SEO

Hi Everyone,

I want to buy a cheap (around 250-300) used laptop PC to setup as a development server for my VBulletin forum.

Can someone point me to an up-to-date (as recent as possible) tutorial for the newbie on installing Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php on a Windows XP Professional OS and setting it up on a local network? I would like to avoid using XAMPP as I am buying the PC for development use (testing VBulletin mods) and want to run full versions of all the software. Thanks

wamp is nice and easy

Install PHP 5 Apache MySQL on Windows : WampServer


but, ideally, you should throw linux on it. settings for windows (isapi) and mod_rewrite are different... plus pathing /home/site/html/ vs c:\websites\whatever\


look into running a virtual machine with vmware VMware: Virtualization via Hypervisor, Virtual Machine & Server Consolidation - VMware
and throw a distro of what your server uses on it.

Thanks Brian, I like the virtual machine approach. This would allow me to run the linux and apache/mysql/php all within the windows environment correct?

Or would it be better if I simply wipe the drive of the laptop, and install whatever my webhost is using (linux). Is linux a pain in the butt to get onto a LAN? I have no problems fully dedicating the laptop as a development server.

vm is nice because you dont have to sped hours trying to find drivers for your network card, etc in a full install.

you can use .htaccess with WAMP and XAMPP on a properly configured machine.

nice, thanks guys!