Which Linux distribution to run QB64?

[Dav]

Thanks, @George McGinn for that very informative post.  It really helps me start to understand linux under the hood.

- Dav 

[mohai]

Thank you all for the answers.

I am a rookie at Linux world. I know the basics, and that is all I need for now.
Primarily, I code in Windows but, I would like to test my programs into Linux just to test compatibility.

I got Q4OS installed and let the update process run.
Then, I managed to install QB64, but it did not work.
Installation script was able to install some packages but, when compiling the executable file, I got the error message: "g++ fatal error: killed signal terminated program cc1plus. Compilation terminated"

It took almost 30 minutes to show error message. I think it is too much time to have QB64 compiled, even my laptop is 1.73 Mhz and 1 GB of RAM.
I starting to think my computer is failing somehow or is short of resources.


regards

[George McGinn]

@mohai - Question: What version of Q4OS are you running?

Q4OS is one of the only Linux I know that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit. It's based on Debian 9, or Debian Stretch distro.

If you are running the 32-bit distro, the QB64 might not run, as I think it requires a 64-bit OS. That might explain why it takes so long.

Also, the g++ compiler error that you are getting usually occurs when trying to compile inside a VM and you do not have enough memory allocated to it. If you are trying to install inside a Virtual Machine, try doubling your memory allocation to it. Most compiles will work if you set your base memory to at least 4096MB.

However, you may need even more memory to compile the QB64 install.

Maybe more detail on how you have your system set up will help. I will sometime over the weekend install Q4OS and try to build QB64, but I will only be testing the 64-bit version.

Thank you all for the answers.

I am a rookie at Linux world. I know the basics, and that is all I need for now.
Primarily, I code in Windows but, I would like to test my programs into Linux just to test compatibility.

I got Q4OS installed and let the update process run.
Then, I managed to install QB64, but it did not work.
Installation script was able to install some packages but, when compiling the executable file, I got the error message: "g++ fatal error: killed signal terminated program cc1plus. Compilation terminated"

It took almost 30 minutes to show error message. I think it is too much time to have QB64 compiled, even my laptop is 1.73 Mhz and 1 GB of RAM.
I starting to think my computer is failing somehow or is short of resources.


regards

[mohai]

@mohai - Question: What version of Q4OS are you running?

Q4OS is one of the only Linux I know that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit. It's based on Debian 9, or Debian Stretch distro.

If you are running the 32-bit distro, the QB64 might not run, as I think it requires a 64-bit OS. That might explain why it takes so long.

Also, the g++ compiler error that you are getting usually occurs when trying to compile inside a VM and you do not have enough memory allocated to it. If you are trying to install inside a Virtual Machine, try doubling your memory allocation to it. Most compiles will work if you set your base memory to at least 4096MB.

However, you may need even more memory to compile the QB64 install.

Maybe more detail on how you have your system set up will help. I will sometime over the weekend install Q4OS and try to build QB64, but I will only be testing the 64-bit version.

Hello George,

The computer I am working in has an old Centrino CPU and 1 GB RAM so, no 64 option by now.
I am running native Q4OS 4.7. No virtualization.
QB64 is the newest one: 2.0.2. For Linux,  there is only 1 package to download, so I hope it is suitable for 32 bits too.

Today, I tried to install from a console session (no login in graphical desktop), but it showed the same error message. This time it took only 1 minute, by the way.

I am not sure if a RAM upgrade could do the trick. Maybe a bigger swap partition or try a "light" version of Linux ?

regards

[Dav]

@mohai: Have you been able to get QB64 running yet in Q4OS?  Hope you can and start enjoying QB64.   I ended up replacing Q4OS with Zorin OS 15 Lite.  Using QB64 under Q4OS would result in COPY/PASTE not working system wide for me, and freeze my PC for about 10 secs.  It only happens when QB64 was running.  When it closed, things would go back to normal. Had some other issues too in Q4OS, so I tried a bunch of other distros - settled on Zorin lite.  I doubt Zorin would run on your laptop, but there are some lightweight 32-bit linux distros out there you could try.  By the way, just for info purposes, you can skip ReactOS (not linux), although it can run many windows programs it didn't' run any QB64 version I threw at it (on the current ReactOS).  Good luck...

- Dav

[George McGinn]

@mohai - Centrino CPU's are still being manufactured and used today (latest iteration is a 2016 model).

So I need more specifics about the processor. Check with this Wiki and let me know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino

Also, are you running the Plasma or Trinity desktop? Only the Trinity comes in a 32-bit OS.

Q4OS is a Debian-based Linux, so it should show some compatibility with Ubuntu and Linux Mint (both based on the Debian kernel).

I haven't looked at the install closely for Linux, but I bet there isn't a 32-bit version of QB64 available. @luke or @FellippeHeitor can answer that quicker than I.

Since I do not have a 32-bit processor, I can't really duplicate the issue you are having. I have created a Live Q4OS USB stick so I can test it later today/tomorrow, to see if I have the same issues you and @Dav are having.

Hello George,

The computer I am working in has an old Centrino CPU and 1 GB RAM so, no 64 option by now.
I am running native Q4OS 4.7. No virtualization.
QB64 is the newest one: 2.0.2. For Linux,  there is only 1 package to download, so I hope it is suitable for 32 bits too.

Today, I tried to install from a console session (no login in graphical desktop), but it showed the same error message. This time it took only 1 minute, by the way.

I am not sure if a RAM upgrade could do the trick. Maybe a bigger swap partition or try a "light" version of Linux ?

regards

[FellippeHeitor]

We offer a single package for Linux, which will work for both 32 and 64 bit distros, since what will determine that is whatever version of the compiler is fetched at setup (or whatever version of it is already available in one's setup).

[George McGinn]

I wonder then, because Q4OS isn't recognized by the lnx_setup.sh script, does it see it as a Debian distro, or unidentified, which then none of the supporting libraries are installed?

We offer a single package for Linux, which will work for both 32 and 64 bit distros, since what will determine that is whatever version of the compiler is fetched at setup (or whatever version of it is already available in one's setup).

[mohai]

I wonder then, because Q4OS isn't recognized by the lnx_setup.sh script, does it see it as a Debian distro, or unidentified, which then none of the supporting libraries are installed?

Well, that is no the case for me.
I was able to (almost) install QB64 using the included script.
I installed Q4OS 4.7 and it is detected as a Debian Linux.
The only issue I had is the C++ error when compiling the executable for QB64.

Earlier, I tried Xubuntu with the same setup and was able to completely install QB64 but, when trying to open  a file, the IDE just closed.
I was able to copy/paste some text into it and compile some small programs, but IDE kept malfunctioning.
Inform was not opening also.

[mohai]

@mohai - Centrino CPU's are still being manufactured and used today (latest iteration is a 2016 model).

So I need more specifics about the processor. Check with this Wiki and let me know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino

Also, are you running the Plasma or Trinity desktop? Only the Trinity comes in a 32-bit OS.

Q4OS is a Debian-based Linux, so it should show some compatibility with Ubuntu and Linux Mint (both based on the Debian kernel).

I haven't looked at the install closely for Linux, but I bet there isn't a 32-bit version of QB64 available. @luke or @FellippeHeitor can answer that quicker than I.

Since I do not have a 32-bit processor, I can't really duplicate the issue you are having. I have created a Live Q4OS USB stick so I can test it later today/tomorrow, to see if I have the same issues you and @Dav are having.

The processor is a Pentium-M running at 1.73 Mhz. The computer is a laptop.
I am running Trinity desktop. Did not try different desktops, by the way.

[George McGinn]

That's the 2003 version of the revamped Pentium III chip.

According to the Q4OS website, you have the minimum requirements to run that version of Linux:

Use the install-cd media for older 64bit as well as 32bit machines.
The minimal hardware requirements:
Plasma desktop - 1GHz CPU / 1GB RAM / 5GB disk
Trinity desktop - 300MHz CPU / 256MB RAM / 3GB disk

As soon as I am done with a PCB design for my wildlife/trail camera (I am looking to replace the processing from a Raspberry PI to a micro-controller, like the PICO or Arduino Uno, but I need to design my own PCB to incorporate the PIR sensor and Camera (There are no connections for the camera module on a PICO) I will run Q4OS on my system to check it out. I suspect that the Q4OS isn't exactly a Debian-based Linux, but I won't know until I run it myself.

The processor is a Pentium-M running at 1.73 Mhz. The computer is a laptop.
I am running Trinity desktop. Did not try different desktops, by the way.

[Dav]

We offer a single package for Linux, which will work for both 32 and 64 bit distros, since what will determine that is whatever version of the compiler is fetched at setup (or whatever version of it is already available in one's setup).

Interesting.  Would it still mean a QB64 program compiled on a 64-bit Linux OS will only run on a 64-bit Linux OS, and not a 32-bit one?  (like the 64-bit exe's in windows won't run in 32-bit windows).

- Dav 

[FellippeHeitor]

I don't know how 64bit Linux deals with 32bit Linux binaries.

[George McGinn]

@mohai - I installed Q4OS Gemini Plasma Live on a 256GB flash drive and gave it a try.

I agree with @Dav that it does have a W2K feel to it, but I think that's mainly the KDE Plasma Desktop environment. If you are looking for a straight up Windows replacement, that claims it will be able to run Windows .EXE files, ReactOS is the Linux distro. But beware - it has been in beta for about 5 years.

I have a Dell Optiplex 990 with a i5 4-core CPU, so in testing this distro, I had no speed/performance issues. I even ran several timing tests, and the speed is comparable to Ubuntu, so you will need to make sure you install the version designed for older CPU's. I only tested the 64bit version.

I first tried to run binaries created on Ubuntu in Q4OS, and any that did not use specific GUI's (like GNOME's gdialog/Zenity), etc. worked fine. In fact, I first moved my entire QB64 compiler directories over to Q4OS and ran it with some issues, but the IDE worked and compiled simple BASIC programs. However, I realized right away when I tried to compile my first program, I got an internal compiler error, which stated g++ could not be found. After I installed it, I was able to compile and run programs that used either the CONSOLE:ONLY or the QB64 Screen. The reason g++ wasn't installed I believe had to do with the fact I was running a LIVE version, which would not install any of the libraries needed, like g++. So I manually installed them as they popped up.

I did run into an issue when I tried to compile a program that used Zenity. I then got another internal compiler error, which said "parts/core/glew/include/GL/glew.h:1188:14: fatal error: GL/glu.h: No such file or directory" which meant I needed to recompile QB64 in Q4OS. My program then compiled and Zenity, a GNOME Desktop GUI worked in KDE Plasma! (Probably because Ubuntu and Q4OS are both Debian-based Linux).

I then installed MySQL and ran a test of a large application I'm developing that uses it, gdialog/Zenity, HTML/CSS, C++, and SQL procedures, and after setting up the MySQL region (and having the same pain in the butt setup issues I did in Ubuntu) it worked fine as well.

My suggestion is to recreate any QB64 generated binaries and you should be fine. And since I didn't install Q4OS on my hard drive, I don't know if it installs all the necessary libraries. It did offer me three options at start-up, and one was a lite version, which probably means you need to install g++ and other libraries manually.

In fact, I may create a dual boot with Q4OS as my second OS, as I can test my code on both a GNOME (Ubuntu) and KDE Plasma (Q4OS) environments. (My third will be ARCH Linux, as that is not a Debian-based Linux distro).

Q4OS is a solid distro, from what I was able to do with it so far.

[Dav]

Great info @George McGinn.  Hats off to you for going through all that to help people out.  I've moved to Zorin OS, but I may put Q4OS back on another laptop to play with. It's a good little OS.  I was able to eliminate the COPY/PASTE issue I was having with it by not using the XPQ4 desktop enhancement.  With XPQ4 the issue appeared, without it all goes well.  Maybe it is just a problem with my setup, I dunno.   

About ReactOS -- I've played around with it a lot recently (current version).  I like it, really hope it continues to develop, but I couldn't get QB64 working on it, the GL, SDL, or @SMcNeill's special stripped-down QB64 version.  Compiled programs will start, but only show a blank screen (COSOLE only programs too).  That's just my testing, maybe others have better results. 

- Dav