Dave:
Mark G. has said it in a most comprehensive way that this is indeed an advanced type list and not especially useful to the casual observer or one who intends on staying in the DC operations mode. However, as one who is pretty computer "stupid", I can second Mark's advice that you "hang in there" and definitely go ahead with your plans to implement a DCC system, whether it be NCE or some other choice. As soon as you are up and going and program your first decoder, all this "stuff" will start to miraculously fall into place. And the best part of it all is that Bob Jacobsen and Mark G. and all these other guys can and do offer their help anytime you may need it. All of us users of the DecoderPro program are NOT the super computer literate types that you might expect and we do call on Bob et.al. when we have problems.
Good Luck,
Jim Hanna
El Cajon, CA
