Need advice on open source forum software

[db2]

Mods, feel free to move if this thread is in the wrong area.

I'm looking to start a forum for a non-profit group that I belong to and I need some help. I have never created or run my own forum before so I'm really starting from scratch. Being that this is a non-profit group I really don't have any funding for this so I'm trying to accomplish this with as little money as possible.

How do I do this?
What forum software does anyone recommend? I've looked at phpbb and simple machines forum (SMF), are these any good?
How do I purchase server space and a domain name?
What else do I need to do?

Thanks in advance

 

[digiblur]

Look around at some of the hosting sites. I've used Hostmonster in the past and it was very simple to setup phpbb which I preferred over SMF. I never did anything with it except playing around setting it up.

Look around for a host that has mySQL, PHP, etc...they should mention stuff about forums. It's actually easier than you think to setup the software. Adding custom stuff to it and making it your own, then getting traffic, that's a totally different story.

 

[The Insider]

Find a host like say Hostgator.com that offers cPanel hosting. With cPanel and Fantastico installed you can point click and have phpbb running in a few minutes with no web experiance needed.