You can use apache on windows XP.
Its pretty easy to get one running right out of the box:
If you use a system like XAMPP it will install apache, php, mysql for you. Only problem is that it isn't as secure right out of the box (ie, mysql root doesn't have any passwords).
I have been able to do most of the configureing of apache and mysql just by using the documentation on their respective websites.
Other then that the best resource I can recommend is google
