Newb can't get server started and needs explanation

[Mirakus]

I was able to make some minor progress by manually executing some of the different executables. After executing world and then eqlaunch using EQEmuLoginServer as the login server, I generated some "failed to connect to login server" messages. The problem is I can't write my own script when I don't understand what the files do. What are zone, world, eqlaunch, cleanipc, etc?

Although I am thrilled at the existence of such a project and grateful to the developers who have spent countless hours working on it, it is difficult not to be frustrated by the scattered, disorganized, sometimes outdated, and sometimes nonexistant documentation.

Though I've spent a fair amount of time looking around with Google, most of the stuff that turns up is from 2005 or earlier. If anyone could provide me with even a brief explanation, or point me to a site or article that explains the very basics of how the EQEmu server works, I would be very grateful. It seems like a lot of other newb admins are having no problem getting this running (according to these forums, at least not the problems I'm having). What am I missing?