I want to start a home-brew pet project in PHP.

I've spent some time in my life developing in PHP and I've always felt it was hard to organize it efficiently.

I was working on windows and had linux server for development. This configuration had it's advantages: it was easy to configure Apache (and it's modules)/PHP/MySql on linux box and this configuration was the same like on production server. This solution has it's drawbacks: I never successfully set up debugging connection between my Eclipse and X-debug on server. Transferring files from workspace on local machine to server was also very annoying (either ftp or Bazaar script moving files from repository to web root).

Another option is to install everything on local machine, but I'm afraid that it will slow down workstation performance (LAMP + Eclipse) and compatibility problems will kick-in.

What you recommend? Developing on separate machines? On one? Do you have experience in development in one of above configuration?

I want to start a home-brew pet project in PHP.

I've spent some time in my life developing in PHP and I've always felt it was hard to organize the development environment efficiently.

In my previous PHP work, I've used a windows desktop machine and a linux server for development.

This configuration had it's advantages: it's easy to configure Apache (and it's modules)/PHP/MySql on a linux box, and, at the time, this configuration was the same like on production server.

However, I never successfully set up a debug connection between my Eclipse install and X-debug on server. Transferring files from my local workspace to the server was also very annoying (either ftp or Bazaar script moving files from repository to web root).

For my new setup, I'm considering installing everything on my local machine. I'm afraid that it will slow down workstation performance (LAMP + Eclipse), and that compatibility problems will kick-in.

What would you recommend? Should I develop using two separate machines? On one? Do you have experience using one of above configurations in your work?