Web based bulliten boards

Evil Phil

Can anybody recommend a good freeware one? It's for a mate site. He's not really a programmer but is a fast and interested learner. He doesn't want one that runs ads and has the usuall censor, flood protection etc.

His site is hosted on Apache running over Linux. Any suggestons at all?

<plug>
Visit my site, the link is below. Stories of adventure and daring do from around the globe.
</plug>

steve-hosting36

Try phpBB - www.phpbb.com

mneylon

Or YaBBSE

There are plenty of free ones out there, it's more a matter of seeing what kind of functionality you need.

PhpBB2 comes with a number of handy functions and is very easy to install and setup, though I don't know whether you can push headlines to another page via SSI. This is a standard feature in YaBBse, which is why I'm using it on a particular site.

seamus

Yeah, phpBB is the best imo. There's a whole community behind it too, so tonnes of upgrades and customization are available.

YaBB is perl-based and I've had quite a few probs getting it working in the past. Click the link in my sig - I had that set up and working perfectly in about 10 mins (including registering with tripod ugh). Yep, phpBB is defo the way to go if he doesn't know much

peterd

Originally posted by seamus
YaBB is perl-based and I've had quite a few probs getting it working in the past.

Yes, but YaBBSE is a (better) php/mySQL version. Has similar community backing as phpBB. Both are top boards imho.

zAbbo

Snitz Forum is built in ASP as well.

Figment

This is fastly being regarded as better than snitz as an asp forum.
http://www.webwizguide.info/web_wiz_forums/default.asp?mode=asp
I have been playing with it for a site im building and i love it.
I am not a techy person but it was a sinch to set up and seems to have all the functionality of boards. Customising the skin is a simple matter.
There is also a mod available to allow you to show the last 10 posts elsewhere on your site.

But then he is on linux so i guess it wont work

mneylon

Originally posted by Figment

But then he is on linux so i guess it wont work

Depends on the database used

steve-hosting36

phpBB will work on both platforms

Click on http://forum.hosting365.ie for an example of implementation (on a linux box mind you )

HTH, Steve

DadaKopf

Not as good as PHPbb but www.ikonboard.com is a CGI bulletin board that now supports MySQL databases and it's very easy to set up.

mneylon

Originally posted by DadaKopf
Not as good as PHPbb but www.ikonboard.com is a CGI bulletin board that now supports MySQL databases and it's very easy to set up.

Have they improved the customisation options of Ikonboard? When I last looked at it (over a year ago) it was still a real nightmare to customise

DadaKopf

Seemed much improved to me.

MarkMI6

Nonono fools! You don't want PHPBB, IB, Snitx and you certainly don't want YABB! You want the unashamed king of boards - www.invisionboard.com

It's **** easy to set up, uses PHP/MySQL, can be hacked in a second, has by far the nicest user and admin controls known to man and it has the mother of all support communities.

STaN

Originally posted by DadaKopf
Not as good as PHPbb but www.ikonboard.com is a CGI bulletin board that now supports MySQL databases and it's very easy to set up.

They have a goof few dedicated sites that offer you skins etc..

Their also bringing out a PHP version in the near future that will be ub3r l33t

Hoojah Nickabolokov

phpBB is best of freebies.

it's admin cp is cumbersome when you're used to using vBulletin.

Ryaner

ok can anyone give me some suggestions of a forum that doesn't need php to run, web wiz as far as i can doesn't but I'm looking into that at the mo. The problem is that the webspace is on one of eircoms servers and they have no plans to support php. They do support asp (they say) but I have yet to try any call functions on the server (it doesn't even allow me change file properties!) They do support cgi but getting scripts to work with the security/ non fuctional servers is almost impossible so if anyone has actually got a forum working on there webspace please tell me what one.
I don't want suggestions of moving server cause that's not gonna happen cause it a subsite of a business site and they have paid for 100mb of space. The guys did say they may setup their own server in the shop on their leased line which would be grand cause i'd be able to configure it but that ain't gonna happen soon so till then I'd like suggestion please

CarrigHOST

Try http://www.hotscripts.com or http://cgi.resourceindex.com they should have a load of perl forums.

Sean

Ryaner

thanks man, those sites are really helpful. They gonna help at with the other parts of the site to cause i'm looking to make it all update itself sortof

CarrigHOST

A content management system might suit your needs better they have plugins for almost everything and can all be managed from a central location.

These are php but you can get the jist of what they do

http://www.phpnuke.com
http://www.postnuke.com

Sean

Ryaner

that is actually what i was looking for almost. I have asp pages working on the servers and access database too all I need is for eircom to turn on the read/write permissions and the forum will work

DJB

I have successfully implemented phpBB2 on our Win2K hosting and customised it greatly. Check it out at www.dkitsu.com/forum

If you need any advice in implementing it, just shout.

Regards,

Dave

Ryaner

eircom have did e turn on write permissions but have now told me that we have to pay extra to run a datebase even it's business hosting so I've given up on the whole idea of putting anything good on the website

mneylon

I had a very interesting chat with a client who hosts one of their sites with Eircom... their restrictions on usage are completely out of sync with industry.
If you can, change host.. it'll cost you less and you'll have fewer headaches

Ryaner

i am not paying for the hosting. The company i work for is. It's only a cs clan site so they aren't pushed about it at the mo. They are saying they may host heir own server as soon as the line get upgraded but if it does they hosting of the new company. Eircom have become not interested in installing adsl lines (2 to start with) into the shop so leap have been contacted about two of theirs.
In the mean time is it possible to host the database on another server because theres no way I'll be able to move the domain yet?

mistercrow

Dave,

I tried to install PHPBB2 last night, but when I did so got error message from page:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /phpbb/ on this server.

Tried changing the permissions of the directory to every combination - with no joy.

Is there anything obvious you can think of?

Cheers,
The Crow.

Originally posted by DJB
I have successfully implemented phpBB2 on our Win2K hosting and customised it greatly. Check it out at www.dkitsu.com/forum

If you need any advice in implementing it, just shout.

Regards,

Dave

steve-hosting36

Looks like the server may not have index.php as a default index page - hence the server thinks there is no default page in the directory and gives that error.

Either add index.php as a default index, or place an index.html/default.html file in the folder with a redirect to the index.php page of the forum.

HTH, Steve

mneylon

Check the default index page. If you're on Apache just add a .htaccess with the line:
DirectoryIndex index.php

mistercrow

Thanks Lads,

Will try those two suggestions.

Much appreciated.

DJB

Hi,

I got that same error when setting up the system first. I fixed by doing what the lads said above. Add index.php to your directory indexes. If it is your first time installing then you have to go to phpBB/install.php and set up the mysql server.

I also suggest that you place the phpBB files into a folder called forum and not phpBB. It is easier for people to get to, e.g.

www.yoursite.com/forum

as opposed to

www.yoursite.com/phpBB

Regards,

Dave

mistercrow

Thanks Dave, that does make sense.

DJB

What's the url for your forum??

mistercrow

Originally posted by DJB
What's the url for your forum??

DJB, have got the basics working at least.
It's at dangerhere.com/forum

Am now wondering about a script that will display the latest topics on my homepage.

There is one at phpbbhttp://www.phpbb.com/mods/downloads/index.php?sid=766964857&t=sub_pages&cat=8
but of course it's for php pages.

Haven't a clue about php. Is there any way I could get such a facility to work in a html page or is there much involved in changing by html index page to php and adding in the code needed?

Appreciate any advice.
Thanks

CarrigHOST

all you have to do to make a page a php page is name it .php (as long as you server is setup to recognise php pages as .php)

Php pages can contain php and html just like asp pages.

Sean