[sOLVED]: For any of you who are experiencing issues with batari Basic and Windows 7 / 64-bit versions of Windows, I have attached my working bB folder to this post.
Hello, again, citizens of AtariAge!
Now that my college coursework is beginning to die down, with winter break almost here, I thought I would once again fire up batari Basic and take another look at a few of the programs I wrote many (it must have been three, by now) years ago. Of the most noteworthy changes that have happened since then, my computers have seen a shift from Windows XP to Windows Vista in 2007 to Windows 7 this past month, running on a 32-bit Pentium 4 to now a 64-bit Pentium Dual-Core processor. This, I'm afraid, has caused compatibility issues to spring up. After I had settled on the Programmer's Notepad as an IDE and got Stella 3.0 up and running, I noticed that Windows, unable to run 16-bit applications, completely refused to run batari Basic 1.0, giving me:
> "C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\2600bas.bat" C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\projects\Combat_DX.bas
This version of C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\2600basic.exe is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running.
Check your computer's system information to see whether you need a x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program,
and then contact the software publisher.
> Process Exit Code: 255
> Time Taken: 00:05
So, after a short search, I stumbled upon the MinGW build recently done by Batari, along with the files from the batari Basic 1.01 update. I then proceded to copy the files from the general update into my bB folder, followed by those in the MinGW build, replacing any duplicates as I went along. Everything seemed to run flawlessly... at first. Once I decided to compile one of my games, Combat DX, I was met with this:
> "C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\2600bas.bat" C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\projects\Combat_DX.bas
batari Basic v1.01 (C)2005-2007
(347): Error: Unknown keyword: B
Compilation failed.
> Process Exit Code: 0
> Time Taken: 00:00
At first I blew this off simply as a syntax error, possibly forgetting to rem a comment on my part. Strangely enough, however, all that line 347 contained was the end of my first data statement...
345 data pointerlo
346 $24,$1B,$12,$09,$00,$09,$12,$1B,$24,$2D,$36,$3F,$48,$3F,$36,$2D
347 end
I have also noticed this in one of the known-working sample programs, Zombie Chase, which coincidence be, also points me to the first data statement as the source of an "error":
> "C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\2600bas.bat" C:\Users\Jimmy\Documents\bB\samples\zombie_chase.bas
batari Basic v1.01 (C)2005-2007
(542): Error: Unknown keyword: 2
Compilation failed.
> Process Exit Code: 0
> Time Taken: 00:00
540 data gonextlevel
541 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,$10,$11,$12,$13,$14,$15,$99
542 end
I believe I may have found a bug. It appears that I'm not the only one, either. Has anyone else experienced this? Has a fix been released or is there something wrong with my batari Basic installation?
bB Windows 7.zip