So thanks to Andy Sylvester's new eBook, i have my own River5 installation up and running (albeit at an URL i will NEVER remember, so i'll have to put it in the menu of this site). Now i've got a job to figure out how to customize this River (given the typical state of documentation in this particular development pond i.e. : scattered!), but meanwhile: deep bow of respect @AndySylvester, for documenting every step of the process so impeccably, and taking nothing for granted in terms of what knowledge your reader brings to the table. For any non-programmer interested to get own server up-and-running painlessly, best course of action would be to buy Andy's book and do it now, i would say.
ps: Now as to actually USING my river, i'm not yet clear how that works (i.e. changing my list of feeds, configuring other parameters... Even finding the address of my river's RSS feed is still a mystery to me!), but here comes Andy again with a wiki page on "Setting up a page to display your rivers," so i can keep on diggin'!