If you're looking to install an Apache, MySql, PHP environment ( on either Linux or Windows ), instead of doing it piecemeal you may be better off grabing a middleware stack like XAMPP from Apache Friends. An article at IBM, details how to install such a middleware stack. This is perfect for folks who may not have the expertise, time, and or patience to install all these components seperately and, inevitably, troubleshoot the bugs that arise. Instead, you can concentrate on building your website instead of building your infrastructure. Seen in PHP Magazine.