DaDesktop for Participants – How-to

Objective

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

 

Overview of DaDesktop

DaDesktop is a cloud platform specially designed for IT training across the UK. It is aimed at IT instructors and learners, providing virtual desktops based on the revolutionary DaDesktop® technology. With these sessions, each participant receives their own complete online desktop where they can perform exercises under the trainer's supervision.

Its three main parts are:

1. Management Console -- a web-based interface for administering the system, e.g. starting and stopping cloud desktops, etc.
2. Training Room -- a shared space for remote desktop sharing, audio, chat, recording of lessons, etc.
3. Remote Desktop -- a virtual machine (Windows or Linux); one machine per user.
    

Requirements

If you're planning to join from your office or your home, you'll need:

• A computer (PC or laptop) with a stable internet connection (minimum 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload). Windows, Mac, or Linux computers are supported.
• The Chrome or Firefox web browser
• A decent microphone or headset (using a telephone is a last resort and not advised)
• A quiet space, free from outside distractions and noise (a coffee shop isn't suitable)
   

Recommended:

• Webcam
• A second monitor; you can follow the trainer on one screen and use your DaDesktop Virtual Machine for labs on the other.
• Turn off any VPN before joining the course
• Disable any security applications that might interfere with your network connection, if possible
• If possible, use a wired Ethernet connection; if using Wi-Fi, test your internet speed beforehand at a site like speedtest.net

You may like to try joining your course and testing your DaDesktop virtual classroom before the course begins. Note that you'll only be able to access the Desktop for 15 minutes on days prior to the course start date.

 

Course Access

Please be aware that outside of course days, access to your Course is limited to a 15-minute window.

On course days, you can access it all day. (Previously, this was only allowed for about an hour before the course.)

 

Keep Desktop after Course finishes

A key benefit of DaDesktop is that course participants can carry on using their machine after the course finishes. 

Please see the link above for full details on how to do this.

Joining a Course

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

 

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If you are a first time user, fill in your details under "Account" and click “Sign Up”. You can register via the form or by signing up with your Google or LinkedIn account.

If you already have an account, simply log in.

This will bring 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 will open in a new browser window. A pop-up will appear asking for permission to copy items 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 of the screen with links back to your course.

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Controls available at bottom of the screen

• You can 'pop out' the screen to a second monitor if required; you can also maximise the browser window to full screen.
• At the bottom right of the screen there's a small blue toggle for accessing DaDesktop support chat.

 

Using the new Clipboard function

To transfer text—such as web links, functions, etc.—from your own computer to the Virtual Machine, we make use of the 'Clipboard'.
 

When connecting to your Online Course or Stand-alone Desktop, a pop-up like the one shown will appear. Click ‘Allow’. Please note that images cannot currently be copied to the clipboard when using DaDesktop.

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Clicking the small clipboard icon in the address bar allows you to adjust the clipboard settings for this site.

Usage

• On a Windows or Linux VM Desktop, use the usual copy and paste shortcuts from your PC, i.e. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V
• On a Mac host, copy as normal and then press Shift+Ctrl+V, or click the middle mouse button, to paste.

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Please get in touch with us if you require further support when using this feature..
 

Original Clipboard (for browsers that don't support the new clipboard, such as Internet Explorer, or as a fallback)

• To copy text between your machine and the DaDesktop virtual machine, type or paste into the clipboard area at the bottom left of the screen.
• On the virtual machine, use the middle mouse button (or mouse wheel) to paste the clipboard contents onto the desktop. This works anywhere in DaDesktop where text can be entered, provided you're using the standard Linux DaDesktop virtual machine.
  For Mac users: use Command+C or ⌘+C to copy, and Command+V or ⌘+V to paste. Once pasted into the dd4t clipboard, the shortcuts become Control+X, Control+C, and Control+V for cut, copy, and paste.
• When using the Windows virtual machine, right-click to paste from the clipboard.

To adjust the clipboard area size, 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 the person currently controlling the mouse as the cursor moves, when more than one user is connected to the same desktop. It's particularly useful for multi-user scenarios and training sessions where different users may take control of the mouse at various points.

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When multiple users are connected, their usernames appear at the centre bottom of the screen.

 

 

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You can enable or disable this feature by clicking the green 'Info' button at the bottom of the screen.