Gosh, just when I was beginning to think I had a clue, this:

I downloaded the combined package for Windows/Dos, accepting all the default settings. I opened it using WinZip, which then installed everything, cleaned up, and closed.

And... I don't know how to use what I've downloaded. I've looked at the ReadMe's, the PDF manual. I type in (at the DOS prompt) the things they suggest. I keep getting Bad File Command or something like that. In Windows, none of the files have come up as something windows understands on its own: i.e. they all ask "Open With..."

I am reading a tutorial (from C.I.T. in New Zealand) but I can't follow along because I can't get any part of this to work. Honestly I feel really stupid.

Any help appreciated

TIA,

Jonathan Gold

Jonathan Gold wrote

And... I don't know how to use what I've downloaded. I've looked at the ReadMe's, the PDF manual. I type in (at the DOS prompt) the things they suggest. I keep getting Bad File Command or something like that. In Windows,

There are 3 ways to use FPC:

a) the command line compiler:

You probably still have to add the directory that contains the FPC executables to your path. To do this, open c:\autoexec.bat in notepad, look for a line that starts with "PATH=", add a ";" at the end of that line (if there isn't one yet) and then add the bin directory of your fpc installation (which is most likely something like "c:\pp\bin\win32"). Next, to compile something, type

ppc386 filename.pas

in a Dos window. You can create the pascal source files in any text editor you like, as long as you save them as *.txt files (note that if you save them then as filename.pas, you probably end up with filename.pas.txt). You may want to search for a programmer's text editor on the net instead.

b) the "official" IDE

Go to c:\pp\bin\win32 (replace c:\pp with the directory where you installed FPC) and doubleclick on fp.exe. Then you'll get the (text mode) IDE. It's still in beta thogh and not yet 100% stable (especially not the version that shipped with 1.0.4 of the compiler).

c) a third party IDE

This may be the preferred option for you. There are several for Windows, have a look at the links section of the website (FPE and FPIDE).

Jonas

You must add the directory c:\pp\bin\win32 to the PATH (replace c:\pp with whatever directory you installed FPC under)

To do this, set a statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET PATH=%PATH%;c:\pp\bin\win32

Enter the same command at the command line, and it should work.

this is also in the manual.

Michael.

Thanks Jonas. I haven't got the time to check all those ways yet, but your 'b' has got me up and running. There were so many .exe files, and I did try a couple -- but without visible result. I'm afraid their names were just a little too cryptic for this newbie to decipher. Thanks for your help,

Jonathan