I am using VirtualminGPL so not sure about one thing - as I know VirtualminPro has PHPLIST newsletter manager in "scripts"
Trying to install phplist manually I have one question - does it have to be installed separately for every domain (seperate database, separate directory, etc.) or does it have to be one shared place for all domains? Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure. I don't have much first-hand experience with PHPList. Their website probably has more answers than I do. ;-)

Some other users here are using it, though, so they might have some answers.

It has to be installed for each domain.

But in my experience PHPLIST is not user friendly as I have one customer using it and its a real pain to control -- especially when it comes to bounced emails and tons of backscatter.

what alternative would you recommend?

it is not easy to find a free script that will send out a mailing.
After searching some time, I simply used PHPList.

Whatever script you use, you need to try and control how fast the mails will be pushed out. Either by phplist or your mailclient, else you get a lot of warnings/bounces by google, hotmail etc. because they will see you as a spammer.
I didn't know this and I send out 5k mails in 35minutes. :(

I found the settings for this is phplist and was rather easy to do, however I have yet have to test it in practice.

Second thing is the template.
Im struggling a bit with it.
The first mailing I did had a very nice template, however mails on arrival got the plain text version.

I think you can just try phplist, as it works and learn to finetune it.

You can try out http://www.ledscripts.com/free/php/phpledmailer

phpLedMailer looks pretty good. Thanks Scott!

I have requested an install script for it here (FS#3877):

http://www.virtualmin.com/index.php?option=com_flyspray&Itemid=82&show_task=3877

To answer the OP question, phpList does need to be installed once per domain, but it supports multiple mailing lists in that domain. On the other hand, phpLedMailer needs to be installed once per LIST, even in the same domain.

phpList is a very good and fairly well-supported script, but as Scott stated, it is a bit complex to setup and manage, especially for new users. I find that I wind up answering so many questions on it that it is often easier for me to just send out the mailing on my customer's behalf. But phpLedMailer looks much easier for this purpose that most users should be able to figure it out on their own, especially if they only have a single mailing list (which is probably the most common scenario).

Alan

little update from me
I have now a bit more experience with phplist.
It is actually not so complex once you get used to the way the developer describes his scripts etc.

The nice thing about phplist is that you can control most aspects of it.
Most importantly the bounce rules.

I don't like giving that control to someone else as it's my servers IP at stake here and I don't want to get that blacklisted for improper behavior.

Anyway after creating a bounce@mydomain.com email account and using this in the phplist settings, the software can automatically create bounce rules and you can easily make your own based on the bounces.

The template you make for your mailings are actually pretty easily implemented especially if you know your way in CSS.

There are easier scripts, but the easier the less control you have yourself imo.

If you have multiple domains yourself, then you can have multiple installs share 1 database. I did this for 2 different domains and they both could share the users and rules...

I am one of the developers for phpLedMailer. I know its a shameless plug :) So thanks for getting it added.