How do I test on a Windows environment for a Linux server?

Question

I have an Ubuntu Server (with all of LAMP and Subversion installed). I use Eclipse with Subclipse, PDT and a few other great addins and use those exclusively to develop applications. The problem I'm having is that I'm developing on a Windows Vista machine and transferring everything to the remote Linux server.

However, developing for windows and developing for Linux machines is quite different. One example would be the apostrophes/quotation marks required on the Windows server in the settings.ini file or the httpd.conf file. I tried installing XAMPP and getting the Eclipse debugger to work that way, but it was too much work and required me to constantly change my code when I moved them live on the server. I also tried using Wubi but didn't like that I had to reboot each time I wanted to go back to Vista.

Is there a solution for this situation? Is there a way to run a virtual copy of Linux on Windows Vista that will allow me to install LAMP and debug through Eclipse? Is there a better program with Eclipse that will allow me to debug my code with an internal server?

I'm looking for something really cheap as I'm in college and therefore low on funds, but am definitely open to any and all solutions to help me out.

Answer 1

You could use VMWare or Virtual PC to virtualise a linux build, or run the AMP stack up in Cygwin. Architecturally, Cygwin is a port of glibc adapted to sit on top of the Windows system call layer - it provides a unix-like system on top of Windows. There is a a large cross-section of ported software that you can install on it, including the AMP stack.

Edit: Just to add another good piece of software to the mix; VirtualBox is free for personal or evaluation use, partially open source, stable, and released by Sun. I've found it to be a good solid alternative to VMWare or Virtual PC.