alphaMELTS version of tutorial: 'Quick start using MELTS'

[Yuri]

Dear Paula,
I am new in this site. It took me a while to instatlle alphamelt software but finally I passed through the test. I am not crytical but for most of geologists it would be nice to have instruction for "Dummies" for installation Perl and alphamelts. Just step by step instruction for windows for example. My installation is working now but I still did' find the "Path". You suggested to check is my Path correct but I still did't find it.
'And many other questions. Like strawperry portable Perl. Should I load each time whey I am going to work or not? Not clear the rule to write command for Perl. It took me a while that if I am referring for txt file I have to type f-. You have a good manual but not for begginer.
But anyway your software is very usefull and I gonna study it carefully
Cheeres
Yuri

[Paula]

I have replied to this on the Windows board as the method of setting the Path is Windows specific. The way we have to indicate that we want Perl to open and run the '.command' files is also very different to Linux / Mac.

alphaMELTS is basically a command line tool so it does take some getting used to, especially on Windows where users have less need to use the command line in day to day work. It is slightly beyond the scope of the documentation and forum to completely describe and familiarise the user with the command line environment. For example, most system commands (whether on Linux, Mac or Windows) can take command line switches just like the '-f filename' one for run_alphamelts.command. However, this beginners guide to the command prompt is one of the best I've seen online and is a good place to start for Windows users.

We are also still missing a double-click / drag-and-drop alphaMELTS version of the 'Quick start using MELTS' tutorial.  When that is done I think it will be clearer.  Command line switches can be written immediately after 'run_alphamelts.command' on the command line e.g. 'run_adiabat.command -f settings_file -a -m melt_files -p output_path'. Or if no command line switches are entered (either because you only typed 'run_alphamelts.command' or because you double-clicked the run_alphamelts.command link) then you are given another chance to enter the '-f settings_file -a -m melt_files -p output_path', say, before the alphamelts executable starts up properly.

Hope that helps,
Paula