I tried to install Gentoo minimalist but I'd need two computers up and running - one to install and one to follow directions, brutal install imo. So I'm downloading a fairly recent Live DVD http://gentoo.mirrors.tds.net/pub/gentoo//releases/amd64/20140826/ and I plan to harden it if all goes well. I believe I should be able to use the harden updates with this rather than the minimalist but we'll see. I'll report on my results.
Well Gentoo Live DVD does not install Gentoo the way other Live DVDs do. It's simply a graphical interface to install Gentoo from scratch. The documentation is terrible imo. I've moved on.
Gentoo is mostly a waste of time IMO. I would install Ubuntu or OpenSUSE or such, and compile a GrSec/PaX kernel for it. This takes about 15 minutes, as opposed to the 5+ hours typically required to get Gentoo up and running; and will probably give you a more secure system anyway, since you can actually depend on timely binary updates. If you're iffy about compiling a kernel, you might be able to substitute a binary GrSec kernel from Alpine Linux. I'll have to see if I can make that work... Edit: Arch Linux has a ready-made GrSec kernel that should work with most other distros. Edit 2: Nope. Arch Linux GrSec kernels use compressed kernel modules (!!!) that are incompatible with Debian/Ubuntu initramfs tools.
