Recent Posts

1

Registration and Rules / Re: Registration to post on forums

« Last post by Chris Boss on October 15, 2025, 08:21:29 AM »

It appears the Powerbasic forums site is down for good. Small chance of coming back, but it has been down for awhile now and no indication of it coming back this time.

While it is possible it may return, I notice that I am getting a lot of visitors to this forum. Most EZGUI users don't post much, since they tend to be able to figure things out easily enough and my old EZGUI 4.0 forums are still up for research material, so not a lot of posts here.

So is there any value in registering on this forum ?

Yes.  EZGUI is still available and is a powerhouse for any PB programmer. Because of Powerbasic being basically defunct, not many new sales of EZGUI (no new PB users), but for any who are at a loss of how to improve their PB apps, EZGUI is a great alternative. It is years ahead of anything in the core PB compiler, when it comes to GUI features. Things like OpenGL 3D, 2D Sprite engine, visual design engine and more.

Just because PB is not longer being sold, does not mean I have stopped my own development and research. PB is viable for many years yet. I am currently doing custom work for a local company.

Check this out:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nipponpulse/posts/?feedView=all&viewAsMember=true

The 10 axis demo machine displayed at this trade show is being run by an app I created which is a low code development tool for the Commander motion control module. The PC displays at the top of the demo are showing screenshots of the app which controls the demo.

I am pushing the limits of Windows app design (using PB and EZGUI 5.0) still.

But my interests in other dev tools has not stopped. I am learning more and more about how to use Windows CoPilot (AI) for deep research. I will be working on learning how to use other programming languages as well (the app I designed which was at the trade show was designed for code generation).

My interests are many, from 3D printing to woodworking CNC's.

I have been kind of busy with the custom software development, but hopefully I can start providing some interesting content on this forum.

If you have any interest in the following, please consider registering on my forums:

• Powerbasic
• WIN32
• 3D printing
• Woodworking CNC
• Other BASIC programming languages, such as Freebasic, Oxygen
• Code porting from PB to other languages

2

Powerbasic / Powerbasic in the future ?

« Last post by Chris Boss on October 07, 2025, 04:48:48 PM »

While it appears the PB website has finally ended (forums last to go), the future of Powerbasic as a language is in question.

That said, I am still regularly using Powerbasic and Windows is likely to support 32 bit apps for at least another 5 to 10 years from what I have been able to gather.

I am in the process of looking for alternate means of coding and to find a solution that provides me with an easy way to port PB code to another language.

3

General Discussion / Re: An article written by Microsoft CoPliot AI (please share if you like it)

« Last post by Chris Boss on July 04, 2025, 08:24:25 AM »

For those who may ask the question: Am I John Doe ?  Here is the answer:

Yes, I am John Doe. This all resulted from a frustrating week trying to diagnose a serious problem with a used car I recently bought. I am DIY mechanic of sorts and the car simply put is a mess right now. Trying to diagnose some problems can be challenging today since the last 15 years cars have gotten far too complex.

I use Google searched a lot and in the past tried ChatGPT but was not impressed with it.

Recently I noticed CoPilot is being updated to most Windows 10 and 11 PC's, so I decided to try it for some computer questions. I liked CoPilot, so currently with the car problems I was dealing with I decided to try out CoPilot rather than used Google searches. Simply put I am amazed with the AI.

It took time to understand how to get the most out of the AI. You can't just pose a question and expect tit o provide the perfect answer. I had to teach it things. I had to provide very detailed explanations about things and then ask lots of questions to force it to think the way I wanted it to think. Once I grasped that part of the equation, I found I could use the AI quite effectively. Don't get me wrong, I don't think AI is all that smart. It is not like science fiction where the computer is really smart and intelligent. It is just a tool.

After working with it for awhile I decided to test it out. I asked it to write an article based on our discussions about trying to fix my car. It had learned things from me as I guided it and when I asked it to write the article it was impressive. I acted like a editor would checking over someone elses writing. I offered suggestions, but did not give it exactly what to say. I would often explain my reasoning and then let the AI decide how to use the suggestions. The John Doe thing was my idea, because I told it that it was best not to use my name in the article so readers would be able to see themselves in the article rather than me. I explained how John Doe means an unknown person (nameless) and then let it decide whether to use the term. Once it understand the meaning of John Doe, it decided that would be a better name to use for the human element of the story. I did not make it do anything. Offered suggestions, explained my reasoning and the told it to make up its own mind.

And this article is what I got. yes, John Doe (me the human element) did guide it. But the contents, wording is 100% done by CoPilot. All I can say is that the AI writes 10 times better than me. I just wish I could write like that.

4

General Discussion / An article written by Microsoft CoPliot AI (please share if you like it)

« Last post by Chris Boss on July 03, 2025, 10:57:11 PM »

Here is an article 100% written by Microsoft CoPilot AI:

https://cwsof.com/blog/an-article-written-by-copilot-ai/

While I may have guided the AI by questions and discussions, the AI wrote the entire article in its own words using its own observations.

Feel free to share this article with others.

What is the point ?

How to work with AI. This was a learning experience for me and I really enjoyed it. I found it amazingly interesting. I have a better grasp of what AI is trully capable of now.

Chris Boss

5

General Discussion / Re: Windows support for WIN32 apps in the future

« Last post by Chris Boss on May 20, 2025, 10:39:36 AM »

Background information about changes over the last few years as far as how Windows would handle WIN32 apps:

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/284380/win32-app-isolation-enters-public-preview

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/314048/windows-11-microsoft-store-can-now-update-more-win32-apps

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/321175/build-2025-microsoft-store-improves-win32-apps-support-and-drops-onboarding-fees-for-individual-developers

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General Discussion / Re: Windows support for WIN32 apps in the future

« Last post by Chris Boss on May 20, 2025, 10:23:03 AM »

I will post more info about this as it appears on the web.

Build 2025 is onging at this moment, so likely more will come out after Build is over.

https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-store-build-2025/

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General Discussion / Re: Windows support for WIN32 apps in the future

« Last post by Chris Boss on May 20, 2025, 10:19:34 AM »

My take on this:

While this is a great new feature for WIN32 developers (ie. Powerbasic apps), it also tells us something about Microsofts attitude towards WIN32 support.

They would not add a feature like this to the Microsoft (Windows) Store if they desired to terminate WIN32 support any time soon. Maybe this is a good indicator of what to expect in Windows 12. As would be very surprised to see Microsoft do this and then remove all WIN32 support from Windows 12.

This seems (to me) to indicate that Microsoft wants to continue to support WIN32 apps in the future, but simply wants to make the use of WIN32 apps safer for end users, by controlling now only the  install process, but also the update process.

This is good news in my opinion.

8

General Discussion / Windows support for WIN32 apps in the future

« Last post by Chris Boss on May 20, 2025, 10:12:22 AM »

New exciting news from the latest Build 2025:

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2024/12/04/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-27758-canary-channel/

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2024/12/03/raising-the-bar-updates-to-the-microsoft-store-on-windows/

Microsoft has just announced that the Microsoft Store is soon going to support WIN32 app updates via the store.

The MS Store supports downloading of WIN32 apps. But updating had to be handled by the developers own website externally.

Now the MS Store will support not only downloading WIN32 apps, but also the store can handle updates of the same WIN32 app.

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EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: MIDI Controls Under Windows 11

« Last post by Chris Boss on May 06, 2025, 08:02:49 AM »

MIDI works under Windows 11.

That said, Windows 11 may not come with the audio/video codec you may use in the audio/video file. There are many codecs available today and an installation of Windows may not come with a specific codec you require.

I would do some research into what audio/video codecs Windows 11 normally ships with and make sure your audio file uses a more up to date codec.

So the issue is most likely not with MIDI (MCI control) but with codecs.

10

EZGUI 5 support forum / MIDI Controls Under Windows 11

« Last post by Frank Kelley on May 05, 2025, 01:24:06 PM »

Is there any reason why an EZGUI program using multiple MIDI controls would fail to play audio under Windows 11? A friend has one of my programs that plays audio fine under Windows 10, but the same program on his new Acer Windows 11 laptop responds with silence. Other Windows programs do play audio fine in the laptop. I initially thought it might be a driver issue, but that now seems unlikely.

Any clue as to why this would be happening? Thanks in advance.