Setting up moodle - Dont know where to start

[Half-Dead]

Hello

My name is richard, i am a student in england.

I have a project to do which involves setting up a vle to aid teaching. The problem is, i dont know properly where to start. I have looked on the moodle site and it all looks a little complicated for a first time user. I have a web hosting account on reg123 and i wish to use that. If someone on here can point me in the right direction to get my started, i will greatly appreciate it.

Cheers

[CyberNerd]

Hi Richard,
I think you should start by setting up a virtual server.
your best bet would be to host it on your current computer to begin with, then worry about transferring your setup to a live system later.

The easiest way to set up moodle is to install Ubuntu
Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu

once you have installed ubuntu, you can then just select moodle from the synaptic package manager, and this will automatically install moodle and all the other programs that you need. You can then log in by pointing your browser to http://localhost

Once you've configured your installation it is fairly easy to move all the config files over to a live virtual server.

[Half-Dead]

Cheers, im with you at the moment. I havnt set up anything as extensive as this at the moment so to me its a bit of a learning curve. To do this, do i need to be on an actual server (windows server 200 or 2003) or can i just do it on my current computer (windows XP)?

[danIT]

You might want to start off with something like XAMPP

apache friends - xampp

This basically puts Apache, Mysql and PHP on your XP machine. So you now have a webserver running locally, from here you can start installing Moodle.

[CyberNerd]

Cheers, im with you at the moment. I havnt set up anything as extensive as this at the moment so to me its a bit of a learning curve. To do this, do i need to be on an actual server (windows server 200 or 2003) or can i just do it on my current computer (windows XP)?

You don't need a windows server, you can run it on XP using DanITs suggestion or on a linux server as I suggested.
I would use the linux server option because it is more robust, and extensible than running on XP. you will probably find that there is more support for it as well, especially if you decide to go with a hosted solution.

[dhicks]

I would use the linux server option

Me too - that way if you mess up your Windows machine isn't affected. Also, even if you aren't using the same VM system as your web host, Linux systems are generally amenable to being moved around by simply archiving all the files up and un-archiving them in a new location, which Windows seems to generally complain at. I use VirtualBox on my XP machine at home, works a treat.

--
David Hicks

[moodleman]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847195628"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1847195628[/ame]

[Half-Dead]

Cheers, this book might actually save me. Although, will it tell me how to configure a VLE right from day 1 and not just assume i have set up php etc which you have to do at the start. I mean does it show me what to do right from a blank operating system installation? if you get what i mean.

[moodleman]

You don't need to do that if you install it on XP, since you can just download the entire package which includes everything you need. Linux, Windows and Mac installation is covered in the book.

[danIT]

Im not sure the book will give you full details on setting up Moodle from scratch.

Get your 'server' enviroment setup first, wether it be a Linux or Windows machine, get your webserver running, get Mysql running and lastly PHP.

Once you have these in place get back to us here and im sure many people will help and guide you.

[CSNM-Carl]

AFAIK the 123Reg hosting packages don't support PHP/MySQL so you won't have much look running Moodle.

[Half-Dead]

Are there any free webhosters that do support PHP/Mysql?

[danIT]

Free Web Hosting with PHP, MySQL and cPanel

Could try these guys, seems to have everything you would need.

[secretlife]

Are you a student of ICT or an ICT related subject and therefore have to learn the skill of actually setting up a VLE to aid teaching? I am only asking because if you're not, and you are a teaching student and merely need to have a VLE - well, Moodle - to adapt to aid teaching you can get a free Moodle site set up that you can administer and populate yourself from ninehub. Depends if it's the technology or the pedagogy you're after

[danIT]

I can confirm 000webhost.com will work with Moodle, or rather Moodle will work with them....