I am currently at Step 9:
9.Getting the Current Portage Tree using sync

Now, you will need to run emerge sync. This command tells Portage to download the most recent copy of the Gentoo Linux Portage tree. The Portage tree contains all the scripts (called ebuilds) used to build every package under Gentoo Linux. Currently, we have ebuild scripts for close to 4000 packages. Once emerge sync completes, you will have a complete Portage tree in /usr/portage.

The URL is http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-install.xml

Long story short, I am chroot inside my gentoo system.

When I type "emerge sync" it gives me an error of:
rsync: getaddrinfo: rsync.gentoo.org 873: Temporary failure in name resolution
rsync error: error in socket IO (code 10) at clientserver.c(97)

Now, the "temporary" makes me hope it is a server problem and that it will be ok again in a bit. I just figured I'd post while waiting... just in case.

Oh and to stop the obvious, yes my network is set up properly.

DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf?

Code listing 4.7: /etc/resolv.conf template

Yes, it is. That was the first thing I checked.

I put this in my /etc/make.conf to limit servers to north america, but it sounds as if your ISP nameserver isn't responding if your numbers are correct.

SYNC="rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

Are you chroot from the live CD or from another distro?

You can save a lot of download time and you can install without networking with Cheap CDs with portage tree and source tarballs.

I am chrooted from the live cd. I have no vi or anything with which to edit files.

I suppose I could mount my network share, copy the file over, edit it, and copy it back. I'll try that.

I'm sure you have nano.

Well that didn't work, smbfs isn't supported. As for the other cds option, I have the i686 cd, but I want to do a stage one install.

You can do a stage one install up to date as of the date you order the Gentoo Essentials CDs. It has the portage tree and the source code tarballs for almost all the apps you could want, at least as many as with any distro, already for you to compile for your box. Just the downloading has been done for you, no compiling.

You haven't mentioned how you connect to the internet, btw.

I'm on a cable connection, through a router (192.168.2.1). Small town, uncapped, I get about 70 KB/s up and about 1.5 MB/s down (yes, 1.5 megaBytes).

Ordering a CD isn't an option, reason one being time, reason two being I am underage and don't have a credit card.

Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against paying for linux, and buy boxed sets every few months even when I don't need them, just to support the OSS movement.

So any other suggestions?

Configure the router to let the linux box through, I would guess.

Look through the Networking HOWTOs and Cable Modem Providers HOWTO.

I got 56K dialup and about 6 more days to go before Red Hat 9 is finished downloading.