatible. You can check out the github issues for some porting problems and solutions.

MaxGUI I think works, and still failed to run any 3D mods if I can recall. Good Luck!

markcwm

Like RonTek says, you may need to make a 32-bit module 64-bit compatible. This is easy if it's not a wrapper, just use Long for pointers instead of Int and it should work fine. If it's a wrapper it's harder but basically you also just account for Long's 8-byte alignment instead of Int's 4-byte.

You should be able to use Bmx NG 32-bit without any changes to your Bmx legacy code. In NG, make sure to always build with the -w Overload warning option. All Bah Maxmods should work in 64-bit (there's a dbsqlite.mod there) and there is a 64-bit MaxGUI on the official Github repos. I doubt Xors3D will work in 64-bit though.

ms62

What?! Too complicated  ::) I am family doctor not specialist  :)

ms62

#4
The sqlite link is actually this:
http://brucey.net/programming/blitz/#bahdatabase
There, there is a link for download which doesn't work. I may have an old copy in one of my archives. 

ms62

#5
It seems NG works in StrictMode and is case sensitive as it complained about one of my include files. So far, it worked with wxWidget and maxgui module. It couldn't compile xors3D. I will work on sqlite later tomorrow.

So, here is my plan to evaluate BlitzMax again:
I will continue my 3D project with xors3D in none NG version - a spaceship simulation.
I will use wxWidget and Sqlite with NG for my league software.
I have a football coaching tool in Java which will convert to BlitzMax NG because I want to use wxWidget.
I have a war game that needs AI, I will continue that with none NG version.

I will report my initial assessment of Sqlite.

TomToad

Last time I tried using NG, I had a problem using MaxGUI with a canvas.  I don't believe it was ever fixed as the issue is still open on github.  Also compiling for Android triggers the security software on my Samsung Galaxy sIII and crashes on AmiDuOS, this is actually known problem with my phone and emulator so not the fault of NG, but it is all I have to test Android software on, making NG useless to me for mobile development. 
Once the MaxGUI canvas bug is fixed, and I finally upgrade my Android device, I'll probably give NG another try.  Right now, I am using B4J to work on a project, I like Monkey 2 a lot, but neither is a replacement for BlitzMax.
------------------------------------------------
8 rabbits equals 1 rabbyte.

Henri

TomToad,

is the canvas bug in Windows enviroment ? What MinGW you are using ?

-Henri
- Got 01100011 problems, but the bit ain't 00000001

sphinx

I had hard times with it compiling my old B+ games ported to BlitzMax nevertheless compiling for mobile platforms!
BlitzMax Vanilla will be sufficient for me to port them to Mac and Linux, for mobile though I will use AGK!
Kind regards,
Maher F. Farag
www.ancientsoft.com
www.osakit.com

ms62

I assume I have to compile database.mod first and then sqlite.mod next. I couldn't compile neither of them in NG and also in the original bmax - I am using Win7 64, I don't like  Win10 yet. After running bmk makemods -a database.mod, I get blank line, also in the related mod folder, I see no library code created.

ms62

Yeah, I think blitzmax is dead. Its installation and using its modules have become complicated. There is an old Brucey installation which some modules work with, there is NG version which is not finished yet and there is the original one in Mark's github which doesn't work with some other modules. Even for Windows, for 2D and 3D, AGK seems to be the best for those who want to use BASIC language.

RonTek

#11
Quote from: ms62 on September 30, 2017, 00:03:29
Yeah, I think blitzmax is dead. Its installation and using its modules have become complicated. There is an old Brucey installation which some modules work with, there is NG version which is not finished yet and there is the original one in Mark's github which doesn't work with some other modules. Even for Windows, for 2D and 3D, AGK seems to be the best for those who want to use BASIC language.

Well technically it is pretty much alive. If you check out here:

https://github.com/bmx-ng/bmx-ng/issues/22

they are already planning for NG 2.0. However, if we'd base it for the amount of users, you do have an argument there, same with Monkey-X. Every good project needs to have a good or even better documentation, not only the generated docs (ie doxygen).

I think NG needs an official site so that every bit of information, including installation will be properly documented, and that is why Brucey started this thread..

https://www.syntaxbomb.com/index.php/topic,64.0.html

If there's a demand for NG and Blitzmax users really wants it, I still see it is very much alive if the owner/maintainer is already willing to take some suggestions.

ms62

RonTek, you may be right. I read the forum related to making a website for NG and left  a comment yesterday. The idea of a web site for NG is dated June 12. Do we have the website now? It is more than three months.

ms62

Multi-platform-ism cannot solve the evil of multi-platform-ity.  ;D

Henri

Hi ms62,

few questions:

1. Have built modules before in bmax ?
2. Is the 'Build modules' option available in MaxIDE or is it greyed out ?
3. Does MaxIDE 'About'-menu show gcc version and if so which version ?

-Henri
- Got 01100011 problems, but the bit ain't 00000001