Ok, I'm not sure if this has been asked previously, but I couldn't find anything in the search so here goes:

PHP-GTK. What's the deal?

It seems like it would work well, and very very attractive to the huge number of web developers out there that would like to get into app development without having to learn all new langauges.

So what's the catch?

While I am not familiar with PHP-GTK, it should be fairly easy to port. Note that the Tablet does not have a web server installed by default. Also, perl is installed by default - it is a key part of any debian or debian derivative installation, and while (obviously) Perl is not PHP, it is a language that PHP borrows a good deal of its syntax from and may be fairly easy for a PHP hacker to learn. Also, there is tons of high quality python documentation about developing on the Tablet.

Sorry to point you in another direction than perhaps you wanted to go in, but I think moving laterally into another programming language might be easier than porting the PHP development environment to the Tablet, though I am certain it is doable.

This is exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks.

I'm opting for Python, so I'm going to be getting knee-deep in that over the next few days.

Thanks!

I think you'll find it easy coming from your php background. There are tons of good docs about python on maemo too. The sweet spot is meant to be Python with Qt, that is what Nokia is pushing for future tablets and it works well now too on Maemo 5.

The good news is that if you do go the Python Qt route, you'll find that to be a pretty portable solution.

There are helpful developer mailing lists too, check out pymaemo-developers@garage.maemo.org, and maemo-developers@maemo.org.
More about Pymaemo here: http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/