Getting dev laptop ready

More often than not, I have to set up a new computer for development environment. Sometimes, I buy a new computer... other times, I try upgrading OS and it fails and I have to completely re-install OS (such as upgrading from Ubuntu 22 to 24 last week).

In either cases, I have to set up a new dev environment ready quickly. This includes installing LAMP to my favorite front-end development tools such as PhpStorm. I don't want to waste any time... within a couple of hours, my new computer should be ready for me to continue with development.

Below is a guide I created for myself on steps to get the new computer ready.

Install LAMP

I've written on installing LAMP on Ubuntu. Please reference this page.

Install Composer

sudo apt install php-cli unzip
sudo apt install curl
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o /tmp/composer-setup.php
sudo php /tmp/composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

After installing composer, don't forget to add composer vendor bin path to your PATH so that you can run commands like "laravel".

if [ -d "/home/your-user/.config/composer/vendor/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="/home/your-user/.config/composer/vendor/bin:$PATH"
fi

Install Git

sudo apt install git

Install Node & npm

sudo apt install nodejs
sudo apt install npm

Additionally, I use following desktop applications for development.

• PhpStorm - for Laravel development
• Mysql Workbench - for working with Mysql databases
• Sublime - for editing simple files
• Postman - for API testing and development
• Slack - for communication with team

I think that's all I can remember for now. If I can think of anything else, I'll come back later to update the post.

Update on 9/11/2025

• Add git credentials on your local computer so that you don't have to provide username and password every time you push or pull updates:

git config --global credential.helper store

Happy coding!