Poodle

MAF-LT DocWiki > MAF-LT Products > Poodle > 1. Poodle Installation and Setup Guide

1. Poodle Installation and Setup Guide

1. Overview

2. System Requirements

2.1. Platform

2.2. USB

2.3. Portable Drive Size

2.4. Hard Drive Space for Initial Configuration

2.5. Internet Access

3. Instructor's Guide

3.1. Instructor Responsibilities

3.2. Downloading Poodle

3.3. Extracting Poodle

3.4. Setting Up Poodle

3.5. Launching Poodle

3.6. Adding Moodle courses to Poodle

3.7. Installing other Portable Applications

3.8. Recommended Portable Apps

3.9. Distribution Considerations

3.10. Copying Poodle to a portable drive

4. Student's Guide

4.1. Starting Moodle

4.2. Stopping Moodle

5. FAQ’S

5.1. What is Poodle?

5.2. How can Poodle help you?

5.3. What applications are included in Poodle?

5.4. How is Poodle distributed?

5.5. Can additional portable applications be added?

5.6. Is Poodle upgradable?

5.7. What languages does Poodle support?

5.8. How can I test Poodle?

5.9. How can I get online Help?

6. Technical Details

6.1. Log File locations

6.2. Ports used

6.3. Configuration changes to allow Poodle to run

6.4. Optional PortableApps Configuration Changes

6.5. Running Poodle on a Network

Overview

“Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning

Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It has become very popular

among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites for their

students.” (from Moodle.org/about/)

Moodle is designed to work on the Internet. Therefore, anyone participating in a Moodle course

must have access to a reliable Internet connection. But what about those who can’t connect to the

Internet? Are they categorically excluded from the benefits of online education?

Not any more. Poodle enables instructors and students to distribute and use Moodle courses

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without an Internet connection. Poodle runs Moodle courses on portable flash drives such as USB

sticks, Flash memory cards and external hard drives.

Poodle not only works independently of the web, but it also leaves no electronic fingerprint on the

computer accessing the portable drive. This ensures maximum privacy for both instructor and

student.

Poodle works with a collection of portable applications. A basic set is included in the download (see

What applications are included in Poodle? in the FAQ). Other portable applications may be added as

desired.

Producing a Moodle course with Poodle entails four steps:

1. Download the Poodle zip file from our website (this step requires an Internet connection)

2. Download and/or create the desired course material

3. Configure the course on a local computer

4. Transfer the course to portable drives for distribution to the students

System Requirements

Platform

Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7

USB

USB 2.0 highly recommended, but will run on USB 1.1 very slowly

Portable Drive Size

512MB minimum, 1GB or more recommended, 4GB or more recommended in order to use

Method 1 for transferring Poodle to a portable drive

Hard Drive Space for Initial Configuration

300MB of free drive space

Internet Access

Initial installation and setup requires an Internet connection. However, once transferred to a

portable drive, Poodle needs no Internet connection

Instructor's Guide

Instructor Responsibilities

1. Download Poodle

2. Extract Poodle

3. Set up Poodle

4. Install the Moodle course material

5. Write student instructions that include

The Poodle Student’s Guide

Moodle instructions



Specific course instructions

6. Copy the configured course to the remote drive

7. Distribute remote drives to the students

Downloading Poodle

1. Go to https://svns.maflt.org/rc/public/lt/tools/Poodle/

2. Select poodle-x.x.zip

3. When the File download dialog box opens, click Save

Extracting Poodle

1. Go to the download location

2. Double click poodle-x.x.zip

3. Specify a destination of your choice. (Ex. C:\Poodle)

Setting Up Poodle

For best results, install and setup your Moodle course before transferring Poodle to the

portable drive. Waiting to do so until after the transfer requires significantly more time.

However, course material can be edited on the portable drive without a major time penalty.

Launching Poodle

1. Go to the folder that contains Poodle

2. Double-click StartPortableApps.exe

3. After the PortableApps menu opens (Fig 1), Click Moodle Start. This starts Moodle inside of

Firefox, Portable Edition

4. During the Moodle startup procedure, two Windows Security Alert dialog boxes might appear

(Fig 2). They ask if you want to allow other computers on your network to access this

application. You may safely ignore them by choosing any of these options.

Keep Blocking – Blocks access to the app from other network users

Unblock – Allows access to the app from other network users

Ask Me Later – Blocks access to the app, prompt appears every start

5. Login to Moodle using the following information

Username: admin

Password: admin



Fig. 1 PortableApps menu

Fig. 2 Apache and MySQL Windows Security Alert dialog boxes

Adding Moodle courses to Poodle

1. Open PortableApps.com

2. Click MoodleStart

3. Go to www.moodle.org for detailed course creation instructions

4. The portable applications include with Poodle serve most course writing situations. However,

if your course media requires special viewers or players (for file types such as: .doc, .xls,

.mp3, .mov, Flash, etc…) see Installing other Portable Apps, below. Complete these

installations - if required - before transferring the course to a portable drive

Installing other Portable Applications

1. To find other applications to install in Poodle, go to the PortableApps.com applications page:

http://portableapps.com/apps

2. Follow these steps to install each application. In this example, we’re going to install VLC

Media Player Portable into Poodle

Download the application you want to install to your hard drive

Double-click PortableApps.com



Start PortableApps.exe in the directory where you installed Poodle

Click Options on the right side of the PortableApps.com menu

Click Install a New App. A file browsing window will appear

Go to the PortableApps.com formatted application (ending in .paf.exe)

Double-click the selected application

Click Open

Click Next to complete the installation process

Modify installation options as necessary

Click Finish to close the installer. Your application is now installed!

3. Repeat these steps for each application you want to install into your customized Poodle

configuration

4. See a list of recommended portable applications to setup a fully-functional distance learning

environment using Poodle.

https://doc.maflt.org/5_Products/Poodle/Recommended_PortableApps

Recommended Portable Apps

We recommend these PortableApps for customizing your installation of Poodle.

Accessibility

On-Screen Keyboard Portable - Easily access an on-screen

keyboard http://portableapps.com/apps/accessibility/on-screen_keyboard_portable

Virtual Magnifying Glass Portable- A full-featured screen magnifier

http://portableapps.com/apps/accessibility/virtual_magnifying_glass_portable

Graphics & Pictures

GIMP Portable - Photo and Image

Editor http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable

Internet

Google Chrome Portable - fast, simple, themeable

browser http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition - the award-winning web browser that's safe and

secure http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition - the handy email client

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable

Skype Portable - instant messaging, video chat and phone

calls http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/skype_portable

Music & Video

Audacity Portable - A simple audio editor and

recorder http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/audacity_portable

VLC Media Player Portable - An easy to use media player that plays most audio and

video formats http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/vlc_portable

Office

AbiWord Portable - a lightweight word processor compatible with Microsoft Word

files http://portableapps.com/apps/office/abiword_portable

Foxit Reader Portable (Freeware) - small and fast PDF

reader http://portableapps.com/apps/office/foxit_reader_portable

OpenOffice.org Portable - word processor, spreadsheet, presentations with Microsoft



compatibility http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

Security

ClamWin Portable - Antivirus on the

go http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable

Utilities

7-Zip Portable - File archiver and compressor http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-

zip_portable

Distribution Considerations

Moodle, in its original form, is designed to work online. Poodle allows you use many of

Moodle’s best features offline. However, doing so requires the instructor to make a

distribution choice during configuration prior to transferring the course to portable drives.

The portable drives may be distributed with one of two Login options:

Generic Login

1. Setup the

Moodle student account on every portable drive with the same generic student login

credentials (e.g. Username: student Password: Bible101)

2. Setup the Moodle admistrator account on every portable drive with the same

administrator login credentials (e.g. Username: instructorname Password: mypassword)

3. Mark the case of each portable drive with a unique ID number

Physically noted on outside of stick

May also have non-editable file with the ID number among the drive’s documents

4. The instructor assigns each drive physical ID to an individual student

Unique Logins

1. Create a database of students for the course, assigning each of them a unique login

credential

2. Set up the Moodle installation on each portable drive to open either

With only one unique student login, OR…

Install the database of all students on each drive and then configure Moodle to

open with any correct set of unique student login credentials

3. Setup the Moodle administrator account on every portable drive with the same

administrator login credentials (e.g. Username: instructorname Password: mypassword)

Copying Poodle to a portable drive

Transfer your course from the local computer to the remote drive using one of these three

methods

Method 1: Make an “.iso” image, then burn it to the portable drive

This is the recommend method, particularly if you intend to transfer your course to

many remote drives. The initial setup entails two procedures, but once they are

completed each subsequent transfer takes about 10 minutes.

1. Create an .iso image from the Poodle directory. See instructions at:

http://doc.maflt.org/6_Third_Party_Products/ImgBurn

2. Burn the .iso image to a USB flash drive. See instructions at:



http://doc.maflt.org/6_Third_Party_Products/Windows_7_USB%2f%2fDVD_Download_Tool

Method 2: Copy files directly to flash drive

This method is

simpler, but

each transfer

takes one hour or more.

1. Select the following contents of Poodle on the originating drive

Documents

PortableApps

Autorun.inf

StartPortableApps.exe

2. Copy them to a blank USB or other remote drive

Method 3: Drive Replication

This method requires software and equipment that creates a disk image of the flash

drive then allows that disk image to be written to other flash drives. Instructions for

this method are beyond the scope of the Poodle Guide but are a viable option if the

necessary facilities are available.

Student's Guide

Starting Moodle

1. Connect the portable drive containing the course to your computer (e.g. Insert the USB Flash

drive into your computer’s USB port)

2. Wait for the “AutoPlay” dialog to appear on the screen

3. Once it appears, either:

Double-click Start PortableApps, OR…

Select Start PortableApps

Click OK

4. In the PortableApps menu, click Moodle Start

5. Once the processes start, Firefox-Portable Edition will launch and Moodle will display

6. Follow your instructor’s login directions

7. Follow your instructor’s course conduct directions

Stopping Moodle

1. Close Firefox,

Portable Edition

2. Wait for Moodle

Start to exit

3. Exit

PortableApps by

clicking the “X”

button in the lower right corner of the PortableApps menu

4. Remove the USB or other portable drive

FAQ’S



What is Poodle?

Poodle is a collection of portable applications that are used to execute Moodle from a USB

flash drive or other removable drive.

How can Poodle help you?

Poodle enables you to run and distribute Moodle content offline. Additionally, it leaves no

electronic fingerprints on the machine where the content was viewed.

What applications are included in Poodle?

Portable Apps

An open source software package that allows portable applications to be executed

directly from a flash drive. http://portableapps.com/

Mozilla Firefox®, Portable Edition

The popular Mozilla Firefox web browser bundled with a PortableApps.com launcher.

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Sumatra PDF Portable

The lightweight Sumatra PDF, packaged as a portable app, allows you to view PDF files

on the go. http://portableapps.com/apps/office/sumatra_pdf_portable

The miniServer

A reduced version of The Uniform Server designed for portable use. The Uniform Server

is an integrated server package of Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl that all run from a

removable drive. Apache, MySQL, and PHP are required for Moodle to run.

http://www.uniformserver.com/

Moodle

A Learning Management System that allows students to take classes online.

http://moodle.org/

Moodle Start

An application created by MAF-LT that initiates all of the applications necessary to

launch Moodle from the flash drive with a single click.

How is Poodle distributed?

Poodle is distributed in a zip file. Poodle_v1.2.zip contains all of the folders and files

necessary to configure and deploy your offline Moodle courses.

Can additional portable applications be added?

Yes, any portable application downloaded from http://portableapps.com/ can be added to

Poodle. See Customizing Poodle for further instructions.



Is Poodle upgradable?

Yes. One of our goals in creating Poodle was using off-the-shelf products with minimal

configuration changes to allow for upgrading. See Poodle Technical Details for more

information.

What languages does Poodle support?

Poodle, Moodle, and some of the portable applications are available in a variety of languages.

See the procedures below to choose alternate languages. If you translate any of this Poodle

Guide or other help documents, please consider contributing them to Poodle for distribution

to others with similar needs.

PortableApps

1. Open PortableApps

2. Click Options

3. Click Languages

4. Click on the desired language

Firefox, Portable Edition

1. Go to http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/localization

2. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the page

3. Download the desired language version

Moodle

1. Click MoodleStart

2. In the upper right corner, click on the language drop down menu

3. Choose the desired language

Course Material

1. The instructor may write the course in the desired language

2. Alternately, the instructor may employ one of a variety of translation methods to

produce the course in the desired language (online tools such as Google Translator, a

person fluent in both languages, etc)

How can I test Poodle?

1. Remove and then reinsert the flash drive

2. Verify the AutoPlay dialog is displayed

3. Select Start PortableApps

4. Launch MoodleStart

5. Verify Moodle is running in Firefox

How can I get online Help?

DocWiki

This Poodle Guide and additional information are available at

https://doc.maflt.org/5_Products/Poodle

Forum



Ask questions and get the help you need on our Poodle Forum at

https://forums.maflt.org/poodle

Website

Our general Poodle product information page on our main website at

http://www.maflt.org/products/poodle

Survey

Help us make a better product. Share your Poodle experience with us at

http://survey.maflt.org/index.php?sid=36737&lang=en

Technical Details

Log File locations

Log files exist in several locations to assist in tracking down any errors

Moodle Start log

http://PortableApps/Poodle/MoodleStartup.log

Apache log

http://PortableApps/mini_server_21_xoops/udrive/usr/local/apache2/logs

If you run into any problems or have questions about Poodle, please post a request in

the MAF-LT forums along with any relevant log files:

http://forums.serveall.net/index.php/board,7.0.html

Ports used

Apache

For Apache, miniServer 21 uses port: 8101

MySQL

For MySQL, miniServer 21 uses port: 3321

Configuration changes to allow Poodle to run

In order to allow Moodle to operate from a flash drive and not from a server, a small number of

changes had to be made.

miniServer

The miniServer is left in a default configuration with the exception of modifying the

startup script (server_start.bat). The following modifications were made:

1. Modified Line 53: for %%a in (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z)

Removed drives W, X, Y, & Z due to errors on computers on the MAF

domain. Drives X, Y, & Z are automatically mapped during login. However,

the user may not always have access to drive X. If not, this drive is registered as



free and an error will occur trying to start The miniServer.

2. Remarked Line 92: start \www\redirect.html The web browser is launched from

within “moodle-start.bat”

3. Remarked Line 114: pause The window needs to close once the script executes,

“moodle-start.bat” will inform the user if a server process fails to start.

Moodle CMS

As Moodle is configured, it writes a configuration file called config.php to the following

location:

<drive>:\PortableApps\mini_server_21_xoops\udrive\www\moodle\config.php</drive>

Within this configuration file are the paths to Moodle and the Moodle data directory.

These paths include a hardcoded drive letter, which will not work with a flash drive

since a flash drive has a dynamically assigned drive letter.

Once Moodle has been configured, the Moodle configuration file (config.php) is

modified to dynamically build the path to Moodle and the Moodle data directory. A

copy of the modified Moodle configuration file is available on our Trac site:

http://trac.serveall.net/web/moodleinfo/browser/codebase/Scripts/config.php

Optional PortableApps Configuration Changes

Poodle is configured and will work without any additional configurations. However, there are

a number of configurations that you may wish to modify.

autorun.inf

The autorun.inf file is located in the root of the flash drive and allows configuration

changes of the flash drive label and flash drive icon

1. Action= Start PortableApps: Change this value to reflect the message in the

Windows auto-start dialog

2. Icon=StartPortableApps.exe: Change this value to change the icon displayed for

the flash drive

3. Label=PortableApps: Change the value to change the text displayed for the flash

drive

The miniServer Configurations

The miniServer may need to be configured to address additional security requirements

or other needs. Please note, if ports, passwords, or directory locations are changed,

they will also need to be updated in Moodle and Moodle Start.

MoodleStart

In directory <drive>:\ PortableApps\Poodle, there is a batch file which dictates how

Moodle is started.</drive>

moodle-startup.bat

Contains the calls in order to launch Moodle. This file may be modified to change the

calls or to add additional calls.



Running Poodle on a Network

You only need to make one modification. If you're interested, the reason one can be found

here:

http://wiki.uniformserver.com/index.php/Home_Web_Server:_Security#Put_servers_on-line

Configure Poodle

Configure the webserver (Apache) used by Poodle to allow other address then a local

address (localhost, 127.0.0.1)

1. Browse to the following directory: <Poodle Directory>

PortableApps\mini_server_21_xoops\udrive\www

2. Edit file .htaccess or replace it with the attached .htaccess file listed below.

3. Comment out the following lines using a pound symbol (#):

#Order Deny,Allow

#Deny from all

#Allow from 127.0.0.1

4. Save .htaccess

Locate the IP Address

In order for other computers on the local network to connect to a computer running

Poodle, the IP Address of that machine needs to be located.

1. Click Start Menu

2. Click Run

3. In the Run dialog, type: cmd This will bring up the command prompt

4. In the command prompt, type: ipconfig This will return the IP Address for the

machine

5. Make note of the IP Address. The information will look like the following:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : us.maf.org

IP Address . . . . . . . . . . : 172.20.4.20

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . : 172.20.0.1

Test the connection

Verify Moodle still functions from the computer that is running Poodle.

1. In the web browser, substitute the address used to connect to Moodle to the IP

Address that was located above. In the above example,

http://localhost:8101/moodle/



Would change to:

http://172.20.4.20:8101/moodle/

2. If the computer hosting Moodle correctly operates using the new IP Address, try

connecting from another computer on the network using the new address

3. If it fails, try:

When you launch Moodle Start and the Windows Security Alert dialog box is

displayed, be sure to click "Unblock" for "Apache HTTP Server"

Try disabling the Windows Firewall all together. Please note, I would not

recommend doing this unless you are certain the computer is behind

another form of a firewall, for instance a router for the local network.

Open the Windows Firewall configuration window (access from the Control

Panel) and then select "Off" and click "OK"

Also, if performance is very slow running it from a flash drive, try copying

Poodle to the host machine and operating it there. Or, try an external

hard drive



Poodle

Documents

Transcript of Poodle