Richard,

> So, could anyone point out to me what the 
> heck I might be doing wrong? What precautions should I take to make 
> Squeak work properly, otherwise than stated in the (skimpy) documentation.

Try the following:
1. Download a complete set of all files you need. Make sure these files
   are ok and not touched by any download problems. I recommend
   downloading a Stuffit/Zip/Tar file (depending on your preferred
   platform) since the compressed files usually have checksums.
2. Decompress the files in a single folder. There should be four files
   now: Squeak1.X.image, Squeak1.X.changes, SqueakV1.sources (the "X"
   stands for the version) and an executable file (named differently
   because of platform specifics), e.g. Squeak.exe on Windows. If you
   download version 1.3 or later you may have two executables - don't
   worry, the other one is the experimental JITTER VM.
3. (Assuming you're using a graphical UI) Drag the file "Squeak1.X.image"
   on any executable.
4. Look what's happening. If you get messages such "Squeak could not find
   the file XXXXXXXX" then you haven't put all of the files in the same
   folder. In general, you must not get such a message. If you do,
   something is wrong.
5. Try the graphics/sound examples in the "Welcome to Squeak" Window. 

Now you are ready to go. Please note that if you download stuff from the
web you should always do binary download. If you don't know how to do this
or if the contents of the file downloaded looks spurios try installing the
CrLfFileStream.

If it is still not working, drop me a note.

Hope this helps,
  Andreas
-- 
Linear algebra is your friend - Trigonometry is your enemy.
+===== Andreas Raab ============= (raab at isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de) =====+
I Department of Simulation and Graphics      Phone: +49 391 671 8065  I
I University of Magdeburg, Germany           Fax:   +49 391 671 1164  I
+=============< http://isgwww.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/~raab >=============+