[RP Singh]

To the question "How can we get Blend running on XP?", the answer "Get rid of XP and don't run Blend" doesn't seem useful to me. Is that so odd?

So far I can confirm that Blend (the Android version) won't run on BlueStacks (during the Blend APK install process, an error message comes up related to version). I also tried installing the Blend APK on my old Z10 and old Z30 for kicks and the response is just "Can't Install this App". And so far, latest try on the list of things to try was the manymo android emulator which reported a parsing error when it tried to install the Blend APK. I haven't yet successfully gotten the android emulator included with the android SDK to run, but when I do, I will try the Blend APK there as well.

Also on the list, but way down it, is installing the Android OS in a VirtualBox though I am a little loathe to do so just because of how you have to pre-allocate a bunch of resources (ram, storage, etc) to a VB ahead of time... and my XP machine has only 4 GB of ram (to those who will jump up about the XP32bit limit on RAM, the extra GB has been reclaimed as a ramdrive on which part of the pagefile resides, ok? so shush) but if I end up going this route, I will report my results here for anyone else in the same boat.

Any other comments (useful ones, like that don't sound like "Stop using XP") are welcome!

[MobileMadness002]

Ask in the MSDN forums maybe. I am sure they have tips and tricks for running new apps on old EOL operating systems. Other than asking MS at this point, you have reached your end of options. BlackBerry has already stated their system requirements. If you want to use it, follow the requirements.

[anon(3732391)]

RP...
I've come to the conclusion that you're just trying to get a rise out of those of us that have TRIED to help you and
you KNOW that you can't install Blend on Windows XP.

There's no way to do it. Except it!

It's time you gave up so we can offer our experience to the many others here that require our assistance.

I urge any posters that read this NOT to post anything and let this thread end here.

[MobileMadness002]

RP...
I've come to the conclusion that you're just trying to get a rise out of those of us that have TRIED to help you and
you KNOW that you can't install Blend on Windows XP.

There's no way to do it. Except it!

It's time you gave up so we can offer our experience to the many others here that require our assistance.

I urge any posters that read this NOT to post anything and let this thread end here.

I do agree with you 100%. Accept it and carry on. XP is dead.

[RP Singh]

RP...
I've come to the conclusion that you're just trying to get a rise out of those of us that have TRIED to help you and
you KNOW that you can't install Blend on Windows XP.

There's no way to do it. Except it!

It's time you gave up so we can offer our experience to the many others here that require our assistance.

I urge any posters that read this NOT to post anything and let this thread end here.

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume that what you wrote was indeed what you meant, and that you truly do think that my sole purpose in this thread is to do what you said. Consequently, I hope to dispell that unfortunate notion because it is completely removed from the truth. Granted, my occasional choice of words could lend itself to a tone that implies a non productive purpose in this thread, and thanks to your comment I am now regretting that occasional choice of words, however I would like to think it is also clear that I have also been directing my own efforts at solving this issue, and not simply trying to milk others' resources.

That said, I do think you might have gotten things backwards. Those who feel that XP can't be made to run Blend should not feel compelled to participate in achieving that goal, they should not feel compelled to put down or demean the efforts of others. In other words, I think those of you who are against the idea of running Blend under XP are the ones who should not be getting a rise out of those of us who wish to achieve this goal.

Again, assuming everyone here is bringing their posts from a good place in their heart, those who naysay this Blend-under-XP initiative probably believe they are contributing to sparing the rest of us the frustration of attempting to achieve the supposedly impossible. I appreciate the compassion behind such a thought, and kindly ask you to recognise that there are those of us who sometimes are not prepared to accept the status quo and we forge ahead to attempt to achieve that which the masses believe unachievable (as an example, take the folks who thought it was a good idea to run Windows apps under linux, and thus spawned Wine). You are welcome to disagree, that's fine, but to draw a conclusion on my person and supposed troll-like purposes is unnecessary, uncalled for, and as it happens, just plain incorrect.

I would much rather spend time contributing to the actual purpose of this thread than having to defend my contribution to its existence, so I hope this post is the last I will need to speak to the matter.

So here's maybe what I should have posted from the start (in this thread) to help explain why I am genuinely interested in the possibility to run Blend under XP. First of all, I stopped buying Windows licenses after XP. Vista seemed unpleasant to me, and Linux (Ubuntu specifically) seemed very pleasant. So since the days of XP, I have never installed any subsequent version of Windows on any machines that entered my inventory. Usually, I would stage them dual-boot with Ubuntu or Xubuntu, and Windows XP. Most of the machines coming my way were being disposed of by users who didn't value the hardware anymore, for whatever reason, and they came with an XP sticker on them already. So all of my XP licenses are legit. No need to give money to MicroSoft.

That said, among the things I do, I still have the occasional need for things like Internet Explorer 7 & 8, and other Windows-specific, or Windows-XP specific applications needed for testing or VPN connections to corporate client accounts, and so on. Whenever I have been able to successfully and stably run a Windows app under wine / wintetricks, etc in Linux, I have done so, but the success rate has not been 100% unfortunately. So Windows remains a part of my environment, despite the mass shift to Linux.

BlackBerry, as far as I know, has yet to embrace the Linux platform among its userbase. I have seen some linux-based tools developed for people with BB7 (and under) devices, and maybe there is stuff out there for BB10 now as well. Be that as it may, I have included in my attempts to get Blend to run for me, running it under wine, and no success so far. If I do achieve success, though, I will share that here too.

I would love to see Blend run under XP because there is no reason for me to shift away from XP (Windows-wise) because everything else I have runs on Linux, and you will have a hard time convincing me that I am a unique individual in the world in that respect.

So I say again, if there is a way for Blend to be run for those of us who never made the leap to a Windows more recent than XP, then let those of us who want to figure out how to make that work do so, without the "stop trying that!" comments. If there is a major need to go vent on why people should not use XP at all, maybe start a thread dedicated to that, heck maybe even on MSDN or whatever that other site is. In the mean time, I will continue to help (where I can) and seek help (from whoever is interested in providing it) on how those of us who don't care to invest in further MicroSoft (or even Apple Mac), or buy Android or iOS devices, can still get in on the Blend experience. Be it under XP or Linux, but for this thread, I am focusing more on XP.

[anon(3732391)]

[FSeverino]

yea my desktop is running vista and Blend wont work but I tried it on my asus transformer (win 8) and it works perfectly with no problems.

now i need to see if i can upgrade my desktop to win 7

[FSeverino]

Upgraded to 7 and it works perfectly!

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[thurask]

Upgraded to 7 and it works perfectly!

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Should have done that regardless of Blend

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[FSeverino]

Probably, was just lazy lol

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[RP Singh]

I haven't been so lucky.

Tried the android-x86 in a virtual computer under XP and under Linux and Blend installs but when launched gets as far as �Unfortunately, BlackBerry Blend has stopped.�. Every time. Still working on it.

Anyone else had any luck with Blend under XP?

Posted via CB10

[RP Singh]

This isn't much of a progress report, but it is what it is...

So not being anything at all resembling a programmer, I have been reading here and there on what makes Blend need Windows 7 that isn't available in Vista or XP. One comment I saw suggested something about the latest .NET framework (4.5 if I am not mistaken) being one of the requirements for Blend under Windows. So I did some more reading about .NET 4.5 under Windows XP and there sure is a lot to read on that subject, most of it from programmers decrying the lack support for .NET 4.5 under Windows XP, the predominant O/S in many corporate environments. Among the volume of topical content, I saw a reference to something called the Mono project. Some of you may already know that Mono is an open-source implementation of .NET and it is 1) Available for Windows XP (among many other OS including Linux) and 2) compatible (except for a few aspects) with .NET 4.5.

Sadly, my current (but very slowly vanishing) lack of knowledge in the programming arena makes not immediately grasp the significance of this, but I kinda got the impression that Mono can somehow, potentially, make apps that depend on .NET 4.5 be runnable in Windows XP (for which Microsoft has not made .NET 4.5 available).

So, if any programming wizards are out there, I welcome your thoughts on whether or not Mono can be a game changer in making Blend work under XP. (One caveat here, I don't welcome the "Stop using XP" thoughts - that can go in a separate forum.)

[MobileMadness002]

This isn't much of a progress report, but it is what it is...

So not being anything at all resembling a programmer, I have been reading here and there on what makes Blend need Windows 7 that isn't available in Vista or XP. One comment I saw suggested something about the latest .NET framework (4.5 if I am not mistaken) being one of the requirements for Blend under Windows. So I did some more reading about .NET 4.5 under Windows XP and there sure is a lot to read on that subject, most of it from programmers decrying the lack support for .NET 4.5 under Windows XP, the predominant O/S in many corporate environments. Among the volume of topical content, I saw a reference to something called the Mono project. Some of you may already know that Mono is an open-source implementation of .NET and it is 1) Available for Windows XP (among many other OS including Linux) and 2) compatible (except for a few aspects) with .NET 4.5.

Sadly, my current (but very slowly vanishing) lack of knowledge in the programming arena makes not immediately grasp the significance of this, but I kinda got the impression that Mono can somehow, potentially, make apps that depend on .NET 4.5 be runnable in Windows XP (for which Microsoft has not made .NET 4.5 available).

So, if any programming wizards are out there, I welcome your thoughts on whether or not Mono can be a game changer in making Blend work under XP. (One caveat here, I don't welcome the "Stop using XP" thoughts - that can go in a separate forum.)

Ask that in the Mono developers forums. I doubt they care in the least as it uses the .Net runtime provided by Microsoft.

From their download page.

The latest stable release is MonoDevelop 5.0.1.3. See the Release Notes.
Packages

Select your operating system:

Windows

Mac OSX

Packages:

MonoDevelop 5.0.1.3 installer

Download

To install this release, you also need to install the following packages:

.NET Framework 4.0	Download
GTK# for .NET 2.12.25	Download

Maybe time for you to upgrade your computer.

[Bluenoser63]

So I did some more reading about .NET 4.5 under Windows XP and there sure is a lot to read on that subject, most of it from programmers decrying the lack support for .NET 4.5 under Windows XP, the predominant O/S in many corporate environments.

Windows XP is NOT the predominate OS in many corporate environment. If they are using XP, you should stay about from those companies as they are putting themselves in position of being hacked. I know and deal with many corporations across the US and Canada and none of them are still using XP.

[Kaacz]

DDL stands for Dynamic Link Library in which all the system DRIVERS are stored!

Yes, drivers are stored in DLL files. But DLL != DRIVERS !!!.
DLL is LIBRARY and is possible store anything in this file. More than 90% of DLL files are NOT drivers. Simply binary libraries. For example common pieces of applications.

Please do not LIE. And please do not use "!" with your lies. "!" don't make truth from lie.
Thanks ..

[Kaacz]

RP...
you KNOW that you can't install Blend on Windows XP.
There's no way to do it. Except it!

Wrong. Installation IS possible. But app not running. Be more exact.
And repeat: don't use "!" for make your fails more extraordinary. You look as 12 year old boy ..
PS: Maybe you mean "Accept it" ??

[cybersaga]

Yes, drivers are stored in DLL files. But DLL != DRIVERS !!!.
DLL is LIBRARY and is possible store anything in this file. More than 90% of DLL files are NOT drivers. Simply binary libraries. For example common pieces of applications.

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. In fact, most drivers are stored in .sys files.

But anyway....

[cybersaga]

Linux (Ubuntu specifically) seemed very pleasant.

You are better off using an Android emulator in Ubuntu and running the Blend app there.

Found this from Google: 5 Best Android Emulators for Linux | Run Android Apps on Linux Ubuntu,LinuxMint,Fedora,ArchLinux,OpenSUSE,Mageia, CentOS etc-. : TechApple : . Communicating Technology In an Easy Way

[RP Singh]

I am totally going to try that, thanks!!!

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[bzavitz]

XP is no longer supported. If MS doesn't support it, why should Blackberry.

Very simple: because there are MILLIONS of computers out there that are still running XP (I have one of them and I am not Chinese) and most developers recognize that and try to make their new offerings backward compatible. Like others on this thread, I've found Blend to be the first program I have wanted that wouldn't run on XP, which is running very much to my satisfaction despite the ancient predictions of it's imminent demise.

[cybersaga]

Sounds like you are one of the few that have a brand new phone, but an old computer. There aren't many of you.

[bzavitz]

According to Netmarketshare.com, 16% of PCs are still running XP-- that is not an insignificant number, almost 3x the number of all Mac users combined at just under 6%. By comparison Vista is only 2% and Windows 8 is only 3.5%.

[RP Singh]

Pleeeeease make Blend work with XP already (or Ububntu)! Blend is not reason enough for me to buy Windows 7 or 8 or MacIntosh.

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