Member Avatar for Viking185

I'm a web developer and am looking for a portable device that I can load a LAMP install on *Ubuntu for the linux part*...something with some reasonable power and that I can use as a total dev machine...you know something I could tear up with all those "obscure" installs that I wouldn't care about nuking/wipe later if i wanted to or things got too mucked up

at first I was thinking of either a Dell studio hybrid or even going a MAMP route with the mini...but then saw the 9" netbooks and thought that might be a better thing since i might not always have a monitor with me ;)

so I'd like to ask you smarter people about any recommendations on these netbooks *and brand if you have a favorite :)* or should i just stick with one of the mini types and just carry around a KVM

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Practical, focused guidance to pick and set up a truly portable Ubuntu-based LAMP dev box. Building on input from and , this prioritizes fast I/O, reproducible installs, and easy wipe/rebuild workflows so the machine survives aggressive tinkering.

Hardware checklist

  • CPU and architecture: full x86_64 support and mainstream Intel/AMD chips for the best Linux driver support.
  • RAM: enough to hold your DB working set (8 GB is a practical minimum today).
  • Storage: internal SSD (SATA or NVMe) — DB and PHP performance is I/O-bound.
  • Boot control: full USB-boot support and unlockable boot options (avoid locked bootloaders).
  • Network: wired Ethernet or a well-supported USB gigabit adapter for reliable file transfers.
  • Repairability: user-replaceable SSD or M.2 slot makes restores easier.

Quick install and tuning workflow

  • Create a bootable Ubuntu USB (test in Live mode first). The official guide is useful: Ubuntu - Create a bootable USB stick on Ubuntu.
  • Partition so the database files live on their own logical volume (or separate partition) so you can snapshot/backup independently. Mount with noatime to reduce writes.
  • Tune MySQL/MariaDB for a small dev box: give InnoDB most RAM so the working set stays in memory. Example my.cnf fragment:
    [mysqld]
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 4G
tmp_table_size = 256M
max_heap_table_size = 256M

    Adjust sizes to your total RAM.

Make the stack disposable and portable

  • Use containers to avoid polluting the base OS and to restore environments quickly. Docker Compose is a simple way to define a LAMP stack; see Docker docs: Get started with Docker.
  • Keep regular snapshots/backups (LVM snapshots or a tool like Timeshift) so a full wipe/rebuild is minutes, not hours.
  • For DB performance during development also focus on indexes and EXPLAIN-driven query tuning — hardware helps, but correct schema and queries are the biggest wins.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for Stylish

I am assuming that you do not need much horsepower. The Netbooks are neat, but do not provide big crunch power under the hood. This should not be a problem for [LMB]AMP development.

One thing to note is that most netbooks do not include a cd-rom drive. So, the initial install may be a hassle.

I am looking at a Lenovo S Series (~$400) and have an Asus EeePC (still with WinXP). I am still looking to see if anyone offers such a device without a Windows pre-install (have not looked too terribly hard). The Asus does fine with web browsing - I have not tasked it with anything else. I am aiming to make the Lenovo a wifi/firewall device.

Member Avatar for Viking185

yes I don't need too much horsepower just a cheaper local dev machine...something that will run LAMP and handle higher end commands like AJAX requests and relatively good DB hits (say 100k records scanned in under a second)

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