Adventures with Catalyst

So I've got this Catalyst project to pick up. Google analytics tells me that lots of people come here looking for Catalyst Framework. So far they haven't got much to read. Until now...

As the Catalyst Manual says:

One of the frequent problems reported by new users of Catalyst is that it can be extremely time-consuming and difficult to install.

It does go on to explain why though.

It points to instructions at http://catalyst.infogami.com/install/windows which in turn points to repositories that don't exist any more. However one does, so I start PPM, tell it about the Theoryx5 repository, install it, and go home. More tomorrow...