Archive for October 2008

I recently got an Asus Eee PC 1000H. For writing, travel, and learning Linux. I wanted to get Ubuntu working on it (a friend recommended it), the Apache/MySQL/PHP trinity (essential for work), and ColdFusion (not essential for work these days, but a few little apps I’ve written—for use locally—use CF).

There’s been a whole series of hoops to jump through. I’m no tech novice, but Windows and occasional Mac use has been my staple thus far. Of course you can’t do much in web development without knowing a bit of Linux at least; still, wrangling with various desktop issues can be a chore.

The web, or Google (if there’s a difference) is your friend. Finding a comprehensive tutorial that covers your precise situation is rare if not impossible; you need that familiar net skill of cobbling together varying perspectives and bits of advice into something that works for you. That said, I’ll point to this ACME Guide up-front as a fantastic source of information on getting web development stuff going.

I also picked up the O’Reilly Linux Pocket Guide. It’s a good little intro to the Linux environment as well as a useful reference point.

Anyway, here’s my summary of what I’ve learned. Hope it’s useful for you! (As ever, this information is used at your own risk. I can’t support you if stuff goes wrong—but do let me know if you know for sure I’ve, for example, mis-typed commands!)

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