[fpc-pascal] New to the list; Lots of startup questions

[David Chandler]

Hello,
I am new to the FPC-Pascal list.  I programmed in Borland Pascal in the 
late 1980's and early 1990's including a DOS star mapping program called 
Deep Space (see http://www.davidchandler.com).  I never made the 
transition to Object Pascal, Delphi, or a Windows environment.

I  was wanting to review the list archives, but the link at 
http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal appears to be 
broken.  I would appreciate a good link if the archives really exist.

My main problem getting started with FPC has been general logistics 
operating in a Windows environment.  I have an icon to open FPC on my 
desktop.  If I have the programs I am working on in various directories 
called c:\project1, c:\project2, etc., how do I configure the 
Options/Directories to look for things in the right places and put 
compiled code in the right places?  Do I need separate icons to open FPC 
for each working directory?

Also I did a Hello program that put the output in a DOS screen, which 
flashed off immediately.  I got it to stay open by waiting for input 
using the keypressed function in the CRT unit.  Is there some other way?

Where would I read to start learning about producing GUI output?  Is 
there still the distinction between text and graphics modes as in the 
Turbo Pascal days?  Do I need to read up on Delphi to be able to use GUI 
features in FPC, or are there tutorials for FPC that would get me there 
directly?

Enough questions for now.  Thanks in advance for any help you can give 
to help me get off the ground.

--David Chandler