I quite enjoy using the free to use NetBeans as my PHP editor/IDE of choice, more info on which can be found at the offical website: http://netbeans.org/. This is a quick step through of how to install the latest stable version of NetBeans, i.e. 7.0.1, into your Ubuntu desktop.
Disappointingly, NetBeans isn’t included in the new fancy Ubuntu Software Center, so let’s just grab it as if we were using any old Linux installation. First, browse to the official NetBeans download page at http://netbeans.org/downloads/index.html
Select the IDE language and Platform you need NetBeans for (in this case obviously we need the Linux (x86/x64) version), and then select the initial supported technologies version you require from the download table. In my case I only need the PHP version, so I click on the 41 MB download under the PHP column.
Once the download of the .sh file is complete, open up a terminal and browse to your Downloads folder (In my case, the download was saved as netbeans-7.0.1-ml-php-linux.sh). Now to launch the install process:
sudo bash netbeans-7.0.1-ml-php-linux.sh
After entering in your administrative password, the NetBeans installer dialog will launch. Follow the prompts as you normally would for any other installer, and voilà, you’ll now find the NetBeans 7.0.1 launcher sitting under the Programming menu in the main Applications menu – if you aren’t using the new Unity menu system of course. If you are, then simply search for NetBeans and you’ll be good to go! ;)
