Do any experienced developers care to share what works best for them? I am not looking to pay for a dedicated server, I'm just looking for a large reliable hosting companies that allow ssh access via putty to a LAMP server and command line access to the files and mysql databases.
Well I don't like to tout my own stuff but *cough* signature. Aside from that the absolute best development enviroment will be locally. Check out the following quick install systems that will get your own Apache, MySQL, PHPMyAdmin setup easily . EasyPHP WAMP Server Hope that helps
Hello, Though I don't use it myself, I have heard that locally, XAMPP is another good option. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html As for hosting company, if you need real unrestricted commandline access, you need to get a VPS. There are many good sites that offer VPS's for cheap ( $7- $10 per month ), though they may be a little low on the specs. But most Shared hosting gives you with a control panel to access and modify all the aspects of your website like, files,ftp,mysql etc. As for me, I use a manual install of Apache,PHP and Mysql on my local system, and I have accounts at some good free hosting sites for testing out scripts. ~ Thomas