Newbie to Oracle

[Quoted]      I'll try to keep this short and (bitter)sweet.

[Quoted] [Quoted] I'm an experienced technical person with lots of hands on exposure to [Quoted] relational databases. I'm not an IT guru but have done reasonably well over the last few decades supporting small networks, databases, and cutting code in simple languages.

My boss has decided I'm going to support a major application our company produces and I'm going to be the national Oracle expert for installation and support of our product to the clients.

I know nothing of Oracle and have had zero training, however; I can do a basic Oracle 9 installation and configuration of our product. Problem is I'm being lumbered with installing 9i Application Server and have been struggling with it for months. I'm yet to get halfway through an install without killing the whole thing.

Our international corporate Oracle experts are of no help to me, they are half way around the world and speak Oracle jargon I cannot fathom. Of course, they have their own jobs to do and couldn't be bothered trying to teach a ignorant beginner via late night phone calls.

My boss is a technical vacuum and cannot understand why installing/configuring/maintaining Oracle is so difficult. He thinks it's simply a matter of using an install disk. As such, he refuses to send me on any training courses because it's either expensive or he can't afford to have me out of the office. Undertaking training in the evenings is going to fail as I am constantly out of town to do installation and training at client sites.

Given that I have no knowledge or training in Oracle and, have no coporate assistance to call on, is there a quick method to get up to speed on Oracle installation and configuration basics? In particular, I'm looking for resources that are free and in plain English (remember my employer isn't funding this so why should I fund it myself).

I'm happy to take on the task but only if I can get to a competent level with it.

Any advice or assistance welcomed.

-- 
The Raven
http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/batfinkquote.mp3
** Now I will bring chaos to the world!