OT: installing programs

[mwieder]

Been a long time since I've had to do any M$ work but now I'm setting up a Virtualbox win installation.

How does one install programs?
Where's the equivalent of "apt install"?

[stam]

Not sure there's an direct equivalent to apt ... but there is an app for the MS App Store (It should be in the Start menu). For many apps you'll probably need to go to the vendor's website.

You may also want to have a look at https://portableapps.com, I've used this and found it to have helpful stuff and includes open source apps...

HTH
Stam

[Klaus]

I have used "innosetup" in the past to create "real" Windows -> SETUP.EXE
without something like that many win-users are completely lost.

[mwieder]

I spent a day installing Windows 7 and then another day finding out that you can't install vscode on win7.
Spent another day installing Win11 and a *long* time installing the latest vscode.
After a configuration screen that doesn't fit on the screen so a lot of entries aren't visible - just closed my eyes and hit return.

All I really want is a commandline c++ compiler and git.
The OS doesn't seem to have a default compiler. Sheesh.

[stam]

VSCode is very configurable, so if your screen is too small (and I'm genuinely curious as to how small you screen is to cause this issue) you can probably reconfigure VSCode so you see what you need to.

However you now seem to be more specific in your quest:

All I really want is a commandline c++ compiler and git.
The OS doesn't seem to have a default compiler. Sheesh.

If you want a c++ compiler you could just google "c++ compiler for windows"

I did exactly this and was rewarded with:

This is so simple as to actually struggle to believe you haven't already done this.
You have, haven't you?

[mwieder]

Not the size of the screen - it's 27 inches but the text on the vscode configuration page is half off the screen and can't be scrolled into view. I saw a bunch of checkmarks and some partial text and I know there's a submit button off to the right somewhere so I just hit enter to select the choice I was given.

...and yes, I know there are other downloadable c compilers but I need to play by the rules here.
Luckily pip install works. So far.

[stam]

Unfortunately the questions you asked don't really convey what you're actually asking, hence your question seems to change with every additional post. Reading all your posts together it seems likely you were actually asking how to use the command line to download and install a CPP compliler - but quite why you would (as opposed to downloading the installer from the web for example, even if just for command line use) is unclear...

...and yes, I know there are other downloadable c compilers but I need to play by the rules here.

This is what I mean... What rules?

the text on the vscode configuration page is half off the screen and can't be scrolled into view. I saw a bunch of checkmarks and some partial text and I know there's a submit button off to the right somewhere so I just hit enter to select the choice I was given.

What VSCode configuration page? Do you mean extension configuration? for which extension? If you're really asking for help with this, perhaps consider sharing a screenshot showing the issue.

Anyway, glad you found a solution that fulfils your requirements.
S.

[mwieder]

Fair enough. In my winfrustration I misspoke about vscode instead of vstudio.
But here's a screenshot of installing visual studio on win11. It's a moot point now because I just accepted whatever is selected there since I couldn't scroll to the submit button. And it turns out to be a virtualbox display adjustment to crank things up from 1024x768. But who in their right mind writes installers that a) only fit on a given screen size, b) can't be scrolled, and c) have no way to quit if the active buttons are off the screen?

So now I've got my commandline visual studio compiler. As well as several gigabytes of other stuff.
And lacking an appropriate "apt install" command I did the GUI thing: launched a browser, searched for git, downloaded, and installed.
I did discover winget, and it failed rather spectacularly.

...and "by the rules" is this... I'm preparing to compile the engine from source for the Open Source Xtalk Initiative The Must Not Be Named to ensure that my changes don't break anything, and I want to do this on a native win machine following the current instructions to make sure they still apply.

(heh... I've been away from Windows so long I forgot how to take a screenshot and had to look it up)
Thanks for putting up with my frustrated rant here... I'm remembering why I walked away.

[stam]

Thanks - that does make things much clearer. I have only used VSCode, not VS Studio (if I do anything in C it’s usually with XCode) but I’m moderately certain you can just run everything from VS Code with the right extension…!

Kudos for pushing the open source agenda…
In the event your current method doesn’t work, this link seems informative: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-t ... n-windows/

Best of luck!
Stam