A good place to start is here.

For compilers, if you're running Windows, either MSVC or MinGW.

edit:

I just noticed that the installation guide for MinGW (Dev-CPP) is missing. The easiest way to install Allegro is to download one of the precompiled binaries, since it means you don't have to compile the library yourself.

The precompiled binaries can be found here. The same page also has the documentation, as well as other tools and examples, so make sure to grab them all.

If you are on Windows go get MingW (choose "MinGW-3.1.0-1.exe", it's old but will self-install, later you can just download each package and unpack it to the directory where you installed the first package).

Then download Allegro from here, unpack it somewhere on your disk and follow the instructions in /docs/build/mingw32.txt (if something goes wrong you may need some other packages listed in the Allegro download page).

[edit] I'm really slow o_O

When you say "the entire Allegro library" did you mean the precompiled version I recommended, or the sources from sourceforge that the others did? If you downloaded the source, you actually need to compile it, not just copy it to the MinGW directory.

There's no program that you can just run to test that the library has installed properly. You need to write some test code and make sure it compiles.

In reply to LennyLen's question, I downloaded the binary files(MinGW and tools .zip files.)

One last question: When I create a code, how do I compile it.(I'm using the C language.)

Likewise, why use an outdated, buggy, IDE to do that when you could use Code::Blocks to download and install the Dev-Paks.

edit: Oops, missed this...

Either download an IDE like Code::Blocks , which makes things easier, or follow the instructions that came with MinGW about how to compile from the command line.

The simplest command line instruction will be: gcc -o program-name.exe file1.c file2.c ... -lalleg

Well... you asked it: I think one should understand how low level things work before using an higher level tool that simplifies the work. Otherwise one comes out with things like this:

(nothing against you, coolmangroupof4, of course ).

Personally, I would understand the steps and commands that take a source code file to a working binary file, because they're the steps an IDE hides you under a click on a couple of buttons. This way if something goes wrong you can investigate a bit before going panic.

That's why I suggested him to get the source version and compile it by himself, it's hard in the beginning, but going throught the steps (and facing the problems you encounter), makes you more familiar with the tools.

Welcome

I'm not the maintainer of such files, but can you post those links? So they can be checked

Yeah, had also been googling around for an hour or more. Damn. Those two links and others I encountered, but it's too much of a hassle to look up now

Actually, I did that but it didn't work. That's exactly the part where I got stuck, and then the mingw32.txt didn't really help that much further.

I prefer to use dmc.exe, though, not gcc or mingw, etc., it's confusing as hell and doesn't work for me, even if I've followed the damn directions. What is the proper way to set up Allegro for Digital Mars? Haven't seen any documentation for it, so I've been just "guessing" and hoping it's possible at all. (gcc is too much pain (even to look at).)
Have taken the pre-compiled Allegro and put the 'bin' and 'include' into my 'dm' (compiler) directory, and put the three DLLs into C:\windows\system32. [s]But when I compile my first -- har har(!) -- simple basic Allegro program, it can't open the 'allegro.h' ? I instructed the compiler to look at it, but no.[/s] It gives me only errors now, but it least it can find allegro.h now
And what's the story with that 'lib' directory from the pre-compiled Allegro? They are all .a files, and I can't find any information about them.

All this searching and searching: arrrgh!

Alright, I think I got it running now -- mingw and followed the instructions in the .txt file for precompiled Allegro. I made a simple basic program but the compiler gives me too many errors, so I'm wondering if I've forgotten something or whether tthe simple code was wrong.

To sum up for clarity's sake what I got so far (excluding previous installation pains):

(1) I did the MinGW install; downloaded and installed through internet connection to C:\mingw; have only ticked C++ compiler, etc. stuff that looked necessary, for download.
(2) Followed the pre-compiled Allegro instructions (.txt file) for installation for mingw (-- moving lib, include, bin, to their necessary spots).
(3) Used "g++ <source> -o <output_name> -l alleg" to compile a simple test program here below:

#include <allegro.h>

int main
{
  allegro_init();
  install_keyboard();
  set_gfx_mode(GFX_AUTODETECT, 640, 480, 0, 0);
  
  readkey();
  return 0;
}
END_OF_MAIN();

...and got some errors. Mainly about an invalid function and WinMain.

Did I forget something? Faulty code, or maybe it's something else? (tired )
Before that summary I downloaded and installed the latest DX SDK from April, but haven't done anything else with it yet. Must I do something with it? I vaguely recall something about DX header files, but I don't recall where I read it.

Arrrgh! Such a little........ I think I need some sleep

Thanks for the help, guys! Now that it's finally up and running, I'll start doing some Allegro and hope to get out some nice stuff