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Do you want to use PHP-based programs on a hosted Web server, but you don't want to go through the hassle of setting up MySQL, PHP, and Apache so that they're in perfect alignment to run your blog, CMS (content management system), or photo gallery? If that's you, you need to find a Web host that uses Netenberg's Fantastico De Luxe.

This Linux-based program enables Web host companies to offer you a menu of popular PHP-based programs for near-instant installation.

For example, with CMSs alone, Fantastico will let you install the latest editions of:
Drupal (4.6.5)
Geeklog (1.3.11sr1)
Joomla! (1.0.7)
Mambo Open Source
PHP-Nuke (7.8)
phpWCMS (1.1-RC4 Rev. A)
phpWebSite (0.10.2)
Post-Nuke (0.760)
Siteframe (3.1.9)
Typo3 (3.8.0)
Xoops (2.0.13.1)
If it's a PHP-based, open-source Web application, chances are Fantastico can install it for you. It's not just for PHP programs, though. Fantastico can also install such programs as PerlDesk, the Web-based commercial help desk program.

Many Web host companies offer Fantastico as a service. I haven't had enough time or experience with them to recommend one over the other. Hosting Review, however, does a decent job of evaluating Web hosting companies and its list of the top eight, because they couldn't find ten, Web hosting businesses that deploy Fantastico is a useful place to start.

When choosing a Fantastico-enabled host, you should make sure the company is using a current version of Fantastico. Older versions abound, and they do not install the latest PHP programs.

You should also keep in mind that Fantastico is not going to get you any kind of fine control over your installation. What it will do, though, is set up the basic LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) framework for your particular application to work.

This, as any of you who've followed my adventures in setting up Drupal by hand, is not insignificant.

Now, some might say, "Real men do it all by hand." To which, I can only say, "Real men don't have time to do it all by hand sometimes."

That's the situation I faced once I finally got Drupal and my test Web site up and running on my local SUSE 10 system. I decided that I shouldn't tempt BellSouth into shutting down my consumer DSL connection by running a Web site off it. So, my next step was to look for a Web hosting site where I could clone over my test site without having to go through the hassle of reintegrating yet another LAMP stack to work with Drupal.

It was during that search that I ran into Fantastico. And, it was fantastic.

Instead of spending hours working out how to get Drupal running with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, as opposed to SUSE Linux 10, MySQL 4.0.25 instead of MySQL 4.1.13, Apache 1.3.34 in place of Apache 2.0.54, and never least, PHP 4.4.1 in place of PHP 4.4.0-6, my system was set up in less than a minute.

Now, you may think that all those slightly different versions really wouldn't have made much of a difference, but you'd be wrong. Those seemingly subtle differences can make your development life miserable.

If I can have a script do all the pain-in-the-rump tweaking work for me, that's just fine in my book.

After all, even after Fantastico does its work, I still have to face such amusements as restoring a MySQL 4.1.13-based database schema to a MySQL 4.0.25 DBMS. They are not, in case you didn't know, automatically compatible.

Make no mistake about it, though. Although Fantastico makes setting up a LAMP application a lot easier, it doesn't completely spare you from all the hard work of getting your LAMP program working properly.

Still, in a hosted environment where your access to system resources are far more limited than they are on your own system, anything that makes the initial setup easier is likely to save you many hours of work. For that reason alone, whenever I set up a Web site on a hosted system in the future, the first thing I'm going to look for is a hosting company that includes Fantastico in its offerings. It's that important.