Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd inform everyone of a BB software called Ikonboard. I just downloaded and installed it in 15 minutes. It has all the features of the latest BBs, BUT it's FREE!! I was very impressed with it. Unlike YaBB, which was a nightmare to install, Ikonboard is very intuitive. It also has an import utility for the free and full versions of UBB.

I know, I know, it's not PHP/MySQL driven, but not every board needs to be, and not everyone has access to it. :)

It's a very nice bbs. Although a tad slow. Not slow, just not fast. I though maybe it was there site, but somebody else with a fast site has the board too and it runs about the same. If only it was written in php. I'm gonna use it, unless i get some extra cash and buy vbulliten.

thanks for your thoughful insite!

Think ya could post a link

The alpha version of Ikonboard 3 is coming out next Friday and the beta at the end of the month. Shortly after the final release of Ib3, a MySQL driven version will be released.

From what I hear the database system on the Perl version is very unique and is just slightly slower the MySQL.

There is a small bug in v2.1.7. I copied this post from the ikonboard support forums. If you follow the instructions it will fix this issue. The bug reports the membership since wrong. Do the following:

The following should fix the 1969 problem while correcting for the timezone as intended:
As in my previous message, look in "profile.cgi" for this line:
>>################ show profile subroutine

and then scroll down about 17 lines
FIND:
>> $joineddate = &longdate("$joineddate + ($timedifferencevalue*3600) + ($timezone*3600)");

REPLACE WITH
>> my $joineddate = $joineddate + ($timedifferencevalue*3600) + ($timezone*3600);
>> $joinedtime = &shorttime("$joineddate");
>> $joineddate = &longdate("$joineddate");

ALSO

FIND:
>> $postdate = &longdate("$postdate + ($timedifferencevalue*3600) + ($timezone*3600)");

REPLACE WITH:
>> my $postdate = $postdate + ($timedifferencevalue*3600) + ($timezone*3600)>> $posttime = &shorttime("$postdate");
>> $postdate = &longdate("$postdate");

THAT should fix the problem - it has on my site.. =)

Take a look at http://www.phpbb.com before you decide to "buy" a messageboard.

Saeed

Thanks for the vector to phpbb. I am using vbulletin lite now and was on the verge of buying the full version (may do it yet). Ikonboard may be nice but I am into php at the moment (I will be introducing it in my lab classes). I want software that students can install on the lab servers and I don't want to buy that many copies of vbulletin. Hi.

Gary

phpbb looks really nice. Anyone using it?

I'm going to keep my eye out for v3 of ikonboard which is suppose to be completely re-written and almost as fast as a php/mysql board.

[Edited by tabernack on 01-14-2001 at 07:42 AM]

how come i'm not getting email replies? I used to get a email everytime somebody replied, the option is on in my profile and is set to my current email address. What's up with that?

I am having the worse nightmare with any bulletin board, PHP, or PHP3. vbulletin lite messed up on me, so did blazeboard, and phpbb. they just would not work right, my host could make php work but not php3. so i used phpbb, oooo was i in for a suprise. i am hopefull for phpbb to work out.

We're using phpBB for our Support forum. I like it better than vBulletin for a couple of reasons. None of which has to do with price. I like it's clean, simple interface for users of the forum. For Administrators, it's not as good as vBulletin, but it's getting better!

Our support forum:
http://www.rotohost.com/phpBB

the address is ikonboard.com for those who did not know

phpbb is installed and works great. Advice on installing it:

stick with all the defaults. Don't try to put the board in some obscure directory. It gave me headaches when I tried.

Seems very nice. Admin panel needs some work, but it's very clean looking. I'm torn :( Not sure whether to go with it or stick with ikonboard.

You can check it out at http://www.webfors.com/phpBB/

And make sure to add index.php in your DirectoryIndex definition in httpd.conf.

If it just how I have my default browser settings, or are the messages (posts) really big?

Also, what is the admin section lacking?

Yeah, the font is really big :) You can customize it though. I'll send you the login info for the Admin panel Chicken and you can see for yourself. I'd love some feedback on it.

Originally posted by Chicken
If it just how I have my default browser settings, or are the messages (posts) really big?

Yes, the font in the body of the messages is a bit too big, IMHO. This can be easily set to a smaller font by hacking one of the files. I tried it, but actually went back to the default ( big ) font. Looked better. I'm sure if I had 40,000 posts or something like that, I'd think differently. :)

Let us know, Chicken, what you think of the Admin area.

The admin area sure could use some work.. But its getting to it.. One could customise it to there needs easily. Thats the good part.. and you dun need to worry abt the dirty copy right laws! :) I think its a great board.

Tabernack,

I saw you on the phpBB board, I have tried to upload everything 3 times already, then had my host try to install it i still kept getting errors. He has it on his site, so i know it will work. But i have tried blazeboard, Vbulletin lite, and i still get errors, am i doomed for not having my own board?

hehe :)

ComputerGuy,

Did your host setup the DB and the DB User? Post your errors here, maybe I can help you out.

I'd help you install it but I would need telnet/ssh access to your account. :D

Taber, why would you need telnet access? FTP would be fine right? :)


ComputerGuy, like the man said, post your errors here :)

Yeah, you could use ftp, but I had to edit the config.php file and I hate doing that in notepad and then uploading it. Almost always get internal server errors when I do that.

Well, aside from a few things it lacks that I really like, it's much better than vBull lite if you're a cheap chicken like myself.

What it lacks:

Search for users/IP addresses (something we have to do quite a bit here). Also, no searching for users in other admin functions.

Announcements (first thread in forum stays put).

I guess when you create a forum, you can add a user(s) to moderate it, but it isn't quite as intuitive as vBull.

Moving threads (by user name or date).

Modifications of user - seems that only one user is set up, but they are displayed in a drop down list (which, if you have 1,000's of users would be a pain).

No import feature from other boards.

No custom BB code options. I'm not sure what is there already, but that seems to be it.

No option to set groups/permissions (we can require some user's posts to be approved before posted to the board).


Really not a big list of features missing! I don't know what is in store for the next version, but some of the things I listed might be worth the money. Depends on what the forum is for.

If any of these options are availble and I missed it, let me know...

Originally posted by Chicken


What it lacks:

No option to set groups/permissions (we can require some user's posts to be approved before posted to the board).


You CAN require posters to register before posting. Is that what you meant? I agree about the I.P tracking part. That would be nice to have.

Well no, I mean that posts can be saved and then approved for a particular poster who is close to being banned (instead of that poster being able to have their meesages shown immediately). You can set up forums that can only be viewed by a certain group, etc. I don't think phpbb can do that.

I saw there was some forms of limiting posts from certain people, but I dunno, the other things were more important. I'd have to look at it again.

My Host is a very smart person and helps me out in every way that he can. But i am using a domainzero direction service, so the forum shoots up errors. As soon as i scrap 13.50 i will have a domain and the errors will go away.

You can see the errors

<<MOD EDIT>>
Ummm, you really shouldn't post these types of errors. URL deleted for your own good. -Chicken
<</MOD EDIT>>

[Edited by Chicken on 01-14-2001 at 11:12 PM]

Originally posted by TheComputerGuy
My Host is a very smart person and helps me out in every way that he can. But i am using a domainzero direction service, so the forum shoots up errors. As soon as i scrap 13.50 i will have a domain and the errors will go away.

You can see the errors

I think you should remove the link above. Its a major security problem for you. Check what it displays.

Somebody really does care, I didn't even realize that it was showing that. I was caught with my pants down. (not literally) Anyway, I won't post it any furthur til i get the errors gone,

I've really been impressed with phpBB.com. That board is fast and I love the simple layout. Looking forward to the next release.

From what I've read phpBB should address many of your concerns Chicken. I'm looking foward to the next release.

Yes, the next version of phpBB will pull it closer to vBulletin. How long before it comes out...who knows.

Now, if I could only figure out how to move the topics around my board.

http://www.rotohost.com/phpBB

That is one thing that I think it lacks. You can't reorganize the forums. You can reorganize the categories though.

Without searching, we wouldn't be able to trace all the *ahem* shameless hosts nearly as well. It couldn't be used for this type of board, but if you don't need the tracking features, the current release is quite nice.

Can't wait to see if they'll add some of the features I posted. Not all would be needed. I just posted what seems to be missing from vBull in general.

Originally posted by Chicken
Well, aside from a few things it lacks that I really like, it's much better than vBull lite if you're a cheap chicken like myself.

What it lacks:

Search for users/IP addresses (something we have to do quite a bit here). Also, no searching for users in other admin functions.

Announcements (first thread in forum stays put).

I guess when you create a forum, you can add a user(s) to moderate it, but it isn't quite as intuitive as vBull.

Moving threads (by user name or date).

Modifications of user - seems that only one user is set up, but they are displayed in a drop down list (which, if you have 1,000's of users would be a pain).

No import feature from other boards.

No custom BB code options. I'm not sure what is there already, but that seems to be it.

No option to set groups/permissions (we can require some user's posts to be approved before posted to the board).


Really not a big list of features missing! I don't know what is in store for the next version, but some of the things I listed might be worth the money. Depends on what the forum is for.

If any of these options are availble and I missed it, let me know...

I am a user of phpBB and there are couple of things here. There are a couple of import scripts available. There is one that works with phorum and one that will import UBB. Go to their site's discussion board and do a search.

There is custom BB code. There are the typical url, bold, code, etc codes.

The 1.2 release due anytime, should have the reorganization of forums in it.

Groups/permissions, I believe, is to be implemented in version 2.0 sometime this summer.

I agree that the admin area is the major area that needs improvement. But for a small support board it is more than sufficient. However for one the size of WHT the admin area would make you scream.

These days, there are a lot of free 'nice' message boards.
How long would it be until infopop closes down? (If it ever happens. It is no offense.)

I dun think they will remain in business for very long. But you never know. There are a lot of newbies out there.