So I noticed . . .

[Smither]

This is the same forum software that I just installed for Funky Bear Pie.

Or at least, they look similar. The old forum just didn't cut it, so I decided to tell Arthur (FBP leader) to make use of the free web hosting he got with the TF2 server. He agreed, then he told me to do it. When I was recommended to use SMF, I didn't imagine I would get forum software than I'd used before.

P.S. When Steam and Source come to linux, expect an influx of former PC-users after I yell at them all to "Get a real OS" then realise I still have no idea how to fix linux should it break.
P.S.S. Interestingly, the server that our web host is stored on runs linux, not unix as I'd imagine. Though I can't find out what flavour of linux.

[Smither]

First, thanks to Mark for the image, though we already have someone who's making the theme.

Secondly, we've abandoned that web host and a friend of mine was going host them on his dad's server, but first, he wants to change the server's OS from Windows to Linux. Any distro choice / database type / "this is crap, don't use it, use this instead" / domain / general advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: Also, maybe move this topic to the appropriate forum.

[Mad Penguin]

Well, this SMF is running on an Ubuntu 9.10 VPS (well .. a number of them) ... lots of gotcha's with plugins, but the only base problem was the PHP/memcached bug I sorted a short time ago, generally not a problem (and you don't necessarily 'need' caching, depending your loading) but it's Ubuntu specific and worth being aware of ... specifically caused a problem with the media plugin.

[Smither]

Ubuntu 9.10, OK thanks. But what about databases and all the other stuff that's needed to make it work? (With our previous host, everything "just worked", with all the relevant stuff pre-installed for us, so I have no clue about starting from scratch.)

[Mad Penguin]

Mmm, when I was 18 (once upon a time) I was pretty keen on building a "kit car" .. I could do bits, but really didn't know where to start. The recommendation I had was to buy either a pre-assembled kit-car, or just to buy an ordinary car.

I pointed out this would probably be more expensive, and in the instance of an ordinary car, less 'spectacular' .. the come-back was "yes, but it will work, and if you calculate what your time is worth at minimum wage / 10, you'll still be well-up financially ...".

In later years, after dismantling a motorcycle (down to the last bolt) and re-chroming / repainting / rebuilding it from the ground up, I can confirm the advice to be 100% , and I'm fairly confident the analogy holds when it comes to building an on-line service ..

Your basic stack for SMF will be Apache+modPHP (or lighttpd+fastcgi) , memcache, APC, SMF, and probably a whole bunch of SMF plugins to do bits you'll find you want to do that SMF doesn't do by default. You'll also need a mail package (I use 'postfix') and a database, I'm not sure SMF runs on anything other than MySQL , although I guess it might run on Postgres for those with a sadistic side.

Sounds like you've a few weeks work ahead coming up .. you could always make notes as you go and write it up as a "howto" ..