GENTOO installation manual confusion

[jmneedham at kc.rr.com]

Hi Guys and Gals:

I am having some trouble with the Gentoo installation and I am thinking that it
is mainly user comprehension trouble. 

Upon trying to install it the first time, it did not see my DVD+RW and it did see
my DVD-ROM (there are two DVD-ROM drives in the machine on the IDE chain)... also it 
did not "see" the wireless card (for review:  A Linksys WMP11 Version 4).  

I now after muddling through the almost cryptic installation instructions (I am still a
Novice in Linux) I have come to believe what I want to do (correct me if I am wrong here
those of you who have used and use Gentoo) is a Stage 3 installation with GRP.  The problem
is that I need the wireless network card working to do this.  So the question is:

Do I install the Stage 3 Tarball and use the Portage Tarball on the LiveCD and then build
the wireless into my kernel and then somehow magically get the files all updated once we have
Internet connectivity?  ....OR.... Is there a way to configure the wireless card before we 
start installing the OS thereby having it ready to go get the Portage files from the net?  Which
is what I would prefer to have happen...

Any help is appreciated.

This is an install referenced in the "Taking the Plunge and Taking the Plunge 1.1" threads.

Please excuse my ignorance with this distrobution, but I feel it is the one I need to use.

Thanks again,

--
J. Mike Needham
jmneedham at kc.rr.com
Kansas USA