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Trying to install this stuff again, this time using a different pc
Tyler Wrobel
Member #16,594
November 2016

My alienware mobo bit the dust, I think the cpu burnt up. Long story. But, I still never finished installing allegro last time I tried. I am using windows 8.1 pro on a amd fx build. This is pretty much my youtube pc but want to try this again. Again good help out there, last two attempts were horrible but I learned alot. Working on my brainchild c/c++ program now and am gonna need gui for end-users other than myself who don't use cmd for everything. I prefer it.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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Tyler Wrobel
Member #16,594
November 2016

Did they update the wiki tutorials or will your binaries work with those?

Edit: Also, I am considering buying a book on cmake to try to understand the philosophy behind this stuff. Do you think that would be a good idea? This is the book. This making and not making s**t is super confusing. https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-CMake-Ken-Martin/dp/1930934319/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498939300&sr=1-1&keywords=cmake I think if I could atleast learn the philosophy and methods behind the madness I could be usefull.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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Allegro 5 is allegro 5. 5.2 is just most recent, but the api is the same.

See http://liballeg.org/a5docs/trunk/ for the latest docs.

A book on CMake could be a good investment, but if you don't know C yet, that's what you should be learning. You should learn how to compile on the command line, and you should learn how to create and configure projects in different IDEs like Code::Blocks and Visual Studio, QtCreator, etc...

For a walkthrough of CodeBlocks and MinGW, see this short tutorial I gave here :
https://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/616954/1031207#target

And take a look at these wiki pages :
https://wiki.allegro.cc/index.php?title=Windows,_Code::Blocks_and_Allegro_5
https://wiki.allegro.cc/index.php?title=Installing_MinGW

Tyler Wrobel
Member #16,594
November 2016

By C, do you mean C proper. Or do you mean C/C++ as is commonly spoken about as if to be one. Although it is certainly not one even I know that to an extent. I have read a few books on C++ but perhaps I did not read them thoroughly enough or completely. Or would these books have simply not contained all the information I need because they were books on C++ and not C? Is that what you mean? Even the books I read mentioned that the information inside them would not be a substitute for learning about C. If so it just so happens I have quite a large book on C coming in the mail soon. Also, not to be too lazy but I heard there might be a distributions of Linux or two out there that may come pre configured with a "working" installation of Allegro on board, do you know if this true?

Also, the word "working" is italicised here because to my best understanding I am not sure I understand what the word working means in this context. I thought it would be super easy once I compiled the libraries the first time and got almost no errors to just link on the command line with my project(still need to learn a little more about this I guess) and pop out with a functioning allegro library but the more I read about it it seems like in some cases you need to have both a library and dll and I'm just like wtf am I even supposed to be looking for, I'm like wtf can't I have just a dll.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
avatar

So called "working" distributions of Allegro on Linux are usually old and out of date because no one maintains the repositories.

Learn C, because that has basic programming skills you need elsewhere. Learn C, because it makes you manage your own memory. Learn C because it's the basics of C++. Then learn C++.

My binary distributions are working distributions of Allegro. All you need is the compiler that they were built with, and that is linked more than once now in everything I linked you to.

Tyler Wrobel
Member #16,594
November 2016

Ok. Than I will focus more on learning C now, you have any example code available from your compiler to see if I am compiling my programs with it?

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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I believe that the Fedora Linux distribution has a relatively new ish Allegro build available in the packages. It's unlikely you'll run into any serious bugs with such a package as a beginner, and by the time you do encounter any bugs with a packaged version you should be better prepared to upgrade yourself (that said, building Allegro 5 in Linux is also 10000x easier than Windows).

Tyler Wrobel
Member #16,594
November 2016

I plan to have a dedicated or triple boot system with Linux soon. If I can get a cheap enough laptop to install an image onto you have any distro suggestions? Preferably you got a link aswell to an image that you have experience with?

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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It's generally best to just install the latest stable release for a particular distribution. I have had good successes with Fedora and Debian. Ubuntu, which is a derivative of Debian, is probably the most user-friendly because it comes with all the non-free goodies you might be accustomed to, but it also encourages some bad habits, and I don't particularly care for their Unity graphical shell which got caught spying on users a few years back so if you wish to go that route I suggest a different flavor. I like [Ubuntu] MATE[1]. Each distribution will have documentation for installing. Usually it's the same basic steps: write the installation image to some bootable media, boot up the image, and follow the on-screen installation instructions. The most technical part is the partitioning scheme, which can be automatic if you don't particularly care, but can be a bit of a struggle if you want something custom and featureful. It's advisable to read through an entire installation guide before even starting the process so that you get a taste of what you're in for before it even begins. That can help with planning it out and doing any additional research if you're uncertain. There's plenty of resources to ask for help if you find yourself stuck, including here (but distro community help will likely be more targeted and plentiful).

References

  1. Disclaimer: I honestly usually download it from the ubuntu.com site, but this seems legit enough at first glance to be real.
Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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