Free compilers and Windows environment

I was a c programmer back in the mid 80's, last working in a Microsoft C development environment under DOS 5.0 (as I recall)--programming the database interface to a Novell LAN dBase server with some dBase c tools (forget who made them) for a proprietary telecom product (distributed DOS PC monitor and configuration stations shared the database that configured/monitored a big telecom switch) at the time.

I would like dabble a bit with c (or c++) in the current Windows 98/ME/XP environment, but without having to buy anything <bg>. Do the free compilers, e.g., Borland 5.5, Bloodshed Dev 4.0 and Digital Mars, support creating code that can run as full-fledged Windows protected mode processes? I want to do more than run in a DOS simulation command window, in other words. Do I need Microsoft SDK (haven't even checked to see how much they want for that yet)? Pardon my probable naivete (or antiquity) in posing this question, but it would be helpful to know whether what I am contemplating is practical or possible before investing much time in it.

I would appreciate any comments or advice.

Dev C++ works in windows and comes with the SDK all for free

http://www.bloodshed.net/

I downloaded the Dev-C++ version 4 compiler yesterday. It wouldn't install on XP, nor would it function on ME, but I installed it on a Win 95 system and it came up nice. Woud the beta 5 compiler be more likely to install on XP?

I have the latest v4 on my PC, which is running Windows XP Pro, so I'm not sure what's wrong.

I downloaded Dev-C++ 4, haven't gotten 4.01 update. You are using this on XP? When did you download and install it?

Pardon me for continuing with relatively trivial drivel (is that an internal rhyme?), but I suspected the install on the ME machine so just went back uninstalled and reinstalled and it seems to work ok there. My XP machine continues to complain when I try to invoke the setup.exe installer, "The parameter is incorrect." I wonder if this is something related to my recent installation of XP SP1? It must be a problem with the setup.exe installer file itself, possibly in interaction with XP SP1? The setup.exe file was modified 07/24/1996, for what that is worth. Compilter build 09/21/2000, but again, it seems to be merely the installer having issues here.

Not that anyone is likely to be awaiting this followup with bated breath, but I had yet another machine lying around the house, this one running XP without SP1 (why didn't I try this sooner? Well, It was actually stored in an unused floor freezer awaiting installation at another site as a dedicated video surveillance platform--has a video board and software to pipe realtime, if slow, video to remote locations over the internet). Sure enough, Dev-C++ v4 installed on it without a complaint and seemed to run fine. Wonder if the problem is SP1 generally or the latest SP1 which removed MS Java VM support or the way I did an express update instead of downloading the entire SP1 package...anyway if anyone runs into this install difficulty with SP1 and Dev-C++ v4, welcome to the club.

The beta version works fine for me. The older versions aren't designed for XP. So, you have two options:

1) Use the beta (which has been beta for a long time, aka it's stable)

2) Use the older version and run it under compatability mode. However, you might have some occasional problems as compatability mode isn't perfect.

Thanks--I will give the beta a try soon (as soon as I can arrange time to download 12 MB over my 45kbps dialup connect--which typically gets choked down to 25-35% of that as the servers get stingy about the bandwidth usage on a long download).

I do note that I tried using XP's various compatibility mode tricks to try and get the v4 setup.exe to install, but it just plain refused to cooperate.

Hmm, I don't remember having to do anything to get it to install. I just ran the program itself under compatability mode.

Yeah, the problem is that I can't get the v4 setup.exe installer to run on my XP Home SP1 machine--never got to the point of seeing how the compiler ran in this environment. The installer won't run.

As I said earlier, I had no problem running the installer for v4 (setup.exe ) on another XP machine--one without SP1. There is just some quirk having to do with the recent express SP1 update I did apparently.