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How hard would this be to do?

Chapbass

Chapbass

Diamond Member
Hey all,

After much debate, I want to start looking into the feasibility of creating a low cost forum/message board to be used at my workplace.

Some quick things:

Not many people will be using this, id say the max amount of total users would be ~10 tops. The most that would be logged on at any one time I would guess to be 2.

The main purpose of this is to create almost a "worklog" of things that need to get done, and so people can leave notes and suggestions to others, even though we all wont be at work at the same time.

that said: I have a computer I could use, although there may be some other things going on on this machine at the same time. It wouldnt be the most powerful machine (probably an a64 or possibly an x2 with 2-3gb ram), but I would think that it could get it done for the small use I need it for.


I have a strong background in computers, but not an incredible one in programming. I've done some C++ and some java, but its limited and its been a while. One of my co-workers I know has quite a bit more programming knowledge than I do, but im not sure how often he'll be able to help out.

Cost is the other thing, I'd prefer it to be as low cost (free if possible) as can be. One piece of software I saw was the Simple Machines SMF board. Looks like it uses php and SQL, and its free. Obviously that was just after a quick google search, so if anyone has any better suggestions please feel free.

Last thing: Internet access would be on the machine, but this program would not have access to the net, if that changes anything (dont think it would but, either way😛 ).

I guess my question is: is this a feasible idea? or am i getting way in over my head?



Cliffs:

Looking for a low cost way to set up a Local-only forum for 1-2 simultaneous users, probably 10 max.
Not an strong programming background, but I can dabble and learn.
Have a computer for it (probably), but don't really know where to go from here.



Thanks all!
 
hmmm, never really looked into it. looking at a demo right now and it might be a little more complex that i need. the big thing that i need is just a communication medium that is FAST. and by fast i mean, i can easily just punch something in and hit submit, so i can quickly do it while multitasking and in a fast environment.
 
hmmm, never thought about a wiki before. My first thoughts would be that it would be an AWESOME idea for the long term portions of this (training materials, how to's on frequent reoccurring problems and such).

The only thing is that normally we work on 16-20 things at once, each of them usually lasting only 3-4 days, probably a week at most. now, with the forum idea I was thinking about making a separate subforum for each type of thing (training, FAQ's, etc.), and then for current projects just have a different thread on each one.

I've used wiki's alot on the user side, but to be honest ive never edited one. Can they be used like that, almost like jotting down a quick note?
 
Originally posted by: Chapbass
hmmm, never thought about a wiki before. My first thoughts would be that it would be an AWESOME idea for the long term portions of this (training materials, how to's on frequent reoccurring problems and such).

The only thing is that normally we work on 16-20 things at once, each of them usually lasting only 3-4 days, probably a week at most. now, with the forum idea I was thinking about making a separate subforum for each type of thing (training, FAQ's, etc.), and then for current projects just have a different thread on each one.

I've used wiki's alot on the user side, but to be honest ive never edited one. Can they be used like that, almost like jotting down a quick note?
Click to expand...

Yes, you simply search for a page, if it doesn't exist it will create it for you. You click "Edit" and then edit the page in a Word like editor (if you prefer).

Existing pages take 2 clicks to edit.

You can keep as many pages around as you need and all of your edits are audited so you know who made the change.
 
Okay! so I think ive decided on what im going to do.


I still think the message board idea would be a good route to take for part of this, but since I think I'm going to use the wiki for some other ideas that ive been brainstorming over the course of the day, I'll start with that and see how it goes.


SO i guess ill start by looking at the wikimedia link you guys provided....any suggestions as to the best way to get this going?
 
Originally posted by: Chapbass
Okay! so I think ive decided on what im going to do.


I still think the message board idea would be a good route to take for part of this, but since I think I'm going to use the wiki for some other ideas that ive been brainstorming over the course of the day, I'll start with that and see how it goes.


SO i guess ill start by looking at the wikimedia link you guys provided....any suggestions as to the best way to get this going?
Click to expand...

Just install it! It shouldn't be that hard...I've never installed that particular software but it should make the IIS modifications, etc. to make it work out of the box. Then you would pull up a browser to http://<yourmachine> or http://<yourmachine>/wiki, etc., depending on how you specified to install it.
 
yeah im starting to see that. Havent had a ton of time the past couple days but i did get php, sql, and apache installed. Never realied it was just basically a piece of software. Always thought I had to change my OS around it for some odd reason. Took care of all the services and such for me 🙂.


neato.
 
My workplace uses twiki (twiki.org), so that may be an option to look at, although you're most likely to find it's basically the same thing as wikimedia.
 
if you just want a message board that is local, just install apache on any machine and put phpbb or any message board on it and dont expose it to the outside internet.
 
Alright guys, an update and some troubleshooting.


I've just been working on my laptop trying to setup a wiki and see how it works etc.

Heres where I'm at right now (and ive just been playing, so im sure it might be wrong).

Installed Apache, that seems to work great. I installed php5, told it i was working with apache and all that. excellent. I had to reinstall it with the mysql extension, which i forgot the first time, but after adding it that seems to work good.

Installed MySQL 5.0 (should i use 5.1 or 6?), did the detailed startup, set a few things on there. I was getting an error where it couldnt start the service (I'm on a windows based machine)...after some hunting it looks like one of the lines in the my.ini that mysql makes is all weird, but if you delete the line the service starts no sweat.


Now heres where it gets a little dicey, and where i get confused.

Right now, if i punch in localhost on IE or FF, i get a page that says "It Works!". I found that page to be in c:\apache\htdocs. I installed apache to c:\apache, and inside the htdocs directory there is the index.html page that says "it works". Now, if i add in the mediawiki just as a folder and browse to localhost\wiki\index.php, it comes up with the mediawiki page, says i need to set it up. So i go to that page, and start putting things in.


I'll quick say that if i go to the mysql command line i CAN access the MySQL server and login. I created a database called wikidb, and used the command "use wikidb" to change to that database.

The problem, however, arises when i hit "install mediawiki" on their configuration page. It gives me a connection failed, and says it cant logon to the MySQL server with an error code 2003. This is with the Database Host set to "localhost".

I guess im just slightly confused how to troubleshoot it. Late last night i tried adding a user to mysql, but im not positive on how or if i need to do that.

Anyone have any ideas on what im doing wrong? I feel like its something very easy and quite possibly stupid, but i dont feel confident enough to do more tinkering than some of the basics without some help 🙂.


Thanks a ton all!



EDIT: HEY! i got it! For some odd reason, while it couldnt connect to the server last night, it could today. It just said it had some authentication issues. So i changed the PW over on the admin account, put it in....and it installed! weeee!


Alright, ill let you all know how it goes!
 
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