Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Revive QB45.com?
#1
Hey guys,

We all remember the good old days of QB45.com when it was in its hay-day and run by Jorden Chamid. I was nostalgic and looking at the remnants archived on the WayBack Machine. And I thought: What if I brought it back?

I reverse engineer a lot of websites by studying their look and feel and their functionality to commands and such. I can make a CMS out of the old QB45.com and hopefully get it up and working for people to post files and talk.

What does everyone think about this? Because I am tired of QB45.com just sitting there and collecting dust. I always hear, "I have a backup. I have to look for it. When I do, I'll bring back QB45." and it makes me tired to hear false hopes. So why not do something about it?

--Todd
Reply
#2
I am probably the least qualified to address your topic, but, my opinion is that the few QB sites I visit are barely surviving as it is, that is, all except The Network 54 one (http://www.network54.com).  I have seen a few try to make it, to no avail.  So, if you bring one back, I hope you have some six or more really strong contributors lined up, as "life" depends on action!  Waiting for others to contribute is almost a no, no to begin with.  So, have you got six or more guys who will be contibuting daily or almost daily?  Otherwise, I don't think you'll be able to make it work.  What do you think?
Ralph, using QuickBASIC 4.5 and Windows XP Home Edition and Service Pack 2, with HP LaserJet 4L printer.
Reply
#3
I definitely see where you're coming from. I do have some pretty good contributors to a sister site I host so it might work or it might not. I am not expecting anything extreme to happen but just a place for people to go and download QB files or upload them like on the old QB45.

The Network54 QB forum is doing pretty well but I do agree others are starting to die. I believe it's because of much of the new technology we have today is depriving us from using the older products. Plus our interests eventually do change to other things and the old hobbies we had simply die or lay dormant for a long time.
Reply
#4
Yes.  One of the important condition for a lively place is that the technology be well known and used in current commercial and industrial applications.  The BASICS have mainly been superseded by the Windows-type languages, for various reasons, so the old languages are mostly abandoned by the majority of the programmers. 

So, it is difficult to maintain interest in the old BASIC-based languages.  One of the most importan sources of help in this have been the high schools that have been using QB as a first programming language, but, even that is starting to disappear.  What is left?  Just a bunch of old enthusiasts!  Sorry that my prognosis is not good for the future of QB.  Me, I am not a professional programmer, just a very low amateur, but, I have loved using QB for most of the mathematical problems I have had.   
Ralph, using QuickBASIC 4.5 and Windows XP Home Edition and Service Pack 2, with HP LaserJet 4L printer.
Reply
#5
I know how you feel. When I was a high school freshman, I was in a new school where I knew NOBODY. For a few months I felt completely alone until I would get home and talk to people on these forums and other QB sites. I had a journal where I'd write down my programming ideas for QB and when I'd get home or on my laptop, I'd write it in code and triumph in my success. I had so much fun but my interests have changed. I still like QB and don't want to see it die.

It's like looking at the toys you played with as a young child and watching them collect dust and deteriorate with age. You look at them and think of all the great times you had playing with them. Then sadly you leave them to go somewhere else. I truly miss my QB days and I feel that such a thing that's helped me and made up a part of my life shouldn't go unforgotten.
Reply
#6
tlsuess, it seems to me that QBers are members of a very small club, most of whom are professional programmers and very knowledgeable in other computer languages (not me, I only dabble in QB).  So, as long as this group manages to retain the interes of the other members, the club will survive.  This means that it is up to us to continue to post comments, problems, code snippets and such.  I said this before: if you can get a group of some six or more enthusiasts to post frequently, say once a day or more, then you can maintain a lively forum.  Otherwise, we are talking about maintaining a library for anyone who wishes to investigate and look up old things.  Unfortunately, only mostly newbies would be using the library, and newbies are getting scarcer and scarcer!  As for me, I like to try to solve some problems, not all, but, I have a very limited creative imagination, so I very rarely can create a new program, unless I'm trying to solve someone else's problems. This makes me a bad contributor of new ideas, and relegates me to now and then commenting on other's posts, as in the present case.  Sad 
Please try to convince your friends in QB to actively post in the few QB forums that exist, so they will survive longer.  Of course, if you can get that QB.com up and running, and manage to attract sufficient interest, that will be a worthwhile project!
Ralph, using QuickBASIC 4.5 and Windows XP Home Edition and Service Pack 2, with HP LaserJet 4L printer.
Reply
#7
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://qb45.com/
MY QBASIC'S PAGE                                                  I ONLY USE WINDOWS 98SE
Reply
#8
Well, Usuess, a few weeks have gone by, and we have ONE new post, that from Opresion, and it was just to point to a 100% stagnant site! Judging by the 392 times that your thread has been read, with only your, my and Opresion's posts, I guess you have been answered with a great silence!  Unfortunately, it would seem that nobody is interested in moving a finger to make your thought a reality.

By the way, I visited the QB45.com, saw a nicely organized table on a per-year basis, and went to the lastone, in December of 2007.  The one thread I read, on the LPRINT statement, ran a lot like a chat room, and the participants seemed not very knowledgeable, with flat (and wrong) statements about that QB statement not working in Windows XP.  I have commented on LPRINT and kmow to make it work in other QB forums, so, I know what I am saying.  I don't know if that thread was representative of the typical threads there, but, I came away with no desire to explore further.  My thought is that I will stick to visiting the three sites on my list for some time now: Qbasicnews.com (this forum), Pete's QBASICSite.com, and TheQBasic Forum. 

Since you haven't posted back here, have you decided on what you want to do, respecting your idea to "bring back" the QB45.com site?
Ralph, using QuickBASIC 4.5 and Windows XP Home Edition and Service Pack 2, with HP LaserJet 4L printer.
Reply
#9
QB45.com is finally done. You can go and have a look for yourselves. Marcade, The Car, and I have put something together that we think everyone will enjoy. We also have the archives for QB45 up so all the downloads from the old QB45 are available.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)