Helma is 100% Java, that means, that you can run it on a lot of plattforms. (Windows, Linus, Mac OsX, but not Mac OS9) To run a Java program you need a Java Runtime Enviroment (JRE), which you can download for example from Sun.

Installing the JRE

1. Download a JRE for your plattform from
   http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/download.html
2. Install it
   on Windows just doubleclick and follow the wizard

Installing Helma

1. Download the prerelease package for your plattform
   from http://www.helma.org/files
2. Unzip it
3. You should now have a folder with all the Helma files

Starting Helma

1. In the unzipped folder you will find two startscripts. hop.bat for Windows and hop.sh for *nix Systems
2. Start the script for your plattform
3. Helma is starting its internal server at port 8080
   you have to make sure, that no other server is running on port 8080 (i.e. Tomcat)
4. Open a browser (Mozilla/IE/whatever..)
5. go to the URL: http://localhost:8080/

Now you should see a page starting with:

Welcome to Helma Object Publisher.

What you see is actually a Helma application. The so called base application. On the right side you see a list of applications running on your server (local machine)

That's it !!! Welcome to the world of Helma :)

How to run Helma with mySQL, and how to install this I will discuss later.