Idiot's guide to software installation?

Rather than going in circles trying to sort my existing software setup, I am wondering if anyone can point me to a reasonably detailed FAQ on installing the software from scratch, this might give me a better result.

I have used pronterface so far, but that doesn't mean I have to use it.

I have been googling in circles and can't find anything particularly helpful or relevant.

Also, I wonder whether someone has an image of an install that is downloadable, rather than installing things separately, etc. I can't imagine it is particularly large.

Any guidance from someone who knows what they are doing would be appreciated.

Cheers
Finackles

What operating system are you using?

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My Reprap blog

jds-reprap.blogspot.com

Take your pick of 3D design software, see here: [reprap.org]
Most offer a platform-specific installer. I use Openscad and Blender on Mac OS X 10.6.8.

Once you've designed your object and saved it as an stl, you need to slice it into layers for your printer to print. The slicing software produces a gcode file, which is a list of commands telling your printer what to do. If your firmware supports it, you can use the reprap host software, replicator.g or repsnapper. These offer slicing and communicating with the printer in one package. However, they do not have the most advanced slicing software, and can be temperamental on unsupported repraps. The easiest alternative in Slic3r, which is improving all the time, though doesn't communicate with your printer. A stand-alone installer is available here: [slic3r.org]
Skeinforge and SFACT are also slicers (and effectively the same), but have a multitude of configuration options.

Finally, you need to send the gcode to the printer. I use pronterface (actually, it's called Printrun), and is actively being developed. You can download and install it from [github.com] but you also need to install a few other things to get it to work. The instructions are quite clear, but some people seem to have difficulties. Alternatively, download a precompiled version (which will be a slightly older version, but just one file to install; only Windows and Mac version available) from here: [koti.kapsi.fi]

So, your tool chain could be: OpenSCAD -> Slic3r -> Printrun
Or it could be: Blender -> Skeinforge -> Repsnapper
I think there may be images of installs for Linux, but I've never used them.

Apologies. I have Windows XP on my preferred machine and can use Windows 7 if I really have to. I will take a look at suggestions above.

All of the above should work fine in Windows XP.