Posted by Markus64 on March 10, 2011 at 9:54pm
My organization is in the process of selecting a CMS. I'd like to demo a Drupal install for them, but unfortunately A) I'm a noob, so installing and configuring one myself would take some time and B) All the online Drupal demo sites are unresponsive to my join requests or appear to be dead.
Is there any way I can access a functioning Drupal sandbox/demo? Thanks.
Comments
Drupal Gardens
You might wanna try out Drupal Gardens: http://www.drupalgardens.com/
This is a hosted Drupal solution run by Acquia (Drupal consulting/build firm started by the creator of Drupal, Dries Buytaert), and while I haven't dug very far into it, you can get into Drupal 7 very quickly, get something set up, and then if you like it, you can pay for a full featured version at Drupal Gardens and keep all the work you may already have done in the free version.
It should be noted that the version of Drupal 7 running in Drupal Gardens has been tweaked 'n customized by Acquia, and implements some of their own custom modules I believe. Someone who's used Gardens can probably answer better than I, or just go to the site 'n take the tour to see what you're getting.
Good luck!
DG
I'm kind of a noob too, but I've created a few sites on Drupal Gardens. It's great, but I do not think you can add any modules that Acquia haven't made available already, so that may inhibit your use of the site.
+J
You may also wish to try Web
You may also wish to try Web Enabled (http://www.webenabled.com/)
"Create FREE development environments and take them to production if things work out… if not, just let it expire after 30 days."
They sponsor the Drupal Easy podcast - those guys use them a lot.
Turnkey Linux Drupal Appliance
If you want more control, you might want to check out the Turnkey Linux Drupal Appliance (http://www.turnkeylinux.org/drupal6). It's basically a ubuntu server image that's preconfigured with Drupal 6 and a bunch useful modules.