A defeated man

[crockhamtown]

FreeBASIC installation has defeated me. I have read various posts on this starting as far back as the early 2000 to recent ones. But find them all so confusing when Command lines, etc are mentioned.

I have downloaded the Compiler and IDE zips and extracted them successfully. I have put both folders into C:\Program Files as follows:

C:\Program Files\FBIde0.4.6r4\FBIde0.4.6r4 which contains the fbide.exe application file.

C:\Program Files\FreeBASIC-1.10.0-winlibs-gcc-9.3.0\FreeBASIC-1.10.0-winlibs-gcc-9.3.0 which contains the fbc64.exe application file.

I would be grateful to know what I should do next.

[Imortis]

The IDE you are using, while still technically usable, is very old. If you are having problems getting the IDE and compiler properly connected, then you might want to give WinFBE a shot instead.

Just take the zip you download from the github for WinFBE and extract it to somewhere that the OS will give you full read/write access like your desktop or the C drive root. Then run the version of the IDE for your processor, most likely the 64bit version.

[dodicat]

fbide is still probably the most popular ide.
I use it always, it is perfect for writing and running freebasic code.
C:/Program Files is not a good place to use freebasic since win 10.
I always use a dedicated folder/ folders on my desktop for fbc and fbide (or any other compiler).
Avoid Program Files like you would avoid a plague, it is the closest thing I can think of to a black hole.

[crockhamtown]

Thank you Imortis and dodicat

You set me on the right course of action. I created a new folder on the desktop and called it FreeBASIC.

I then copied folder A. FBIde0.4.6r4\FBIde0.4.6r4 and B. FreeBASIC-1.10.0-winlibs-gcc-9.3.0 separately into it.

I located fbide.exe.in A. and made a shortcut of it to the Destop outside of the FreeBASIC folder.

Clicking on it brought up an error. "Compile path is either not set or is corrupt. Set correct path now? Yes or no". I selected yes which brought the file name fbc.exe to open up somewhere. I changed it to fbc64.exe and went to the B. compiler folder, located the fbc64.exe application file and clicked on open.

I ran the shortcut and Voila it worked. Downloaded the sieve.bas program, selected compile and run and up came the first 1000 of 1000000 prime numbers.

I am so pleased and grateful and am no longer defeated.

Mr Moderator perhaps you might use the advice of Imortis and dodicat as the goto solution.

[Flyzone]

I'm not sure I would store these on the Desktop either. It's too easy for an errant swipe to pick up a folder and dump it in the trash or otherwise "lose" it in some obscure location. Perhaps something like c:/Freebasic or Home/Freebasic or .... just not in any Windows directory including Program Files as previously mentioned.

[deltarho[1859]]

Get an external SSD. I have two Samsungs; One small and one large. The small one has two folders: FreeBASIC development and WinFBE_Suite (with three toolchains). I've told my antivirus program not to scan the smaller SSD. I develop using gas – the compilation times are very fast. When done, I switch to 32-bit gcc -O2. The large SSD is for daily system backups, and I also back up daily the FreeBASIC folder on the smaller SSD; both save ten backups.

I have an internal hard drive but hardly use it except for a small partition for my pagefile; I did not want that on my C: SSD. I also have a Ram disk for Firefox and MS Edge caches.

SSD's are very affordable nowadays.