1) Are the categories simultaneous to my regular Joomla categores? (Don't think so.)
No the forum categories aren't related to your Joomla content categories at all.
2) When I am in the Fireboard Adminstration and I go to Forum Administration to create one, it says that to
"To create a Category, choose 'Top Level Category' as a Parent." BUT my only choice for a pulldown is No Parent.
I have created one and it just makes it a Forum but not a Parent. So on the user end, even once logged in everyone
still sees the notice...
A top level category has no parent. Create a category. Give it any name, then publish it. Once you have done that you can create another category and select the previously created one as a parent.
You should probably post your questions on the
Best of Joomla site.
For a better response.
I don't mean to be nosy, and I don't know what kind of membership you are planning on having. But Fireboard is seriously lacking in the Administration department. There is no support for private boards, or member groups. It might be worth taking a look at phpBB3. I have a few sites running SMF and was thinking about switching to FB because of it's simple integration with Joomla. However I changed my mind when I noticed it's weak side. As a result I'll be migrating my SMF forums to phpBB3 once the Rokbridge is complete.
It looks good, but there's not a lot under the FB hood yet.