[RESOLVED] 64 bit Visual Basic 6.0 Alpha Platform Development System?

Does anyone know the details about this version and what it is/was really capable of?

The only relevant link I found was here:
https://news.microsoft.com/1998/12/0...n-development/

I have a copy of this version, but I don't have the hardware to run it right now. If anyone knows the range of hardware specs that is compatible with this version let me know. I wonder if the compiled exe will run on current systems. I'm a bit confused by the lack of documentation.

Does it create 64 bit exe?
Will the exe's only work on computers with that processor/hardware (Compaq Alpha platform 64-bit RISC-based architecture)?

Thanks

I think NT 4.0 was the last version of Windows for 64-bit Alpha platforms. I'm not sure that the 64-bit Alpha version of NT 4.0 ever shipped to customers.

Thanks dilettante, I thought that might be the case. The documents mention future operating systems too, but I will have to experiment.
C2.exe is C2.dll in this edition.
The project samples open and work fine in VB6 32 bit.
The 64 bit version was also included in "Office Test Platform & Development Tools" circa April 1999. That is where I picked it up at least.

I have a disc here somewhere with the NT 4.0 64 Alpha on it. Not sure if I have the VB6 64 though. I do have the VB5 RISC edition and some other rare ones that I got from MSDN back in the day.

I worked for Digital at the time. You would need an Alpha 64 bit box or a decent emulator. They are around. At the time Alpha was the most potent microprocessor architecture around. Vb for alpha produced native 64 bit images but they only ran on 64 bit NT which only ran on Alpha at the time. So even if you got it all working your code wont run on anything else.

There were a whole bunch of corporate activity between MS & DEC as a result of DEC suing Intel for patent violation and MS hedged their 64 bit bet. Lets not even discuss how much Digital code may have ended up at MS after a bunch of people went to MS with Cutler. I used to support VMS many moons ago and reading Windows Internals is amazingly familiar....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vbwins

I worked for Digital at the time. You would need an Alpha 64 bit box or a decent emulator. They are around. At the time Alpha was the most potent microprocessor architecture around. Vb for alpha produced native 64 bit images but they only ran on 64 bit NT which only ran on Alpha at the time. So even if you got it all working your code wont run on anything else.

There were a whole bunch of corporate activity between MS & DEC as a result of DEC suing Intel for patent violation and MS hedged their 64 bit bet. Lets not even discuss how much Digital code may have ended up at MS after a bunch of people went to MS with Cutler. I used to support VMS many moons ago and reading Windows Internals is amazingly familiar....

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Ah thank you for the info. I did follow up and found at least one person online with a hard system and there are attempts to preserve the software that ran on Alpha NT. I heard that early Windows 2000 builds may have supported the system, but that was removed upon release. I have the NT alpha operating system, but no device/emulator to run it. I was hoping to learn a few tidbits that may apply to today.

There are 64 bit Alpha hardware simulators, there is a FOSS version you can download and utilise and see if it does what you ask. It requires a 64 bit host system of course.

You can ask Swiftbase if they have a hobby version of their Charon Alpha simulator. Each CPU in the emulated Alpha must have a dedicated Intel core plus two more, one for the host o/s and one dedicated to the Alpha emulator itself. I have installed/migrated many of these in my time. If you chat to Bob at Swiftbase don't get too enthusiastic as he tends to charge according to the enthusiasm shown by the client. If you are a potential customer he may give you a short term trial key and if I remember correctly they did have a hobby Alpha emulator. If I can find the version I used to use I will let you know. If you get this far I could help you set it up as it can be tricky.

Then, if you manage to get to this point you would then need to obtain the Windows for Alpha software installation and a PAK to authorise it. Then of course, the same for VB6.

In all my time working with Alphas I have never come across VB6 for 64 bit Alpha on Windows, I hope this was some help. I wish I had more knowledge to impart.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

There are 64 bit Alpha hardware simulators, there is a FOSS version you can download and utilise and see if it does what you ask. It requires a 64 bit host system of course.

You can ask Swiftbase if they have a hobby version of their Charon Alpha simulator. Each CPU in the emulated Alpha must have a dedicated Intel core plus two more, one for the host o/s and one dedicated to the Alpha emulator itself. I have installed/migrated many of these in my time. If you chat to Bob at Swiftbase don't get too enthusiastic as he tends to charge according to the enthusiasm shown by the client. If you are a potential customer he may give you a short term trial key and if I remember correctly they did have a hobby Alpha emulator. If I can find the version I used to use I will let you know. If you get this far I could help you set it up as it can be tricky.

Then, if you manage to get to this point you would then need to obtain the Windows for Alpha software installation and a PAK to authorise it. Then of course, the same for VB6.

In all my time working with Alphas I have never come across VB6 for 64 bit Alpha on Windows, I hope this was some help. I wish I had more knowledge to impart.

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Thank you very much for the details, it sounds somewhat involved but may still be fun to pursue, just to see it work.

Please let us know if you get this going just for old times sake. Alpha was a classic case of DEC snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and still makes me sad.

I was a DEC man too. Went on to work at Stromasys that comprised mostly ex-DEC personnel. I still work on Alpha VMS/True 64 systems. The only type that I no longer encounter are the Alpha NT systems, they have mostly been migrated or made redundant. As you say, VMS lives on inside Windows when you start digging into its internals.

#DECISEVERYWHERE

We are all over the place and the company, its ethos, its tech and the talent it nurtured have had a lasting impact on the industry. I guess we are all old now though.

Edit. What facility where you based at.

Reading, UK. VMS system admin. contracted out to other companies, so I spent most of my time elsewhere. Vax 11/780, 750, uVax, 8650s, 4300s for Mars, Thorn EMI, I even did a stint at Sun. Then Alpha VMS. tru64 for Belgacom and Stromasys.

Would love to get an ISO of these cd's. As a Visual Studio Enterprise owner, I was (at the time) able to send off for the Cd's (see below). They weren't released with the actual product (same as MSDE) and had to be applied for. Not owning a DEC Alphaserver, I never got round to it. Then after the ensuing SUN, Microsoft battle when Microsoft had to retire the 98 product range, virtually all traces of these CDs disappeared.

I now have and still use a DEC Alphaserver 1000a 5/300 with NT4 on it, but have been limited with what I can do with it, thus the desire to get an iso, thus stumbling upon this thread.

I believe the two cd's were entitled "Visual Basic for Alpha Systems" and "Visual C++ for Alpha Systems"

from the link you listed....
Licensed users of the Enterprise editions of Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0 are entitled to receive copies of Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0 for the Alpha platform for only the cost of shipping and handling. Enterprise customers may order the Alpha edition immediately at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/alpha/default.asp . The Alpha platform editions contain all of the updated components and features from the release of Visual Studio 6.0, including Service Pack 1.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DJD1971

Would love to get an ISO of these cd's. As a Visual Studio Enterprise owner, I was (at the time) able to send off for the Cd's (see below). They weren't released with the actual product (same as MSDE) and had to be applied for. Not owning a DEC Alphaserver, I never got round to it. Then after the ensuing SUN, Microsoft battle when Microsoft had to retire the 98 product range, virtually all traces of these CDs disappeared.

I now have and still use a DEC Alphaserver 1000a 5/300 with NT4 on it, but have been limited with what I can do with it, thus the desire to get an iso, thus stumbling upon this thread.

I believe the two cd's were entitled "Visual Basic for Alpha Systems" and "Visual C++ for Alpha Systems"

from the link you listed....
Licensed users of the Enterprise editions of Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0 are entitled to receive copies of Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0 for the Alpha platform for only the cost of shipping and handling. Enterprise customers may order the Alpha edition immediately at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/alpha/default.asp . The Alpha platform editions contain all of the updated components and features from the release of Visual Studio 6.0, including Service Pack 1.

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Are you familiar with the web page BETA Archive? https://www.betaarchive.com/
I wanted to submit the ISO there, but the process is too involved and poorly documented. No help from the moderator either.

If you can, we would like to see it work in a video. That would be a cool exchange.
The title of the cd set is "Office test platform & Development Tools", msdn.
The cd's are titled "Visual Basic 6.0 Alpha Platform Development System Disc 1-2" and
"Visual C++ 6.0 Alpha Platform Development System Disc 1-2", dated April 1999.

Microsoft might respond favourably to a written request.

Does this VB6 Alpha work on Win 64bit today?

Modern 64bit CPUs use the AMD64 instruction set; you can't use programs compiled to target the Alpha platform or RISC architecture in regular Windows; you'd need the 64bit NT4/Win2k and Alpha hardware (or an emulator to run it inside) to run the version this thread is talking about; it's meant for entirely different hardware than modern 64bit PCs.

If you want to compile 64bit apps for normal, modern 64bit Windows, from VB6/VBA code, you can check out twinBASIC, a project to make a fully backwards compatible VB6-successor. The language itself is already essentially complete (including 64bit compilation, but to really take advantage of it (or call APIs at all), you need to update your code to 64bit VBA-syntax); it just doesn't yet have all the VB objects and controls (or menus). But it does support highly complex VB6 apps; for instance I made an x64 version of my VB6 ETW Kernel logger consumer (watches file activity by tapping into events coming directly from the kernel).