• tdubya
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Topic: Where do I start ?

I'm going to be honest and say that I'm a power user of PC's but not a power programmer in any way whatsoever. I have an idea for a BB that I would like to set up, which if successful will draw in posts from 100's of people from around the English speaking world.

I've looked at a few BB software solutions such as YABB, phbb as well as PunBB. I think I'd like to run with PunBB as it seems to be quite stable in use. I'm a member of another forum which uses this software and its very successful and like I say, it seems to cope very well with lots of traffic.

Can the software be run and tested from a home pc ? The idea is that I install and set it up and get a feel for how it works before committing to buying some webspace and putting it out into the public domain.

Is there a link or set of instructions I can read to help me get started please ?

Thanks

DuB

2 Reply by hcgtv

  • hcgtv
  • hcgtv
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Re: Where do I start ?

tdubya wrote:

Can the software be run and tested from a home pc ?

Use something like XAMPP, the Lite version is all you need to test out PunBB.

PHPCrossRef . TXP Make . TXP Themes . TXP Tags . TXP Planet . We Love TXP

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  • tdubya
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Re: Where do I start ?

Thanks for the reply, but what does this software do please ?

Does it create a server like environment on a pc or something ?

Thanks

DuB

4 Reply by Odis

  • Odis
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Re: Where do I start ?

tdubya wrote:

Thanks for the reply, but what does this software do please ?

Does it create a server like environment on a pc or something ?

Thanks

DuB

Exactly.  Then just install punBB in the htdocs folder

  • tdubya
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Re: Where do I start ?

Thanks. Just to be sure...

I've installed xampp and I double clicked on Apache start, which has brought up a DOS window with something in German, but the line Apache 2 is starting ... and nothing else..

I've extracted the PunBB files to HTDOCS as you suggested and I've browsed IE7 to the install.php file. From there it seems to do nothing other than display a page of text and some installation forms which I'm not sure how to fill in.

Sorry to keep asking, but I am trying my best to manage on my own.

  • tdubya
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Re: Where do I start ?

Hmmm ? Do I need to download and install all of these as well before I start PunBB ?

PHP 4.1.0 or later (PHP 5 included).
MySQL 3.23.17 or later
PostgreSQL 7.0 or later
SQLite.

  • From: Leuven, Belgium
  • Registered: 2005-06-14
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Re: Where do I start ?

No. The things you need are included in XAMPP

  • tdubya
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Re: Where do I start ?

I've browsed IE7 to the install.php file. It comes up with the message "Do you want to open or save this file". I click on Open and it starts a new browser tab, and then comes up with this message again and again.

Any ideas please ?

9 Reply by hcgtv

  • hcgtv
  • hcgtv
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Re: Where do I start ?

In the xampp folder is an executable called xampp-control.exe.

Double click it, start Apache then start MySQL.

PHPCrossRef . TXP Make . TXP Themes . TXP Tags . TXP Planet . We Love TXP

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10 Reply by quaker

  • quaker
  • quaker
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Re: Where do I start ?

http://modelcrowd.com/portable_punbb.zip
unzip to c:\portable_pubb
run wos.exe that it
it will open ie or ff in http://localhost

there is a link and some general info on the main page...

admin info:
username:admin
password:password
completely simple an fast....

My stuff or my style might sux, but atleast I'm willing to help when I can.
Don't be stupid and help ! We are the stupid one's !!!

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11 Reply by tdubya

  • tdubya
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Re: Where do I start ?

Quaker, this looks good and useful.

I've got it running so that Apache and MySql are running. But its coming up with the following error message.

An error was encountered
Error: Unable to select database. MySQL reported: Unknown database 'punbb'.

Any ideas please ?

12 Reply by tdubya

  • tdubya
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Re: Where do I start ?

Hallelujah Quake... I'm playing with it now... thanks a lot.