DOCBOOK: newbie alert! looking to get started under red hat 7.2

i'm just getting started figuring out how to use docbook
under red hat 7.2, so i'm looking for any how-to-get-started
pointers.  frankly, the documentation i've run across so far
is less than terrifically useful since, after reading it,
i'm still sitting here thinking, "ok, but how do i *use* it??"

  a few basic issues:

1) since i'm starting from scratch, i have no need to be
  backward compatible with anything, so is it realistic to
  start designing in XML rather than SGML?  what is the 
  state of the XML support?  (i've downloaded the XML
  4.1.2 rpm and even the alpha 5.0 XML rpm, to play it safe.)

2) specifically, i want to write docs that are linux documentation
  project (LDP) compatible, so i'll be adding the DSSSL file for
  that.  anyone working with that?

  anyway, you get the idea.  is there, somewhere, a writeup that
describes (minimally) the RPMs i need, starting with a sample
XML document, etc.  feel free to email me offline if you can
give me pointers.  thanks.

rday