Here is a picture on how the different parts, cfg80211/mac80211/nl80211, work together (original StackOverflow post): Staging drivers are stand alone drivers that are.

This Instructable will walk through the steps to install Gentoo Linux on an AMD64 machine from the official Gentoo Installation CD. The installations will differ slightly for other computer architectures (such as ARM or PowerPC), but the objectives of each step are the same. By the end of this Instructable, you will have a fully configured Gentoo system installed on your machine's hard drive, with a boot loader. There are some steps to take before starting this installation guide. It is very important to know the technical specifications and be familiar with your computer's hardware before installing Gentoo Linux, because this knowledge will guide some decisions you will make during the installation. Do some research about your system.

Next, establish a wired ethernet connection to your network by plugging an ethernet cable directly from your network router or switch to your machine's ethernet port. Finally you will be formatting a hard drive during the installation. This step will erase all other data on the drive, so make sure that you have a free hard drive that you are willing to use. In order to not mistakenly use a different hard drive, that contains data you want to keep, it is a good idea to disconnect all other drives from your machine during the Gentoo installation. The exact steps for installing Gentoo may differ between versions of the installation medium, or depending on the machine. If you run into trouble during a step, or become confused, the most helpful resource is the Gentoo Handbook, found at: Step 1: Acquiring the Installation Medium. Computer Hardware Networking Lab Manual. The first step to installing Gentoo Linux is acquiring an environment to install Gentoo Linux from.