BlueStar Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 OK, I've been toying with the idea of setting up a message board at work for people to discuss problems and work-arounds for the software we use, rather than sending an email to all, everyone replying to all, someone having the same problem a few months later and it all happening again. I've had a quick look at phpbb but I've got a few questions about it. Does the freeware GNU license mean I'd be able to use it at work without needing to pay anyone anything? I was just going to wack one up on a network drive as a trail but eventually I'd like it to have it's own little corner on our intranet so I don't want to run into any licensing issues (and that goes for any packages I'd need to set it up too). What would be the best thing for me to download to start off? Just the latest package on the phpbb site? Are there any other distributions which make things quicker and easier, and are they also completely freeware? And is it possible to configure and maintain a phpbb board entirely through the browser? (I don't know if I could be arsed to get the go ahead to install new programmes on a machine to do it) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decky Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 It is free open source software so I would imagine it is fine for your work place. To install it you just download the files: http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/olympus.php?sid=5825736dc47de1fea3ae36d7da7d5b59 Then upload them to your server, then go to the install link, it will be a simple process. You configure and maintain everything on the actual board, that is if you are not doing any technical stuff like making your own templates. You can install new features etc by simply uploading the zip file of said feature onto the server and installing it, you do this all from the admin control panel on the actual software. You could also use Simple Machines, which imo is a better forum, it is also the software this forum is built with: http://www.simplemachines.org/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Cheers mate, I'll check it out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lazlo Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Doesn't the forum requires a mysql database to function ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacko Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Using GPL software for commercial purposes is perfectly okay. What you can't do is charge money for the source code nor for code based on it. It's perfectly okay to charge people to use GPL software running on your machine, too (as most web hosts do). You can't just "wack it on a network drive", though. It needs to be run from a web server that supports PHP with some kind of database server for the backend. The homepage says these all work: FireBird 2.0 or above MySQL 3.23 or above MS SQL Server 2000 or above (directly or via ODBC) Oracle PostgreSQL 7.x or above SQLite 2 SQLite is no good if there are a lot of simultaneous posts. You can normally manage most forums exclusively through the web (including appearance) once you've set up the database. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decky Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Could he not run it locally on Apache? Ive never used it before for forums but ive used it for loads of php scripts. Another idea would be to just rent a web server for about 4 quid a month, that way it is installed in seconds and is maintained entirely online. Ive set up some forums on websites hosted on www.siteground.com before and it was as easily as literally clicking on an option to install a php forum (also had SMF available) as their servers have Fantastico software on them. It might be better to do that than do something technical on your end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Could he not run it locally on Apache? Ive never used it before for forums but ive used it for loads of php scripts. Another idea would be to just rent a web server for about 4 quid a month, that way it is installed in seconds and is maintained entirely online. Ive set up some forums on websites hosted on www.siteground.com before and it was as easily as literally clicking on an option to install a php forum (also had SMF available) as their servers have Fantastico software on them. It might be better to do that than do something technical on your end. Yes it can If you going for webhosting, don't use freezone.co.uk terrible customer service and support, and don't seem to think that php is supported on window servers... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decky Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 If you do go for hosting then go for siteground.com, you will have a forum in seconds. Plus its cheap as fook. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacko Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Just stick it on a local server if it needn't be accessible from the Internet. Less chance of some muppet messing it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decky Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 http://www.fatcow.com/fatcow/special-promo.bml?offer=OPI&LinkName=No_Name Might be worth considering, that is some offer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Cheers folk - looks like I'm going to have intranet permissions next week so I'll have a stab at setting one up on that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If you decide to go with SMF we can give you a little assistance, though Rich was more involved with it than me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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