Windows 8 64 bit and dBase and other 16 bit programs

[wcw]

I spent the past week moving programs and files from an old XP to Window 8. Wow, what a difference 6 years makes. 75% went well. But five major programs bit the dust in the 64 bit environment. I found something called dosbox but it appears it runs in Windows 7 compatibility mode or something. So I don't think that will be a solution.

Photo Shop: I already replaced it at the guy store (Best Buy).

Snagit: I can get it online, but I'm wondering if there is a free or lower cost alternative. Besides PrtSc.

dBASE: Is anybody using a Windows 8 64 bit program that can read and modify dBase III Plus databases? Cost? Source?

The other two were written by me and compiled in Clipper and are not critical if a dBASE replacement can be found for a reasonable price.

If I can't solve the dBase issues, it looks like the XP won't become a doorstop afterall. Well, at least until I write a mivascript alternative to dBase. :-)

[ILoveHostasaurus]

Re: Windows 8 64 bit and dBase and other 16 bit programs

I'm using dbf Viewer 2000 successfully on Windows 7 64-bit.

[wajake41]

Re: Windows 8 64 bit and dBase and other 16 bit programs

dBase & Clipper. I'm astonished that it would run on XP. Clipper/dbase III dates back to 1985 or so.

[wcw]

Re: Windows 8 64 bit and dBase and other 16 bit programs

I was using dBase II even before 1985, but dBase didn't really take off until they created III and more significantly III Plus. Clipper was a great compiler that also extended the language quite a bit. The Clipper compiled programs ran fine in XP. Even dBase ran from the dot prompt. But there was a glitch when accessing a dbf that Miva had written to after about 2001. Miva wrote the date so native DOS version of dBase could not open the database. So I wrote a clipper program to re-write the header of the dbf so that native dBase could open it. That program no longer runs under 64 bit. The other program which no longer works looks similar to the dbf Viewer 2000 that David mentioned. I am assuming the dbf Viewer 2000 controls for the date issue from Miva files as he is probably using it on MivaSQL written databases. Hence, that looks like the best option unless someone tells me that dosbox works in Windows 8 to run 16 bit DOS programs. The dosbox would obviously be the best solution as then Clipper executable files and dBase would both run.

I just found this link so I guess it's time to try it out.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...&tempOsid=win8

[ILoveHostasaurus]

Re: Windows 8 64 bit and dBase and other 16 bit programs

You could always run a vmware desktop with old XP in it to keep your old software around.

[wcw]

Re: Windows 8 64 bit and dBase and other 16 bit programs

Update. The dosbox works fine. You can mount the directory containing the legacy DOS programs, e.g. mount c c:\dbase\. The data directories need to be in or under the directory you mount, so you might have something like \dbase\data. After starting dbase, the data can be found with c:\data\products. The Clipper executable programs also work. I did find that using native dbase and indexing a file was unbelievably slow. However, using my Clipper compiled utility it was instantaneous. All is good.