[Xastir] What am I doing wrong?

[Scott Currie]

OK, I keep hearing about XASTIR, so I figured it was time to give it a try.
I opted for the win/cygwin version (perhaps I should have tried Linux
first) since I am stuck in the Windows environment here at work.  I got
cygwin installed and running, it's interesting doing X stuff along side
Windows.  Next I installed and compiled xastir.  That went fine and the
program comes up without maps.  I downloaded a few of the suggested maps
and selected the Map Chooser, but none of the files show up in the window.
I tried various permission's, but still no luck.  I then tried recompiling
with ImageMagick support (after downloading and installing v5.5.7).  This
didn't change anything, and I also do not see the Tiger Map option.  I like
the program, but the screen is rather boring without a map!  What am I
doing wrong??

Other questions:

Does xastir support the older  (version 3.5) Precision Maps?

How does one register so I don't receive the unverified user message when
connecting to an Internet server?

Thanks,
-SCURRIE-
NS7C