Re: LilyPond 1.3.148

[Mats Bengtsson]

> Have you seen the doco at:
> 
>     http://lilypond.org/development/Documentation/topdocs/out-www/WINDOWS.html

Sorry to complain, but I find these instructions fairly confusing.

- It first mentions how to obtain the source code and how to 
  compile it yourself. Then, in the section on Precompiled 
  binaries, it says "This will install the minimal set of 
  cygwin tools needed to run LilyPond" which, at least to me, 
  sounds as if you don't get Lilypond itself (but there was 
  this instruction above and also on the lines below talking 
  about compiling it yourself).

- "Windows running requirements" seems to indicate that you can
  install these tools after you install Lilypond, which is not
  a good idea. How about "Prerequisites"?

- I don't understand why the MiKTeX people made their SourceForge
  page so non-intuitive. The downloading page at CTAN is much 
  easier to understand. Of course, the disadvantage is that it
  has 5-6 files instead of a single file for the Level 1 part.


- Why not turn this page into a very simple step-by-step 
  instruction for the Windows installation:

  1. If you don't have MiKTeX (or your version is older than ...)
     install it from here ...
 
  2. ... Python ...

  3. ... GSView ...

  4. Download and run setup.exe. The first time you download Lilypond,
     it will also download a number of other tools needed ...
     It will ask for ..., click on ... bla bla bla.

  5. Now you are ready to try the program for the first time. 
     Save this file (some simple example) to the directory 
     c:\cygwin\..., start a LilyPond shell, run ...

  (6. If it fails, ... )

Then, at the bottom of the page, you could mention how to build it
yourself and so on. The instruction should also specify clearly 
that we use cygwin which is not a DOS shell and point to some
introductory text that explains how windows file paths are mapped 
into cygwin paths, gives a list of the basic shell commands and so
on, so a Windows/DOS user has a chance to understand what's going on.

Is the geometry package still not included in MiKTeX? Then we need
an item for that as well. We should really ask the MiKTeX people to 
include it by default.

     /Mats