I want to setup a bulletin board on my os x machine. It will be for 20-50 people. What are some goood free reccomendations as well as setup guides because I have no prior experience with settin gthem up or anything that is involved with them.
well, you can use the built in apache and then you can configure php and mySQL. I do not know how to do that,
Next you need a software. There are thousands. The three top ones are vBulletin (not free but good), Vision Power (small cost and okay) and finally, my choice, PHPbb (free, powerful and easy to use and install).
if you go with PHPbb head over to phpbbhacks.com for some good additions. I recommend the quick reply.
On another note, have you thought about just buying hosting. I use Lunarpages for all my active sites. They are $7.95 a month upfront for a year with so setup. I moderate (although not since school really) their forums at lunarforums.com (phpbb ran). They offer auto-installs of phpbb and a whole bunch of other great web apps.
There are some really good tutorials at phpmac.com to show you how to install php on mac. It includes almost every version of php so you should find that a great help. I would second the choice on phpbb. Its free, open-source, and has a great community. There are hundreds of skins to make it fit you, or you can make one. It also has a very easy administration feature. I would highly recommend it.
I followed this excellent tutorial at phpmac.com to install a newer version of Apache and PHP. (Actually, I installed Apache, saw you needed MySQL for the PHP part, installed MySQL, and then did the PHP. I think Apache and MySQL can be interchanged, but I don't know.)
And then, I finally downloaded phpBB 2 from phpBB.com. Installation of that was easy - I just dragged it to the folder Apache looks to, and then did the [insert forum path here]/install/install.php page, and it was good to go. Oh, wait... I needed to create the database for the forums through MySQL before that - but it isn't hard. Just do a CREATE DATABASE call from within mysql.
By far the worst step of it all was the MySQL configuration. You need to mess with users and permissions and crap. If you run into any hurdles along the way, just ask again. I'll be happy to guide you through it.
Comments
Next you need a software. There are thousands. The three top ones are vBulletin (not free but good), Vision Power (small cost and okay) and finally, my choice, PHPbb (free, powerful and easy to use and install).
if you go with PHPbb head over to phpbbhacks.com for some good additions. I recommend the quick reply.
On another note, have you thought about just buying hosting. I use Lunarpages for all my active sites. They are $7.95 a month upfront for a year with so setup. I moderate (although not since school really) their forums at lunarforums.com (phpbb ran). They offer auto-installs of phpbb and a whole bunch of other great web apps.
-MacRules101
I installed MySQL from the MySQL 4.0 binary installer available on MySQL.com. Installation was easy... but configuration was a pain in the butt. There's an obtuse manual available at MySQL.com, and this section was the most helpful with what I needed to do.
I followed this excellent tutorial at phpmac.com to install a newer version of Apache and PHP. (Actually, I installed Apache, saw you needed MySQL for the PHP part, installed MySQL, and then did the PHP. I think Apache and MySQL can be interchanged, but I don't know.)
And then, I finally downloaded phpBB 2 from phpBB.com. Installation of that was easy - I just dragged it to the folder Apache looks to, and then did the [insert forum path here]/install/install.php page, and it was good to go. Oh, wait... I needed to create the database for the forums through MySQL before that - but it isn't hard. Just do a CREATE DATABASE call from within mysql.
By far the worst step of it all was the MySQL configuration. You need to mess with users and permissions and crap. If you run into any hurdles along the way, just ask again. I'll be happy to guide you through it.
Hope this helps.