DaDesktop for Participants - Howto

Objective

This guide is for participants (students) wanting to join a course hosted on DaDesktop.

 

Overview of DaDesktop

DaDesktop is a cloud platform built especially for IT training, aimed at both instructors and learners. It uses the revolutionary DaDesktop® technology to give each participant their own full online desktop, where they can do exercises under the trainer's supervision.

It's made up of three main parts:

1. Management Console -- a web UI for system administration, like starting and stopping cloud desktops, etc.
2. Training Room -- a shared space for remote desktop sharing, audio, chat, lesson recording, etc.
3. Remote Desktop -- a virtual machine (Windows or Linux), one per user.
    

Requirements

If you're joining from your office or home, you'll need:

• A computer (PC or laptop) with a reliable internet connection (min 10Mbit/s download and 1Mbit/s upload). Windows, Mac, or Linux machines are supported.
• Chrome or Firefox web browser
• A good-quality microphone or headset (telephone is a last resort and not recommended)
• A quiet spot, free from distractions and noise (a coffee shop won't cut it)
   

Recommended:

• Webcam
• A second monitor; use one to follow the trainer, and the other for your DaDesktop Virtual Machine during labs.
• Switch off any VPN before joining the course
• Disable any security apps that might interfere with the network connection, if possible
• Use an Ethernet connection if you can; if you're on Wi‑Fi, run a quick internet speed test beforehand, e.g., speedtest.net

You might want to have a go at joining your course and sussing out your DaDesktop virtual classroom before the course starts. Just keep in mind, you'll only be able to access the actual Desktop for 15 minutes on days before the course kicks off.

 

Course Access

Please note, access to your course is limited to a 15-minute window outside of course days.

On course days, you can access it all day. Previously, access was only available about an hour before the course itself.

 

Keep Desktop after Course finishes

One ripper feature of using DaDesktop is that course participants can keep using their machine after the course finishes. 

Check out the link above for all the details on how to do this.

Joining a Course

Open the link the coordinator sent you (e.g., dd4t.dadesktop.com/da/join/xxxxx).

 

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If you're a first time user, pop your details in under "Account" and click “Sign Up”. You can sign up using the form, or go with your Google or LinkedIn account.

If you already have an account, just log in.

That'll take you to the Management Console for your course.

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Using the Management Console

Click the "TRAINING ROOM" tab.

Click the "Join Training Room" button.

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The Virtual Training Room opens in a new browser window. A pop-up will appear asking you to allow copying to the clipboard. Click "Allow".

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Navigating the Training Room as a Participant

The Training Room displays a tab at the top with links to get back to the course.

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Controls at the bottom of the screen

• Here you can 'pop out' the screen to another monitor if you need, and you can also maximise the browser window to full screen.
• Also, at the bottom right there's a small blue toggle that appears if you want to access the DaDesktop support chat.

 

Using the new Clipboard feature

To send text like web links, functions, etc. from your own computer into the Virtual Machine, we use the 'Clipboard'.
 

When you connect to your Online Course or Stand-alone Desktop, a pop-up like the one shown here will appear. Click ‘Allow’. Note that images can't be copied to the clipboard with DaDesktop at this stage.

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If you click the little clipboard icon on the address bar, you can tweak the clipboard settings for this site.

Usage

• On Windows and Linux VM Desktop, copy and paste as usual from your PC using Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.
• On a Mac, copy as usual and press Shift + Ctrl + V, or middle-click the mouse, to paste.

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Please get in touch with us here in Australia if you need further support using this feature.
 

Original Clipboard (only to be used for browsers not compatible with the new Clipboard, like IE, or as a fallback).

• To copy text from your machine to the virtual DaDesktop machine, type or paste it into the clipboard area at the bottom left of the screen.
• On the virtual machine, click the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel) to paste the clipboard contents onto the desktop. This works anywhere in DaDesktop where you can enter text, assuming you're using the standard Linux DaDesktop virtual machine.
  Mac users: Use Command c or ⌘ c (copy), Command v or ⌘ v (paste). Once pasted into the dd4t clipboard, inside dd4t it switches to Control X, C, and V for cut, copy, and paste.
• If you're using the Windows virtual machine, right-click to paste from the clipboard.

To resize the clipboard area, click the green and white arrow icon at the bottom left of the screen.
 

 

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Using the mouse in a multi-user scenario

This feature shows the username of whoever's controlling the mouse, with the name following the cursor when multiple users are connected to the same desktop. It's particularly handy for multi-user setups and training activities where different people might grab control of the mouse at different times.

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If more than one user is connected to the desktop, their usernames appear in the centre bottom of the screen.

 

 

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You can toggle this feature on or off by clicking the green ‘Info’ button at the bottom of the screen.