In a recent post to his blog Stuart Herbert asks his readers where they get their Windows PHP binaries from - there's more than just windows.php.net out there after all.

I'm currently working out installation instructions for phix on Microsoft Windows before my sessions at PHPNW 11 and ZendCon in October...and I need your help, because it has been many years now since I used Windows. If you do your PHP development using Windows on the desktop or laptop, where do you prefer to get your copy of PHP from?

He offers a few options: the obvious windows.php.net, the Microsoft Web Platform or a package like XAMPP/WAMP. In the comments of the post favorites include the Web Platform Installer and windows.php.net with the package versions (XAMPP/WAMP) coming in behind.

On CodeForest.net there's a new tutorial showing you how to set up a WAMP (Windows/Apache/MySQL/PHP) server that uses multiple virtual hosts.

Virtual hosting is a method for hosting multiple domain names on a computer using a single IP address. This allows one machine to share its resources, such as memory and processor cycles, to use its resources more efficiently. This is often found on shared hosting servers. [...] We can use Virtual hosts on Windows to deal with this problem. As I am using WAMP server for development, this tutorial will explain how to do it in WAMP, but other products are very similar, so you want have problems porting this.

They walk you through each step of the process, including any settings or configuration files changes you'll need to make along the way. Their configuration helps you set it up for your localhost, but it can be pretty easily moved over to a live server just by changing a few IP addresses.

Amit Singh has a recent post to his blog with step-by-step instructions on how to get PEAR, PHPUnit and a WAMP installed and working on Windows 7.

In the project that i am currently working on, we decided to use PHPUnit for doing our unit testing, and i found that it was not a straight forward thing to install that I had thought it would be. I had to start by installing Pear, and as soon as i type 'go-pear' in command prompt and pressed enter key I got my first error. So here are the steps needed to install PEAR and PHPUnit error free on WAMP.

Since the steps to install the WAMP server are pretty easy, he focuses on the other two technologies. He breaks up the install into the steps for PEAR and then the steps for installing and configuring PHPUnit. Obviously you'll need to change some paths for your system, but it's a pretty simple process and you should be up and running in no time.

On the NETTUTS.com website there's a new tutorial posted (by Tarek Farage) about creating your first custom Joomla template:

In this tutorial , you will learn about the basics of a Joomla template, and create one from scratch. We will quickly go through installing a local server and Joomla itself, and then create a basic functioning template.

The tutorial gives you a quick installation tutorial to get you up and running (if you're looking for a PHP installation guide, you'll need to find it elsewhere) with Joomla installed and working. He walks you through each step of the way - creating a simple template, installing it via the admin interface, and adding on more advanced features like layout features and modules.

On the Developer Tutorials blog, there's a new post showing you what all you'll need to install to work with WordPress offline "like a pro" on your local machine.

I used to work off of my web server but the problem I've had lately is that when I'm not connected to the internet I haven't been able to code for Wordpress in a way that allows me to view my changes. Since I started using the techniques used in this tutorial my productivity has increased significantly.

His method has you install MAMP on your local machine (for the Windows users, WAMP is just about as easy to set up) and how to import content over from your remote server to the local machine. Of course, you could just set up a subversion repository, but that's another tutorial...

Stefan Mischook has posted another video tutorial to help developers get started in their PHP travels. This time it covers how to turn on errors when using the popular WAMP installation package.

Within a WAMP installation, I ran into a little issue today when trying to change php.ini's 'display_errors' property. By default WAMP installs with 'display_errors' to 'Off' - This is a pain-in-the-ass setting when trying to write new PHP code because errors don't get displayed in the browser window

He includes the solution in the post but links as well to the video tutorial to show you exactly how it's done.

Richard Davey has a quick post noting the update of his WAMP Guide (a step-by-step method for installing Apache/MySQL/PHP on a Windows XP machine).

Just a short entry to let everyone (and the search engines) know that I've updated my comprehensive WAMP guide so it now covers PHP version 5.2.3. I always had a help file on how to upgrade to 5.2.3 at the end anyway, but now that 5.2.3 is officially released I updated the core guide to reflect this.

This tutorial is a "comprehensive guide to installing and running Apache 2.2.4 with PHP 4.4.7 and PHP 5.2.3 on Windows XP. It covers all of the steps in detail with lots of screen grabs so you can follow the process visually."

In a continuing series of introductory video tutorials they offer, KillerPHP has posted to new ones - one covering associative arrays and the other covering indexed arrays.

The videos, seven in all now are done with a voice-over talking about what the feature is and includes bits of code to help explain the discussion.

Topics so far include:

• Includes
• Configuring WAMP
• PHP Variables, Part 1 and Part 2

You can get complete information on these screencasts from the KillerPHP site.

Are you thinking about getting into working with PHP on your local Windows machine, but aren't sure how to get it all set up (or maybe just don't want to bother with it all). It's really not as hard as you think, and this quick post shows you how to get it up and working in just a few minutes.

Obviously, it depends on your download time, but from the start of the install out to the testing of the configuration, there's less than 20 steps between you and a working installation. Each step is detailed to the point of telling you line numbers to go and change in the config files and what files to move where.

In the end, you'll have a standard WAMP (Windows/Apache/MySQL/PHP) installation up and ready to serve out your application.

Whether you're just getting started with PHP development or are wanting to branch out to a LAMP-based architecture (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP), making the jump from a Windows environment can be a bit difficult. Thankfully, there are tools like WAMP to help make the transition a bit smoother. It provides the same Windows-type interfaces you're familiar with, but is powered by the same technology you'll see on a LAMP install.

In this new tutorial, Bhaskar Karambelkar will walk you through the installation, configuration, and enabling of the server software.

Each step of the way includes descriptions and screenshots to help make the points even clearer, and, thanks also to the well-developed package, you'll be up and running in no time.