ikonForums beta released - UK Web Hosting | Dedicated Server Windows and Linux VPS Forum

**Eidolon** · #1 (**permalink**) 06-04-2007, 11:18

(OK apologies for the blatant plug, hopefully this is the right forum.)

Well after months of development a beta release of ikonForums is now available. iF is a Perl based forum software, with many of the developers being previously involved with ikonboard. Thankfully compared to ikonboard this version has optimised queries meaning a reduced server load.

For more info: http://www.ikonforums.com

**eUKhost.com** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-04-2007, 19:37

ikonforums.com has been more into discussion due to its internal matters and developers jumping ships but I've never heard much about the quality and features of this product. I would like to hear from the people who are testing it.

Hopefully we can offer one more forum to our customers if the features and support is good.

**Eidolon** · #3 (**permalink**) 12-04-2007, 21:29

With ikonboard there had been legal issues between the parent companies (see wikipedia) and eventually it reverted back to it's current owner John Jarvis. It is currently registered as Jarvis Inc., though is maintained by Joshua Johnson / Level 6 Studios. I shan't go into much detail publicly however for various reasons the 'ikonboard team' opted to go their own way, thus ikonForums came about.

I must admit it's taken quite a lot of time to be able to make a public release, with ikonforums going live back in September, and being previously developed under the pretence of ikonboard 3.2. During that time one big issue which it initally had was server load, which was and still is a problem with ikonboard. To address this the driver files were rewritten, then queries were optimied, and I'm reliably informed that in some areas the load has been reduced by 50%.

One of the developers has recently converted an ikonboard forum which had a database containing more than one million posts and approximately 600 megs in size. Though I'm unable to disclose the URL it would appear it went fairly well and should be an interesting test to see how it works for large boards.

A quick mention of a few features...
- A brand new skin system: http://wiki.ikonforums.com/Skin_Tutorial
- Registration supports HRI using either Image::Magick or GD Image library
- Quick reply is AJAX powered, thus the post appears without the page reloading.

**Eidolon** · #4 (**permalink**) 19-05-2007, 14:49

Just bumping this thread to announce the release of beta 3.

**eUKhost.com** · #5 (**permalink**) 19-05-2007, 20:27

do let me know when they need help in getting it listed in Fantastico, cpanel, plesk and other control panels allowing auto-install of opensource scripts.

I've not yet tried installing it as most of the versions seem to be Beta versions but once you get more confidence in Ikonforum then let me know.

**DPS Computing** · #6 (**permalink**) 20-05-2007, 19:32

Yes, it sounds good. It would be great if it could be added to Fantastico eventually when it is out of beta.

It will have a lot of competition trying to beat the likes of phpBB and vBullitin though won't it? I understand vBullitin is paid for but more people are willing to spend a little more if its got more features / support etc.

**Eidolon** · #7 (**permalink**) 20-05-2007, 21:00

I must admit I'm not too familiar with fantastico though I think once it goes into Release Candidate stage (hopefully fairly soon) it will be very handy. I think overall it's stable with only a handful of known bugs, it appears to be working fine on eUKHost's servers *touch wood*. If anyone does find bugs please post them via http://bugs.ikonforums.com.

Realistically I think ikonForums is unlikely to beat the likes of phpBB and VBulletin which have gained a very large user base, though it would be great if it did. A few years ago the likes of ikonboard were very popular, however for various reasons it's faded away. I guess the notable difference to many other forum software is that ikonForums is Perl based.

**DPS Computing** · #8 (**permalink**) 20-05-2007, 21:04

Fantastico really makes software such as forums, guestbooks, blogs etc easily accessible and manigiable to your average user. So if it managed to get in Fantastico it would be helped no end and would gain quite a bit of popularity just through the fact people can easily install in and use without any technical knowledge and also that Fantastico has a huge user base to begin with. Fantastico is like having a web expert sat next to you and you tell them what to install

.

Never say never regarding the popularity. No one ever things that they'll be hugely successful - it comes as a surprise!

**Eidolon** · #9 (**permalink**) 18-06-2007, 19:13

Beta 4 has now been released. I don't want to tempt fate but depending on what is found the next release may be a release candidate, well I can always hope.

**eUKhost.com** · #10 (**permalink**) 18-06-2007, 20:56

ask them to put more efforts in its development. You are expert in that field so you know what features it should have.

There are many people out there who have respect for softwares developed in perl and if ikonforum manages to beat vbulletin and phpbb in at least few features then it may have good chance to compete with this Giants.

As of now forum market is not as crowded as CMS market so you have good chance to reach millions of website hostings through Fantastico. I have good communication with Kosmopolis so it wont take much time for me to request him to add ikonforum in Fantastico.

**DPS Computing** · #11 (**permalink**) 19-06-2007, 13:17

I am excited in anticipation to see all the features!! As Mark said if they make the features bigger and better - as well as introduce some completely new features it has a chance of breaking through - especially if its gets in Fantastico - that will do it no end of good!

**Eidolon** · #12 (**permalink**) 13-07-2007, 09:34

Beta 5 is now available, and hopefully fixes installation problems experienced by some in the previous release. As such the RC release of iF 1.0.0 is now only dependant upon bugs found/reported, and perhaps some improved documentation.

**DPS Computing** · #13 (**permalink**) 13-07-2007, 09:49

Can't wait for the first release candidate and then the final version - would be really interesting to see if this would make a better forum for me and whether I like it better than phpBB and SMF.

**Eidolon** · #14 (**permalink**) 26-07-2007, 14:40

Just thought I'd quickly mention that there is a skinning request...
http://forums.ikonforums.com/index.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=417

**Eidolon** · #15 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 21:19

To save starting a new thread I'll use this one to say...
IkonForums 1.0.0 RC1 is now available
...at long last we believe it to be stable enough to move out of beta status and into RC. Though just to be on the safe side I've taken the precaution of downloading backups of the databases earlier this evening, incase sods law kicks in.

**paul** · #16 (**permalink**) 09-09-2007, 05:38

IKONForums have extensive template and skins features but since it is Perl message board it will little difficult for me to handle it and I also heard it can easily hacked and are buggy as well, though I am not sure about the current version.

**Eidolon** · #17 (**permalink**) 09-09-2007, 07:39

I think you may be getting confused with Ikonboard, which quite a few of the team (including myself) were previously involved with. Personally I don't think either current versions are easily hacked, though it doesn't count for the administrator making his/her password known. Whilst Ikonboard has some bugs and is bad for server load, IkonForums to my knowledge is stable and shouldn't give problems with server load.

I can't recall which file the following was in but pre-3.1.2a (around 2003) this comment could be found in an Ikonboard file...

Code:

 # At this point, it's probably a good time to get friendly with your
# webhost and pull a vague expression when they ask you why their server load
# has just spiralled... ;)

...in a way I miss the random comments which provided a laugh for coders.

**Eidolon** · #18 (**permalink**) 24-12-2007, 08:32

* Digs up the old thread. *
IkonForums 1.0.0 RC3 is now available
...fingers crossed with a couple minor adjustments it'll become final around the new year.