How to display topic's post text in recent discussions?

topic title + topic post text

Read about $textLd option in manual.

it shows the lastposttext, what is the variable to show teh first posted text, what the topic is about?

This is not available. If you sort by latest topics, topic's first message appears. If you sort by latest replies, then the latest reply is shown.

You can know from the subject what the topic is about. It's out of concepts of miniBB to display spare information.

$textLd=1; Available from 2.0 RC4, setting $textLd=1; or $textLd=2; you will get {$lastPostText} variable available in latest discussions section on the first page (templates/main_last_discuss_cell.html). If set to 2, all HTML formatting is removed from the post text, and you can use it in <acronym> tag, for example. If set to 1, post text is left as it is.
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Last post text is not topic post text (first post text).

Read my post above.