Apps Development

04. A New Environment

Where to get Stuff

I’m only going to touch on GNULinux distribution choice and installation and how to do dual-boot briefly. I chose Linux Mint 13 Maya 64-bit because the interface is really very similar to what I was used to in Windows 7. I know that’s not a particularly forward-thinking reason, but I don’t want to spend a lot of time learning a new interface for no real reason, at least, none has as yet presented itself. And when I show it off, those familiar with Windows will find it less “offensively different”… that same offence I feel looking at Win8, for example. Different for Different’s Sake. It takes a while to develop a workflow on a foreign device like a computer: there’s no point to changing the workflow particularly if changing fails to help you work more efficiently.

A lot fail to get that.

Any computer running Windows can run GNULinux. Some computers — recent ones — running Windows 32-bit can most likely run GNULinux 64-bit, which allows you to use memory (RAM) better. You can have Windows and GNULinux installed on the same computer… at boot, you’ll be presented with a little menu which will offer the choice of OS to boot into.

Install GNULinux Dual-Boot

If you do decide to install GNULinux on your PC, you will want to:

  1. Back up your data in Windows
  2. If short on drive space, remove software you never use (this will speed up Windows)
  3. Use CrapCleaner to get rid of the rubbish (this could speed up Windows)
  4. Deactivate and delete (temporarily) the paging file, then use a good defrag tool to defrag the hard drive
  5. Restore the paging file
  6. Download Linux Mint or the GNULinux of your choosing… I’d chose one that has a lot of support
  7. Either make a bootable DVD or thumb-drive
  8. Install your distro

The install itself is a no-brainer. Well, almost. I have yet to have a successful install that didn’t involve manually setting the boot point and the swap partition (to equal what you have as installed RAM) — those instructions are for Mint 11, but they apply equally well for 13 (Maya). Your distro will have instructions that will walk you through it if you decide to go with something other than Mint.

To your surprise, a lot gets installed with the Operating System in most of the major distributions. If you go with Ubuntu or Mint, there will be a Synaptic Package Manager or Software Center that acts pretty much like an app store: you install 99% of what you’ll ever need from there. That will include Libre-Office, GIMP (don’t get 2.8x, you won’t like it) and a ton of other stuff. GNULinux will find your Internet connection automatically, it will find your printers even if they’re on your network and automatically install the appropriate driver for them in seconds. You’ll be blown away by how incredibly user-friendly, intuitive this whole process is.
And you’ll come to actually like Terminal (like the DOS prompt in Windows)… for 99.99999999% of what you ever do, someone’s done it before and will have detailed instructions you just copy and paste. [CTRL] [C] and [CTRL][V] don’t work in Terminal, but right-clicking and selecting ‘Paste’ from the drop-down menu will work fine.

Final note: *IF* this page actually generates traffic and *IF* someone actually follows through with these suggestions and *IF* they run into issues, the intrepid can always reach me at robyns-veil (sans dash) at my google-mail account with queries… time permitting, I’m happy to help.

Install SQLite3

You might as well get SQLite Studio whilst you’re at downloading SQLite3. You will notice that — for what it’s worth to you — you can download the source-code for SQLite. This is actually important: not in a practical sense, but from the standpoint of what this site is about: freedom. If you have the source, you can improve it (if you have the skill to do so, of course, I don’t) and pass it on. With non-libre software, this option does not exist, even if the source-code is available, which it wouldn’t be, but anyway: it’s all in the GPL and what you’re legally permitted to do with the software that counts.

By the way, you don’t have to download at all – just install from Synaptic package Manager:

Img004

All dependencies will be installed as well, and any time an upgrade comes out, the software will be updated along with your operating system… this is all automatic. I don’t even have to *think* about whether I have the most recent version of SQLite3 – I already know I do.

Gotta love GNULinux!!

I didn’t see SQLite Studio in the repositories, so I think that one you’ll have to download and install the old-fashioned way.

Gambas Almost Means BASIC!

Now that we have our data storage sorted, let’s look at the program that is going to replace Excel and VBA. In choosing Gambas, I went the back route, the expensive way… the wrong way, really. I wanted something that was not going to be a massive learning curve, initially. Q7Basic promised that… very similar syntax, flexible environment, you can compile to Windows, Mac and GNULinux executables… how good was this! And the price was really quite reasonable.

However, I’ve run into issues. Suffice it to say that for my purposes at least, Q7Basic is not going to serve my needs well at this point in time, as I’m writing this, end of year 2012. Perhaps in the future, but not now.

Due to communication issues after purchase, I decided that PureBasic was a better option. It is… however, the syntax (how the language looks and acts and all that) is a significant departure from the VBA I was familiar with. yes, you could build incredibly robust, powerful apps and you’d have complete control over everything, but the learning curve was just a bit steep. But yeah: I bought the licence here, too.

So, two apps, neither of which were really going to suit my purposes for the time being. I do have to emphasize that neither of these solutions are bad ones, just that neither suited what I wanted to do at that point in time.
And then, I discovered Gambas.

At this point, Gambas compiles only to GNULinux.