php windows preferred solution?

[anorakgirl]

hi,
i'm trying to decide on the best solution for my win2k laptop - i have a linux box which i connect to at home but want to be able to carry on working while i'm away.
i could:
1. dual boot the laptop so that i can work on linux (not ideal cos i tend to work in mostly in win, and its nice to demo to people in IE as thats what they're used to.
2. install cygwin & then install linux apache, php, mysql: i know nothing about this, is it a possible solution? is it difficult?
3. install Apache, MySQl & PHP for Windows: how different will this be to running on Linux i.e. will my code all still work!

i was wondering what other people have done, what would be the most stable solution etc?

thanks for any pointers,
tamsin

[jonathen]

Personally I would say:

Dual boot is a pain and unreliable.

Cygwin is a possibility, but not my preference, as to me, it does not feel like "real" Linux (no offence to any Cygwinners out there!)

Apache on Windows: fine. PHP on Windows: UGH. You can get it working, but it takes too much mucking about, and even then I find it unpredictable.

I would say the best solution if you need two O/S's on a laptop is to use VMWare - you can install it on Win2k and then run your chosen flavour of *nix on it simultaneously whilst within Win2k. However, you will need a decent amount of RAM and a half-decent processor.