ubuntu php dev prep commands:

sudo apt-get install vim php5 apache2 libapache2-mod-php5 mysql-server phpmyadmin
sudo apt-get install php-pear php5-xdebug php5-sqlite php5-curl php5-svn php5-mcrypt php5-ldap phpunit
sudo a2enmod rewrite
echo 'ServerName localhost' | sudo tee /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
sudo ln -s /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/phpmyadmin.conf
sudo service apache2 restart
sudo apt-get install subversion git git-svn

pear prep commands:

sudo pear upgrade
sudo pear channel-discover pear.phpunit.de
sudo pear channel-discover pear.symfony-project.com
sudo pear channel-discover components.ez.no
sudo pear install phpunit/PHPUnit --alldeps

mounting shared folder in virtualbox:

sudo mkdir /mnt/workspace
sudo chmod 777 -R /mnt/workspace
echo '[FOLDERNAME]  /mnt/workspace  vboxsf  defaults,rw 0   0' | sudo tee /etc/fstab
sudo mount -a

install sun java jdk to run PHPStorm

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ maverick partner"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk

(thx to this blog for the tip on the repo)

install openVPN support in gnome

sudo apt-get install network-manager-openvpn-gnome