Hi everybody, As I alluded to previously, here is my small list of proposed corrections/clarifications that I think might be nice to add to the "Installation and Getting Started" documentation if these items have not already been updated by others.
[Note: This is simply the list I referred to earlier. Some of these may very well already be included in the update submitted by Dave Perry and others. I have not seen those new changes yet, and I certainly will not play with the CVS server until those changes have already been made.] As I mentioned previously, these are simply some of the issues that I came across during my installation earlier this week with which I think other new users could possibly benefit with some clarification. I'm posting this list of items simply so that others may comment on or correct any of these points or add their own. So, again, the purpose of this list is simply to elicit early feedback on any items not already covered by others. Thanks, Benjamin : ) P.S. It's great to see so much interest in FlightGear this week, particularly in the area of documentation. : ) We seem destined for greatness. : ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some Proposed Updates to the "Installation and Getting Started" Documentation 1. Proposed Correction: Section 2.2 is titled, "Preparing the development environment under Windows" but it deals with preparing the development environment under Linux. (i.e., Simple typo apparently: Change "Windows" to "Linux.") 2. Proposed Addition: Section 2.2 Important Note for Linux users with Nvidia graphics cards: As has been mentioned previously, Linux users with Nvidia graphics cards will need to install the special Nvidia Linux drivers for OpenGL functionality. (These drivers do not ship with any Linux distribution because they are non-GPL (licensed to Nvidia), if I am not mistaken.) Nvidia video drivers for Linux may be downloaded from here: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp [Most users will probably be interested in the link to Linux IA32 Display Drivers in the top right of the page.] IMPORTANT NOTE: The Nvidia drivers will include *most, but not all* of the drivers necessary for OpenGL for FlightGear purposes. You will still need to install the OpenGL GLUT toolkit (which the Nvidia drivers do not include). Note: OpenGL.org does not appear to be the easiest place from which to download and install GLUT, however. (Many users have encountered great difficulty in trying that.) I was able to download and install GLUT very conveniently via RPMs from: http://www.redhat.com/apps/download/ Scroll to the bottom of that page and search for "GLUT." Two files will be returned: glut-3.7-8.i386.rpm (107KB) glut-devel-3.7-8.i386.rpm (179KB) [I am not sure if they are both required; I installed them both.] [To my knowledge, these rpms are non-RedHat-specific. Otherwise they would include "rh" in the filenames. Can anybody confirm this?] 3. Proposed Correction: Section 2.3.2 Installation of Metakit a. Documentation indicates, "Next, change to directory zlib-X.X.X/builds" but I believe this should be: "Next, change to directory metakit-X.X.X/builds" b. Documentation suggests to run: ./configure --with-tcl=no make make install However there is no "configure" in the builds directory. (It has been moved.) The Metakit-2.4.3. README indicates: You should perform the following steps: % cd builds % ../unix/configure [--with-tcl=no] % make % make test [as a check, if you desire] % make install 4. Proposed Addition: Section 2.3.2 Installation of Metakit VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: With the default installation, libmk4.so.0 is installed into /usr/local/lib. You need to ensure that that path is listed in /etc/ld.so.conf, and then run 'ldconfig' as root. If you do not do so, you will later encounter the following error when you attempt to configure FlightGear: "checking for metakit 2.4.3 or newer... wrong version configure: error: Install metakit 2.4.3 or later first. Or, the compiler may not be finding your libmk4.so library. Please check the config.log file for specific details of the failure if you believe you have the correct metakit version. Also, look up this issue in the FlightGear FAQ." 5. Proposed Addition: Section 2.4 Compiling FlightGear under Linux/Windows The following notes, I think, should be made: * Include either the option "--with-new-environment" or "--with-weathercm", but not both. * A typical path to plib might be: --with-plib=/usr/include/plib * A typical path to metakit might be: --with-metakit=/usr/local/src/SimGear-0.3.1/src-libs/metakit-2.4.3 * A typical path to simgear might be: --with-simgear=/usr/local/src/SimGear-0.3.1/simgear [Question: I have alternatively used --with-metakit=/usr/local/lib *or* --with-metakit=/usr/local/src/SimGear-0.3.1/src-libs/metakit-2.4.3 Which, if either, is preferable?] In summary, a reasonable/working set of configure options might be: ./configure --with-network-olk --with-weathercm --with-plib=/usr/include/plib --with-metakit=/usr/local/src/SimGear-0.3.1/src-libs/metakit-2.4.3 --with-simgear=/usr/local/src/SimGear-0.3.1/simgear --prefix=/usr/local/FlightGear --disable-jsbsim --disable-yasim --disable-larcsim --disable-uiuc 6. Proposed Addition: Section 2.4 Documentation indicates: "This completes building the executable and should result in a file fgfs (Unix) or fgfs.exe (Windows) under /usr/local/FlightGear/bin" Proposed additional comment: But don't forget, you still need to install the base package before you are ready to run FlightGear. (See Section 2.7) 7. Proposed Correction: Section 4.1 Launching the simulator under Unix/Linux Documentation indicates: "Under Linux (or any other flavor of Unix), FlightGear will be invoked by runfgfs --option1 --option2...," However, I believe this is now simply: ./fgfs --option1 --option2... [Can anybody confirm whether this is also the case for Windows (Section 4.2) and MacOS X (Section 4.3)?] Also: The discussion related to loading the FlightGear library seems to consistently reference /usr/local/FlightGear/lib. However, I believe this is now /usr/local/FlightGear/data. [Correct?] [Btw: I do not at all seem to need to use LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/FlightGear/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH export LD_LIBRARY_PATH/ I simply use: ./fgfs --fg-root=/usr/local/FlightGear/data ... Can anybody clarify the use of these alternatives? Was the former primarily used when the runfgfs script was used instead of the fgfs binary itself?] In summary, a good FlightGear startup command for beginners might be: ./fgfs --fg-root=/usr/local/FlightGear/data --enable-auto-coordination Note: --enable-auto-coordination simply coordinates the action of the ailerons and the rudder, making turns easier for first-time fliers. _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-users
