precompiled pkgs?

[bob_t]

Hey folks,

I just got done compiling and installing, and I now have a stage-3 system in VMware -- I want to play with Gentoo some before I wipe the distro I already have installed.

I now want to install X and KDE, but since it is just to mess with and in vmware anyway, I don't want to sit through 24h or so of compiles! Is there a way to install precompiled packages to save time at this stage? The desktop guide mentions a binary cd, though the "full" gentoo cd only has bzips of the 3 stages...

I realize that compiling is part of the philosophy of this distro, but it makes it hard to get a machine deployed quickly just for testing and fartin' around in my case. Any advice on how to do this or where to get the binary cd that the guide mentions? Apologies if I'm overlooking something obvious.

TIA...

bob