Beginning with Lazarus/Pascal on Win XP platform

[Yaron]

Dear members,
I am about to install Lazarous on Win XP platform. I downloded the latest binary file of lazarous (0.9b .... win32).
A:Is there a guide that helps with the instalation and getting it working ?
B: Is it possible later on to upgrade the FPC version used by Lazarus ?
C: Is there a basic beginner manual halping first steps in Lazarus/Pascal developing ?
D: Does the Binary package include also graphical libraries ?

I thank you all, and thanks for the developers , Yaron

[Didier69]

Hi Yaron,

Nice questions . I 'm a begginer too .

For the D question : yes there is windows widget, and I think gtk too, but I didn't try yet the gtk version.

Regards.

[Vincent Snijders]

A: Some documentation can be found at the lazarus-ccr site:  http://lazarus-ccr.sourceforge.net/index.php?wiki=LazarusDocumentation.
For installation see http://lazarus-ccr.sourceforge.net/index.php?wiki=InstallingLazarus. These are wiki pages, so they can be updated by anybody. Feel free to add any clarification or things you think are missing.
B. Yes, this is possible. A different compiler can be set in the environment options. ATM recompiling lazarus, can't be done in the IDE, but when you do
make clean
make
in the lazarus directory a new lazarus (and lcl) will be made, provided the new compiler is on the path.
C. Not that I am aware of. But the tutorial at lazarus-ccr only has the heading. (Feel free to add your experiences).
D. If you mean, can I make graphical application, yes the binary package includes the lazarus component library and it interface for win32 api. On linux the LCL uses the interface for gtk. gtk for windows is available (in source), but doesn't work.