i add my 2 cents too: i think that when you are relatively fresh to linux, you realize that there is a knowledge-base that is common to the use of any linux distro, as f.ex. using the command line, learning some of the basic unix functions at the command line (f.ex. cp, mkdir, rm, etc.), installing grub in the mbr, or syslinux a flash drive, or creating a menu.list file that suits your need etc. etc. For me, the objections that you make, todiswed01, have a lot to do with basic linux steps which require a knowledge-base that you only partially have. Your objections have then nothing to do with the TC concept and its supposed lake of informations. TC assumes that everyone has a sufficient amount of knowledge-base in linux in order to use the simple minimalistic but expandable system it is, nothing more, but nothing less too. From this point of view, each OS requires a knowledge-base for which there is a lot of documentations already existing in the internet which everyone who wants to use a system is supposed to read.
Now speaking about the TC concept: first things first, don't expect that you "install" TC on your hard disk, because TC does not do that. TC loads into RAM (you can read on the internet as well as in this web site the several advantages of it over a traditional installation). Your hard disk is then only a place where you can save the specific extensions which the TC team and afficionados provide, as well as your own data. If you understand that, you understand also why there is no step-by-step installation how to, since TC does not install on your hard disk. This also the reason why boot codes are important because they give you the possibility to drive what TC loads in memory, i.e. only the basic system, or the basic system with personalized parameters (like your timezone, your keymap etc.), or the basic systems + personalized parameters + some applications which have been called "extensions" as they extend the basic system. TC's goal is not to offer a complete workable environment at boot (as in other distro, even minimalisitc ones such as puppy); it delivers a kernel with some basic applications and daemons (available in the default menu and in the cpanel) that you can expand on your own regarding your needs with extensions.
An extensions is an application (like openoffice, abiword, xmms, etc.), and there is a lot of them already provided by the TC team and others. You can get extensions by downloading them with appbrowser to your hard disk (which supposes that you have an internet connection since appbrowser loads extensions which are on a server in the internet). If you want to load some of them when you are booting TC, you need to create a /tce directory on your hard disk, and you have to place the extensions that you want to be loaded at boot (i.e. when the TC basic system loads into RAM) into this directory. Depending on where you create your directory, you need or do not need to indicate the path at boot with a boot code (typically: tce=yourhardisk/agivendirectory/yourtcedirectory); if /tce is at the root of your hard drive, you don't need to use a boot code, TC will automatically find the /tce directory and load the extensions it contains.
With this, you have the very basic concept of TC, and you will find the needed informations to go further in the web site of TC. You will probably do some trials and get errors that you can't manage by yourself, and this is why the (very responsive) forum is there with users that can point you into the right direction.