Before you start

I'm pretty tech savvy but not when it comes to website development. Plus I have a toddler and a crawler at my feet so I am constantly multitasking. I want to create a site which will allow me to post notices and have forums. Is Drupal right for me? Is there a good (free) tutorial that will walk me through the first baby steps? Once I get my feet wet I'll be fine. I just need a little help getting started.

From what I've read so far in the online documentation, it seems that v.5 has a lot of improvements over 4.7, not least of which is the fact that there's more documentation for 5.

My server is running PHP 4.3.9 and MySQL 4.1.20

Can I run version 5 safely with these spec's?

I have read the system requirements but I found the wording a little ambiguous, sorry if that seems dumb.

Is it possible to use Drupal to power a Bloggers' Community site?

I want to have like a front page where site updates are posted, and then there will be like the members blog feed aggregated in front too. Every members registered have their own public profile page.

If it is possible, I wonder whaat module do I need for this kind of site. Thank you

Hi guys,

About to make the switch from Joomla + Invision to Drupal.

What I need is:

Hi there

Im not sure if this is the right place to post this, but seems best.

Im wondering, is it safe to have a chat room open to public use within a site.
For example, see

http://ojs.review.mai.ac.nz/drupal/?q=node/5

where im testing the 'phpfreechat' module. I dont want users to have to login, since they wil already have to in the main site (different CMS).

Are there any security risks I should be aware of?? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking to use drupal for a sorority and fraternity websites that I currently manage. This would make things much easier but I am not sure if drupal is able to do all the things I am needing. Here is a quick list of all the features I would need.

1.Easily updatable and formatable "static content"
- This will be the main content of the website. And I would like it to be easily edited and formated by people who do not know html or any markup languages. The easier the better. The only hard part of this would be finding a formating engine I guess it might be called, but surely someone has made a module for this right?

2. A Picture Section
- This pretty straight forward and I know it already exists.

3. A calendar/event system.
- These websites will need a strong calendar/event system because they are for organizations that primarily deal with events and event planning between their many members. I would like for people to be able to create events with time slots that can allow other members to sign up. I would also like to, if possible, be able to send updates to the members through emails. All of this needs to be readily accesible to the uses of the website.
- I know there are already event systems but how robust and easy to use are they? Do they easy display in calendar form? Can they be displayed in list or agenda type formats as well?

4. Forums System