I finally got Gentoo Linux installed and running KDE on the laptop the other day. Then I decided that I'd screwed up a few things during the install process. I'm pretty sure that was why I couldn't get the 2.6 Kernel running properly. The final verdict was to call it part of The Learning Process^TM and reformat and reinstall using the 2.6 Kernel from the beginning. It seems to be going a lot smoother the second time around. It's almost done again. It's currently compiling the last of KDE as we speak. It should be done in plenty of time for me to take the laptop to work in the morning.