What is Fantastico De Luxe?

Fantastico De Luxe is an add-on module for the cPanel Software.  It allows automated installations of many popular softwares used in the building of websites.

For most webmasters, the installation of an online forum, a shopping cart or a blog program can take just a few minutes, but for the majority of users, the installation of third party software can create complicated installations and is often plauged with installation errors, 500 Error Codes, incorrect configuration files and or incorrect permissions.  Fantastico was developed for those that do not have the time to go through installation manuals and configuration setups. 

With just a few simple clicks of the mouse, you can insatll any number of almost 50 scripts offered by Fantastico's auto-installer.  A list of those programs can be found at the bottom of this page.

Overall, Fantastico is a great product and we value the addition of such a product to our arsenel of services that are provided by Hands-on Web Hosting, however by using the auto-installer you may miss out on a few hours of hair pulling, swearing at the computer and countless reloads of the configuration file when the program doens't work as expected.  Using the Fantastico De Luxe Auto-Insatller requires no technical knowledge and will actually make you less tech-savvy on future installations of scripts not offered by Fantastico.  With almost 50 scripts that are avilable through the interface, it's not a COMPLETE solution to all things web related, but it's a pretty good chunk!

People who are concerned about upgrading the software that they install can leave those fears at the door.  The makers of Fantastico are constantly updating the software and patches.  As a new upgrade comes out, you just click and upgrade button and it will upgrade your software for you.  This is available on MOST of the programs that are installed.  You will need to copy down your configuration files etc, as the upgrades can sometimes overwrite these settings.  Also, if you have made customizations to your software, you will need to re-do them as it upgrades a BASIC installation and does not take into consideration custom coding that may have been done.

At any time you can go into the Fantastico section of your control panel and see what version of software is installed, what version is the latest version and and if there's a version that can be upgraded.  The usability of the install program over the years has become easier and should be a breeze for most users looking to install scripts automatically.

The following programs are available through the Fantastico Installation Interface in your control panel.  This list also contains a listing of software versions as of the posting on 12/5/2007.

Blog Software:
b2evolution (1.10.2)
Nucleus (3.24)
pMachine Free (2.3)
WordPress (2.3.1)

Portals/CMS:
Drupal (5.3)
Geeklog (1.4.1)
Joomla! (1.0.13)
Mambo Open Source (4.6.2)
PHP-Nuke (7.9)
phpWCMS (1.1-RC4 Rev. A)
phpWebSite (0.10.2)
Post-Nuke (0.764)
Siteframe (3.2.2)
Typo3 (4.1.1)
Xoops (2.0.16)

Customer Support:
Crafty Syntax Live Help (2.14.4)
Help Center Live (2.1.4)
osTicket (1.3.1)
PerlDesk (3.09 [Patched-1]) (Commercial, needs license)
PHP Support Tickets (1.9)
Support Logic Helpdesk (1.2)
Support Services Manager (1.0b)

Discussion Boards:
phpBB2 (2.0.22)
SMF (1.1.3)

E-Commerce Shopping Carts:
CubeCart (3.0.17)
OS Commerce (2.2 MS2 (060817) + buySAFE)
Zen Cart (1.3.7.1)

FAQ:
FAQMasterFlex (1.51)

Guestbooks:
ViPER Guestbook (X1.1)

Hosting Billing:
AccountLab Plus (2.8 r14) (Commercial, needs license)
phpCOIN (1.2.5)

Image Galleries:
4images Gallery (1.7.4)
Coppermine Photo Gallery (1.4.12)
Gallery (2.2.2)

Mailing List:
PHPlist (2.10.4)

Polls and Surveys:
Advanced Poll (2.03)
phpESP (1.8.2)
PHPSurveyor (1.0)

Project Management:
PHProjekt (5.2.2)
dotProject (2.0.4)

Site Builders:
Soholaunch Pro Edition (4.9.1 r10) (Commercial, needs license)
Templates Express

Wiki:
PhpWiki (1.2.10)
TikiWiki (1.9.8.3)

Other Scripts:
Dew-NewPHPLinks (2.0.1.0b SEF w/Thumbshots)
Moodle (1.8.2)
Noah’s Classifieds (1.3)
Open-Realty (2.4.1)
phpAdsNew (2.0.9-pr1)
PHPauction (2.1)
phpFormGenerator (2.09c)
WebCalendar (1.0.5)