The idea of this HOW TO is to explain how to get these working together, with little to no use of the Terminal Command Line, but I will give the command line interface (from now on I will call this CLI) as well as they do make life a little faster. For this we will be using the “Synaptic Package Manager” (from now on I will call this SPM) which can be found on Ubuntu in System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager.

So first up we need to install the Apache Web Server. Type the following into the SPM Quick Search box:

apache2

If you add a space after it will be the first result returned, without and it will be the third. For all SPM options make sure you mark them for The command line alternative is (it assumes that you are running as a sudo user, this is the same for all CLI alternatives written here):

sudo apt-get install apache2

To check if this works, click http://localhost, which points to your new local web server. If the words “It works!” appear then everything is on track!

With Apache installed, we now want to install PHP. For this use either SPM and search for:

php5 and libapache2-mod-php5

Or using the CLI: sudo apt-get install php 5 libapache2-mod-php5

Next we need to restart the Apache server so it loads PHP. To do this without the CLI you need to use “Run Application…”, this can be found by right clicking one of the task-bars and and adding the “Run Application..” to the task bar panel. Once this is done type the following command:

gksudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart Note: This will prompt for your password

Or using the CLI: sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now you need to check that PHP is installed correctly. We need to create a small PHP file in the Web Servers directory that displays the PHP info. To do this we are going to run the following command under “Run Application…”:

gksudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php

Or using the CLI: sudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php

Once GEdit is open add the following line and save the file: phpinfo(); inside opening and closing PHP tags

Now check that this has worked by clicking : http://localhost/testphp.php

This should display all the information about the PHP configuration that’s just been installed. Now we move on to the last part which is to install the MySQL server. Using the SPM find and install:

mysql-server

Or using the CLI: sudo apt-get install mysql-server

This will run the MySQL set-up which will at some point prompt you for a root password. This is for root login to your MySQL server, and you’ll need to enter it twice.

After MySQL has been set-up there are two more packages that you need, the first is MySQL libraries for PHP 5, and the second is for Apache to use MySQL.

php5-mysql and libapache2-mod-auth-mysql

Or using the CLI: sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql

Once these have been installed you need to tell PHP about the MySQL extension by editing the php configuration file. This can be done using “Run Application..” using:

gksudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

In this file you need to find the line that says ; extension=msql.so, remove the ; from the begining of the line, save and close the file.

That’s it, Apache, PHP & MySQL are all installed and set-up. However there is one more stage that might be of use. That is to install Navicat, which allows easy administration to a MySQL Database. First head to the Navicat Download Page and get the appropriate version. I use the Lite (non-commercial) version.

Once your downloaded the tar ball, extract it to where ever you want Navicat to be installed. To run it create a shortcut to the start_navicat file.

After looking at the new Netbooks that were around for a couple of hundred pounds I decided they might be a bit under powered for what I wanted to use it for. Despite having the small form factor that I needed.

In the end I settled for a IBM Thinkpad X40. I was already given one of these for work and liked the size of the keyboard & screen.

Specs for the X40 are:

• 1.2 GHz Intel Centrino processor
• 256 MB RAM (1 x Expansion Slot, so I have 1.25 GB)
• 12.1″ Screen
• 40 GB HDD

OK so the processor is slower than the Intel Atom you get in Netbooks, but this takes the edge with much more RAM. When you have a browser, IDE, etc all running a a low RAM system will begin to grind to a halt.

I found one of these on eBay for £150, BARGAIN!! It came pre-installed with Windows XP Pro. However even XP starts to lag when running on a 1.2gig processor & 512mb RAM (this was how i bought it). I had been reading more & more about this magic Linux distribution called Ubuntu which runs fast even if your computer is powered by a hamster in a wheel, and that requires little to no setting up once installed.

I went over to the Ubuntu site here and downloaded the CD ISO, popped it into my drive and fired up my laptop.

Then I just followed the on screen instructions of the installer until it was completed and Ubuntu was ready to use!

You may have noticed that at no time did I say that I formated my hard drive. This is because I didn’t & if you want to use your existing operating system as well Ubuntu then the installer will help you partition your hard drive for each OS without any loss of data. Installing Ubuntu is easier & faster than installing Windows XP.

A lot of applications come pre-installed with Ubuntu, more than enough to do all your normal tasks. I will write some more blogs on other applications that are useful for Ubuntu that aren’t defaultly installed.