What do I need to hack?

[bchertov]

Hi there, Hackers,

I am about to start out doing several hacks on my on new vB and I'd like a bit of advice. I am an experience Visual Foxpro developer, but I know squat about any internet development.

1)I'm going to get a new laptop for this project. How important is screen real estate while developing? With Foxpro and .NET you need tons of space for all the panels. How about with PHP/HTML, etc?

2) How important is machine speed? Does it tax your system or is just a a fast internet connection that matters?

3)When you are developing a hack, is it done on your machine or the server? can you run a server on your machine? How do I do this (just point me in the right direction).

4)I am planning on running WindowsXP Pro on my machine which I am familiar with (actually, its Windows 2000 that I am familiar with). Should I switch to Linux, etc?

5) How would you suggest I come up to speed with this system? I need to learn HTML (I used it for a few weeks a few years ago), PHP, MySQL, vB archetecture, and?? What books would your reccomend, what approach (what first?), are there any classes,.... Help!

6) I noticed the list of tools and resources posted as a sticky thread someplace. Do you have any favorite tools either listed or not. Any advice???

7) and finally, slightly off topic, where's the spell checker in the Post dialog??

Thanks for your help!
Barry