This may be a stupid question but if i'm only serving jsp and html do I need apache. The reason why i ask is that i've heard of issues with getting the two to talk to each other.

No, Tomcat can act as a standalone and you don't need to integrate it with the regular apache http server.

however there are plently of reasons why you should intergrate them, and it can be done without to much trouble, I have done it.

Whats the difference between tomcat and apache?

Tomcat is a Java web container implementation. That means you can run Servlets and JSP on it. The regular Apache can't.

Any webby that has good guide on tomcat? Installing and configuring?

I've been recommending this tutorial. It's from the others of Core Servlets. The actual book ain't that great, but the tutorial is great.

Getting started with Java web technology takes some time, but after that it's fairly straightforward.

Have fun

So tomcat is a standalone software that need apache to run?

Also, whats the difference between java language and java servlets/jsp?

Lastly, whats the meaning of the info below?

Servlet/JSP Spec Tomcat version
2.4/2.0 5.0.25
2.3/1.2 4.1.30
2.2/1.1 3.3.2

Thanks.

No
Java is the programming language in which Servlets and JSP are written in.
Those show which version a particular Tomcat release supports (ex. Tomcat 5 offers Servlets 2.4 and JSP 2.0).

So tomcat is a standalone software that need apache to run?
tomcat is different from apache even if it is named Apache Tomcat. As mentionned above tomcat is java/jsp/html centric with few others technologies like xml using java apis.

Also, whats the difference between java language and java servlets/jsp?
jsp and servlets are written with the java language. Actually jsp are compiled into servlets by tomcat at runtime before serving the cache.

Lastly, whats the meaning of the info below?
it is the specification of the servlet api with more or less features according to the version.

So what we see on webby with java are all servlets?

You use java language to write JSP and then use tomcat to compile the JSP into servlets and serve them?

if you are familiar with crosoft, think about jsp as asp, and think about tomcat like IIS, IIS primary role is to serve .asp or .aspx files or simple html.

How about servlets?

jsp are servlets to be...
for more info look at java.sun.com tutorials