%%
%% getstart.tex -- Flight Gear documentation: Installation and Getting Started
%% Chapter file
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%% Written by Michael Basler, started September 1998.
%%
%% Copyright (C) 2002 Michael Basler (pmb@epost.de)
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%% $Id: preface.tex,v 0.6 2002/09/09 michael
%% (Log is kept at end of this file)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\chapter*{Preface\label{preface}}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\FlightGear{} is a free Flight Simulator developed cooperatively over the Internet 
by a group of Flight Simulation and Programming Enthusiasts. This ''Installation and Getting
Started'' is meant to give beginners a guide in getting \FlightGear{} up and running. It is not intended to provide complete documentation of all the features and add-ons of \FlightGear{} but, instead, focuses on those aspects necessary to get into the air.  

This guide is split into two parts. The first part describes how to install the program while the second part details on how to actually fly with \FlightGear{}.

The chapters concentrate on the following aspects:
\medskip

\noindent
\textbf{Part I: Installation}
\medskip

 \noindent
Chapter \ref{free}, \textit{Want to have a free flight? Take \FlightGear{}}, introduces
the concept, describes the system requirements, and classifies the different versions
available.
 \medskip

 \noindent
 Chapter \ref{building}, \textit{Building the plane: Compiling the program},
explains how to build (compile and link) the simulator. Depending on your platform this
may or may not be required. Generally, there will be executable programs (binaries)
available for several platforms. Those on such systems who want to take off immediately,
without going through the potentially troublesome process of compiling, may skip this
Chapter.
 \medskip

 \noindent
 In Chapter \ref{prefligh}, \textit{Preflight: Installing \FlightGear{}}, you will find
instructions for installing the binaries\index{binary distribution} in case you did not
build them yourself as specified in the previous Chapter. You will need to install
scenery, textures, and other support files collected in the \Index{base package}.
 \medskip

\noindent
\textbf{Part II: Flying with \FlightGear{}}
\medskip

 \noindent
  The following Chapter \ref{takeoff}, \textit{Takeoff: How to start the
program}, describes how to actually start the installed program. It includes an overview on the numerous command line options as well as configuration files.
 \medskip

 \noindent
 Chapter \ref{flight}, \textit{In-flight: All about instruments, keystrokes and menus},
describes how to operate the program, i.\,e. how to actually fly with
\FlightGear{}\hspace{-1mm}. This includes a (hopefully) complete list of pre-defined keyboard
commands, an overview on the menu entries, detailed descriptions on the instrument panel and
HUD (head up display), as well as hints on using the mouse functions.
 \medskip

 \noindent
  In Appendix \ref{missed}, \textit{Missed approach: If anything refuses to work},
   we try to help you work through some common problems faced when using \FlightGear{}.
 \bigskip

 \noindent
 The Appendix \ref{opengl}, \textit{OpenGL graphics drivers}, describes some special problems you may encounter in case your system lacks support for the OpenGL graphics API \Index{OpenGL} which \FlightGear{} is based on. 
 \medskip

 \noindent
  In the final Appendix \ref{landing}, \textit{Landing: Some further thoughts before leaving the plane}, we would like to give credit to those who deserve it, sketch an overview
on the development of \FlightGear and point out what remains to be done.
 \medskip

 \noindent
 Accordingly, we suggest reading the Chapters as follows:
 \medskip


\noindent
\begin{tabular}{ll}
 \textbf{Installation}                                  	&\\
 Users of binary distributions (notably under Windows):	 	& \ref{prefligh}\\
 Installation under Linux/UNIX:               				 		& \ref{building}, \ref{prefligh}\\
 Installation under Macintosh:               							& \ref{prefligh}\\
  \textbf{Operation}                           						& \\
 Program start (all users):                      					& \ref{takeoff}\\
 Keycodes, Panel, Mouse\ldots (all users):       					& \ref{flight}\\
 \textbf{Troubleshooting}                      						& \\
 General issues:																						&  \ref{missed}\\
 Graphics problems: 									            				& \ref{opengl}\\
 \textbf{Optionally}                           						& \ref{free}, \ref{landing} 
\end{tabular}
\bigskip

\noindent
 While this introductory guide is meant to be self contained, we strongly suggest having a look into further documentation, especially in case of trouble:

\begin{itemize}
 \item For additional hints on troubleshooting and more, \textbf{please read the FAQ}\index{FAQ} 
 \medskip

 \noindent
 \web{http://www.flightgear.org/Docs/FlightGear-FAQ.html},
 
 The FAQ contains a host of valuable information, especially on rapidly changing flaws and additional reading, thus we strongly suggest consulting it in conjunction with our guide.
 
 
 \item A handy \textbf{leaflet}\index{leaflet} on operation for printout is available at
 \medskip

 \noindent
 \web{http://www.flightgear.org/Docs/InstallGuide/FGShortRef.html},
 \item Additional user documentation on special aspects is available within the base package under the directory \texttt{/FlightGear/Docs}.
 \end{itemize}

\noindent 
Finally:
\medskip


We know, most people hate reading manuals. If you are sure the graphics driver for your card supports \Index{OpenGL} (check documentation; for instance all \Index{NVIDIA} Windows and Linux drivers for \Index{TNT}/TNT2/\Index{Geforce}/Geforce2/Geforce3 do) and if you are using one of the following operating systems:

\begin{itemize}
\item \Index{Windows} 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP,
\item \Index{Macintosh} Mac OSX
\item \Index{Linux}
\item \Index{SGI Irix}
\end{itemize}

 \noindent
you can possibly skip at least Part I of this manual and exploit the pre-compiled binaries\index{binaries!pre-compiled}. These as well as instructions on how to set them up, can be found at
 \medskip

\web{http://www.flightgear.org/Downloads/}.
 \medskip

 \noindent
In case you are running \FlightGear{} on Linux, you may also be able to get binaries bundled with your distribution. Several vendors already include \FlightGear{}  binaries into their distributions.
 
Just download them, install them according to the description and run them via the installed \texttt{runfgfs} script or the batch file \texttt{runfgfs.bat}, respectively.

There is no guarantee for this approach to work, though. If it doesn't, don't give up! Have a closer look through this guide notably Section \ref{prefligh} and be sure to check out the \Index{FAQ}.


%% Revision 0.00  1998/09/08  michael
%% Initial revision for version 0.41.
%% Revision 0.01  2002/01/01 michael
%% Included outline of the Guide, integrated former separate chapter ''Quickstart''
%% revision 0.5 2002/01/01 michael/martin
%% Hint on Linux distros
%% revision 0.6 2002/09/09 michael
%% minor corrections