I have been following along the same lines you have for the last couple of months. I have ended up with a ton of programs used for flashing phones. mtty, qpst, cdma workshop, xvi32, esnchksum, getspc, uni_exitbootloader, wllpst, the complete ppckitchen package, and those are just the ones i can think of off hand. then you have to get all the drivers for your phones, i'm currently working on (or screwing up) five or six different models. I also belong to just about every freakin forum associated with cell phones known to man. I have found software/drivers/random stuff all over the place, there really isnt one big repository. I guess you could call rapiRABhare that, but i'm a free user, so its always been a PITA for me.
The more I delve into it, the more I find out the following truths:
**google is your friend**
**search, search again, and oh yeah search**
**read completely thru the tutorials, then read them again as you go find and DL the software, then read them again when you attempt it.**
**always download the stock version of what yer screwin with, you'll need it eventually, guaranteed.**
**if you search, and find nothing, change the search wording at least 3 times before you ask in a forum**
**organization is the key, dont just willy nilly DL stuff, put it in its place**
**baby steps, i.e. dont try to do too much at first, just get the darn thing working again, then you can tweak it**
**never, ever, flash your only working phone**
so yeah, from one flash noob to another, thats my two cents.
good luck, and happy flashing!!