Now I have many more questions. The first is How active is this list? Will I get the help I need from here? and if not where can I go for help.
A new site that is oriented toward new users is being built here:
http://lazarus-ccr.sourceforge.net
It's not totally up yet but the mailing lists and forums have been configured and all of the Lazarus documentation is available here:
http://lazarus-ccr.sourceforge.net/kb/
-Tom
