VMWare and OpenACS (and dotLRN): No assembly required
I've created a VMWare virtual machine containing a complete
OpenACS web development environment (v5.1.1). It also includes a working dotLRN instance (v2.0.3) - a powerful learning management system built using the OpenACS framework. Once you download this, you
basically have to hit the "On" button, give it an IP address,
and you're going.
Motivation
OpenACS can be painful to install for non-Unix types like myself, because it has several moving parts (AOLServer, db drivers, service manager, tcl, postgresql etc). I thought it might be valuable to provide the
platform as a VM for people just diving in. I wrote up whitepaper
on why I think this is a promising way to distribute OpenACS. Looking
at the many installation-relating questions posted to the OpenACS support forums, it's clear that allowing new users to develop on
the OpenACS platform without subjecting them to installing it could
really help promote the platform and it's great out-of-the-box functionality.
Links
Download (180M via HTTP)
Download via Dijjer (Dijjer is a x-platform p2p service like bitTorrent)
Getting Started
See the installation instructions. (includes login info for os and applications)
Support
If you have problems getting this running, please post first to the OpenACS
forums. It's likely that you'll get a quicker more accurate
response, especially if your problem is related to OpenACS and not OASIS
specifically.
John Sequeira (about) (email).
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