Hello! I am Anthony, a new person here to SMF, and I would really like to gain advice on how to set up my own forum using SMF 2.0. I currently have my own website, www(dot)anthonynachor(dot)com, which is hosted by Automattic, a subsidiary of Wordpress and the web host is by Weebly. I would like to set up a supplementary forum site that I want to host as well using your software because I've seen other forum sites using SMF as well, but, I want to create a forum that is based on certain aesthetics, including my desire to discuss transportation issues, from automobiles to public transit, as well as discussing urban development ideas and issues.
However, as I read through the SMF 2.0 Installation process, it requires me to have a webserver that properly supports PHP: I saw there the link to Apache (www[dot]apache[dot]org), and I ended up going through the download page, and it eventually linked me to this site:
http[colon][slash][slash]apache[dot]tradebit[dot]com[slash]pub[slash][slash]
Now, I got a little confused because I don't know which sub-folder/s I need to install on my Windows laptop so that I can install SMF 2.0 properly. (In this particular case, I am about to download the latest SMF Software, 2.2.19) I would really like to get help on properly setting up SMF 2.0 so that I can start making my own forum while I have downtime before college starts again in August. Also, I want to determine how to ensure that I have the minimum requirements stated on the Readme file provided as I downloaded the SMF 2.0 install folder so that I can properly run my upcoming forum.
I know that I will have more questions on the way, but hopefully, this will kick start my process of familiarizing myself with the forum software.
My first question to you is where are you getting the SMF 2.2.19 software? ???