emerged NetworkManager, restarted dbus, hald and started the service... loaded nm-applet and things seems to be working...
did a rc-update add NetworkManager default to add it to the default runlevel
edited /etc/rc.conf and /etc/conf.d/rc to disable hotplugging of net.*....
reboot...
but alas.... when my system booted, networkmanager refuses to load during init...
rc-update show
rc-status -aconsolefont | boot
hald | default
termencoding | boot
killprocs | shutdown
vixie-cron | default
savecache | shutdown
dbus | default
swap | boot
hostname | boot
root | boot
devfs | sysinit
urandom | boot
NetworkManager | default
mtab | boot
udev | sysinit
modules | boot
bootmisc | boot
hwclock | boot
syslog-ng | default
keymaps | boot
dmesg | sysinit
net.lo | boot
local | default nonetwork
sysctl | boot
udev-postmount | default
localmount | boot
netmount | default
procfs | boot
fsck | boot
mount-ro | shutdown
rc-config listRunlevel: default
dbus [ started ]
syslog-ng [ started ]
hald [ started ]
vixie-cron [ started ]
netmount [ started ]
udev-postmount [ started ]
local [ started ]
Dynamic Runlevel: hotplugged
Dynamic Runlevel: needed
udev-mount [ started ]
sysfs [ started ]
Dynamic Runlevel: manual
melynx-laptop ~ # rc-status -a
Runlevel: default
dbus [ started ]
syslog-ng [ started ]
hald [ started ]
vixie-cron [ started ]
netmount [ started ]
udev-postmount [ started ]
local [ started ]
Runlevel: shutdown
killprocs [ stopped ]
savecache [ stopped ]
mount-ro [ stopped ]
Runlevel: boot
hwclock [ started ]
modules [ started ]
fsck [ started ]
root [ started ]
mtab [ started ]
localmount [ started ]
termencoding [ started ]
hostname [ started ]
sysctl [ started ]
bootmisc [ started ]
consolefont [ started ]
swap [ started ]
urandom [ started ]
keymaps [ started ]
net.lo [ started ]
procfs [ started ]
Runlevel: sysinit
dmesg [ started ]
udev [ started ]
devfs [ started ]
Runlevel: nonetwork
local [ started ]
Runlevel: single
Dynamic Runlevel: hotplugged
Dynamic Runlevel: needed
udev-mount [ started ]
sysfs [ started ]
what is wrong!?! >_<Available init scripts
NetworkManager default
alsasound
bluetooth
bootmisc boot
checkfs
checkroot
consolefont boot
consolekit
crypto-loop
cupsd
dbus default
devfs sysinit
device-mapper
dhcpcd
dmcrypt
dmesg sysinit
dmeventd
fsck boot
git-daemon
gpm
hald default
hostname boot
hwclock boot
ip6tables
iptables
keymaps boot
killprocs shutdown
local default
localmount boot
lvm
modules boot
mount-ro shutdown
mtab boot
mysql
mysqlmanager
net.eth0
net.lo boot
netmount default
network
networkmanager
nscd
numlock
pciparm
portagexsd
procfs boot
pwcheck
pydoc-2.6
pydoc-3.1
rmnologin
root boot
rsyncd
samba
saslauthd
savecache shutdown
sshd
staticroute
svnserve
swap boot
swclock
sysctl boot
sysfs
syslog-ng default
termencoding boot
udev sysinit
udev-dev-tarball
udev-mount
udev-postmount default
urandom boot
vixie-cron default
wpa_supplicant
xdm
xdm-setup
