Setting up a web development environment

[eluser]bobbybaboon[/eluser]
I have several sites running off of a Dreamhost shared hosting plan. I really like their control panel because its easy to get around and has some nice options, nothing too extravagant though. They're also really cheap. I'm splitting an account with two other friends and we run around 10 sites off of our account for a really small annual fee. But you get what you pay for. There's a lot more downtime than I'd like - probably two or three times a week for an hour each time. So one day I'll want to change, but for running small projects that don't get too much exposure it works well.