Neil,
There was a similar discussion awhile back. Take a look at XAMPP, http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html . I found it much easier to manage than dealing with the various Linux RPMs. One advantage to XAMPP suggested by another Moodle administrator is the ability to set up the same or similar directory structure on different systems. Right now I have XAMPP running on both a RH 7.3 Linux system and a Windows sever. The only difference in the directory structure is the "C:" drive designator in Windows. Makes it easier when moving files around.
Cheers,
Bob