Command line
The command line is often mentioned as a tool for starting or setting up Flightgear, Atlas, Terrasync, FGCOM and other programs related to Flightgear. Many users simply don't know, what the command line acutally is or how to make use of it. This article shall help...
As an advice independent from what operating system you may use: Try to use copy & paste as much as you can in order to avoid spelling mistakes, whenever you try to execute command line commands! The command line will do exactly what you tell her and when you spell it wrong, she'll act the wrong way...
Windows XP
On Windows XP, you have access to the command line by clicking the "Start" button and then chosing "Run...". Type "cmd" (without quotation marks) into the field and hit Enter.
You should see the so called prompt now, which says something like that:
Microsoft Windows [Version x.y.zz.abc] Copyright and stuff C:\Windows>_
That says you're operating on drive C in directory Windows. The blinking cursor awaits your commands.
You can simply chance drives by entering <drive-letter>: like that:
C:\Windows> d: D:\>_
And return to drive C in the same way:
D:\> c: C:\Windows>_
Now how about changing the directory? Assuming you downloaded Flightgear into the directory "Flightgear", that is located on drive D and its directory "Games". You do the following:
C:\Windows> d: D:\> cd Games D:\Games> cd Flightgear D:\Games\Flightgear>_
Easy, isn't it? You can also change directly into several subdirectories:
C:\Windows> d: D:\> cd Games\Flightgear D:\Games\Flightgear>_
And if you got into the wrong directory somewhere, just try "cd .." to go one directory downwards:
D:\Games\Flightgear> cd .. D:\Games> cd .. D:\>_
That's most you'll need to know about the command line, when operating under Windows XP. Any commands that appear in the forums or in a wiki can be executed directly on the command line. after you have changed into the correct directory first.
Linux
On Linux systems, there are several ways to get a command line. As Flightgear does only run in a graphic X-Window system, we'll use a so-called terminal.
The mosty used window managers are Gnome, KDE and Xfce. First way to get yourself a console would be using the window managers menue: KDE KDE-Menue > System > Konsole Gnome Applications > Accessories > Terminal Xfce Applications > Terminal
A different approach would be pressing Alt F2. That should open a dialog box, where you can enter one single command. Depending on which distribution of Linux you chose and which window manager you use, you can try "xterm", "konsole", "gnome-terminal", "gtkterm",
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Windows XP
Windows Vista?
Linux > Gnome, KDE, Xfce