Mahara live cd

Most of the time, you should be fine using http://demo.mahara.org to test Mahara functionality for the current stable version. In some cases though, you might want to test an upcoming version. If you do not have the possibility to install your own test instance of Mahara, you can use the "live DVD / USB". It is not updated on a regular basis, and primarily made available during the release candidate time to give you the opportunity to test Mahara entirely, including site administrator permissions.

The live DVD / USB uses Ubuntu as operating system, but you won't have to interact with it much if you are not familiar with it.

Setup

Download the iso image file.

Use the image in a virtual machine

You can install the image in a virtual machine using Virtualbox for example.

1. Start Virtualbox.
2. Add a new machine with type "Linux" and version: "Ubuntu (64-bit)".
3. Set the memory size to at least 512MB (recommended: 1GB). The more memory you give the faster the virtual machine runs.
4. Choose "Do not add a virtual hard disk".
5. In the "Storage" setting, add "Optical Drive" and select the downloaded iso file.
6. Start the machine.

Bootable disk / USB stick

With a bootable disk or USB stick, you do not need to install anything on your computer. Instead, you will start your computer from the disk or USB, and you will have instant access to the environment.

Create a bootable DVD

1. Download the disk image.
2. Burn it on a blank DVD.

Create a bootable USB stick

It depends on your computers operating system on how you can create a bootable USB stick.

• on Ubuntu, use the "Startup Disk Creator"
• on Windows, you can use the "Rufus USB installer"
• on Mac, you can use the "UNetbootin USB installer".

Once you have your bootable medium, insert it into your computer and restart your computer. The device needs to be in the computer during the restart in order to be detected as bootable medium.

If your computer does not boot from the medium directly, you might need to restart your computer again and go into the boot menu. Please check your operating systems instructions on how to do that.

It may take a few minutes for the operating system to start. That depends largely on the speed of your drive.

Use the image

You may want to print out these instructions or have them available on a different device, especially when you created a bootable disk, because you will not be able to access them otherwise.

Log in to Ubuntu:

• login: mahara
• password: mahara

Mahara is set up in Firefox. If it doesn't start automatically, you can start it from the left-hand side of the screen.

1. Open Firefox
2. Enter "http://localhost/" into the address bar if the Mahara site doesn't open automatically.
3. Log into any of the accounts that are listed on the homepage of Mahara. They all have "mahara" as password. the usernames are:

• anna (site administrator)
• paula (student with most content and SmartEvidence collection set up)
• james (institution administrator)
• percy (institution staff)
• petra (institution staff)
• polly (user)