I am about as excited as a wolverine caught in a beaver trap about writing this post.

But, I have to test some stuff out for Fan Profiles, so here we go. I'm going through the steps as I write, so, I guess this is live blogging and anything can happen on a live blog.

Installing Ruby and Ruby Utilities

1. Get Ruby Installer
2. Verify that everything was installed:

    
   C:\> ruby -v
   C:\> gem -v

   Ruby should be 1.8.6 and gem should be 1.0.1 or greater

Installing MySQL

1. Download and install MySQL 5. It's an older version because the newer installers have bugs with Vista....still
2. *Some Vista hackery from Building Web Apps:
3. *First, go to the Start Menu, select Control Panel, and then click on User Accounts and Family Safety
4. *Click on the User Accounts link to open your account’s setting dialog:
5. *Click on the Turn User Account Control on or off link: Uncheck the box. DO NOT RESTART YET.
6. *Open Control Panel again, and select the Allow a program through Windows Firewall option of the Security group.
7. *Press the Add port... button, and enter MySQL in the “Name:” field and 3306 in the “Port number:” field. Leave the protocol as “TCP”.
8. Double-click the community edition (open source) Windows Essentials MySQL to run the MySQL installer. The typical option is fine.
9. Make sure the check box is checked to configure MySQL and click "Finish"
10. OK, that did nothing for me. The wizard just exited.
11. Oh, NOW restart your computer. (Be back in a few)
12. OK now run the installer and REMOVE MySQL
13. Now run it again, and install the stupid thing
14. You should now be able to configure it
15. Select Detailed Configuration
16. Select "Developer Machine"
17. Select "Multifunctional Database"
18. Select "Decision Support"
19. Leave "Enable TCP/IP Networking" and "Enable Strict Mode" checked
20. Check "Best Support for Multilingualism"
21. Check "Install as Windows Service" and "Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH"
22. Give root a password: I used "root". I mean it's a developer's box. Don't be a security freak. It's unbecoming.

Rails and other gems

1. gem install rails --include-dependencies -y --no-rdoc --no-ri

2. gem install capistrano --include-dependencies -y --no-rdoc --no-ri

3. gem install mongrel --include-dependencies -y --no-rdoc --no-ri

4. gem install mongrel_cluster --include-dependencies -y --no-rdoc --no-ri

5. gem install mysql --include-dependencies -y --no-rdoc --no-ri

RMagick (GASP!!!!!)

1. Download the zipped binary gem: Download
2. Unzip it
3. Run the ImagicMagick Installer, and keep all the default options
4. cd into the unzipped directory from the command prompt

5. gem install rmagick --local --include-dependencies -y --no-rdoc --no-ri

6. Restart your computer

Our IDE: Aptana

1. Download and install Aptana Studio: Download
2. Radrails: Click "Install" from the Aptana Start page that opens up by default and just keep checking and clicking next.
3. Subclipse: Help > Software Updates > Find and Install > Search for new features to install > Select Subclipse and then keep checking and hitting next till it's installed.

Well, that wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, but I still feel like I have to go take a shower.

Or go code up something on my MacBook Pro. Nothing beats Rails development on a MacBook Pro.

UPDATE: Apparently this will work for Windows XP. The "*" parts are Vista only.