Lazarus first contact

Well, not really first contact. I messed around with Laz a year or 2 ago. Great system, but the web 'visibility' was poor, I thought. I am beginning to use it again, and give my impressions of a novice who has heard of Laz, and wants to use it. Please take this in a positive way - I want to help.

So... I google 'Lazaras ide'. I get to the www.lazarus.freepascal.org page. Good. But it seems to be a forum rather than a product. Nevertheless, I see a download link. I follow it.

I see:
Looking for the latest version? Download lazarus-0.9.30.4-fpc-2.6.0-win32.exe (78.8 MB)

I assume this is a Windows 32-bit version. Not sure if it runs on Win 64(quite common now) or if there is a latest Linux version. There are no install instructions - maybe they will appear when I run it? There are a host of other versions below:
GZIP...RPM...DEB...Windows 32 Bits( is this the same as the win32exe above?) No idea what GZIP or RPM means. Is the GZIP for Windows, just zipped in a different format?

I guess that Sourceforge is restricted as regards explanatory text - but could the versions be given clearer names? If I want to learn programming from the start, Laz could be great, but there is an initial barrier.

Anything I can do to help?

Mike

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Mike Parr wrote

I see: Looking for the latest version? Download lazarus-0.9.30.4-fpc-2.6.0-win32.exe (78.8 MB)

This is sourceforge trying to be clever and choose the best one based on your browser id, I think. For me it shows the .deb.tar, which suits my OS (debian).

I assume this is a Windows 32-bit version.? Not sure if it runs on Win 64(quite common now) or if there is a latest Linux version. There are no install instructions - maybe they will appear when I run it?

I'd imagine that the installer will guide you.

There are a host of other versions below: ?? GZIP...RPM...DEB...Windows 32 Bits( is this the same as the win32exe above?)

Presumably, yes.

?? No idea what GZIP or RPM means.? Is the GZIP for Windows, just zipped in a different format?

If you follow the link, you'll see that the "gzip/zip" are source archives (lazarus-0.9.30.4-src.zip). It's bzip, incidentally, so there's a typo there. RPM/DEB is for linux, as it says in the list. These are for different package managers.

?? I guess that Sourceforge is restricted as regards explanatory text - but could the versions be given clearer names?? If I want to learn programming from the start, Laz could be great, but there is an initial barrier.

No harm in asking here (after a quick visit to your favourite search engine :).

Henry