I thought I read where 2.0 has its own portal built in? that way I would not have to install tiny portal... was I wrong?
Yes. SMF 2 is a mere forum and it doesn't have any sort of portal built in.
However you can build your own portal using SMF's SSI.php or wait for TP or some other alternative to get updated.
No and yes respectively. It doesn't have built-in portal. Though TinyPortal for SMF 2.x will possibly be out by the final release, Bloc is working on it AFAIK. Also I hope SMF 2.x users to be able to use SimplePortal as an alternative once the SMF 2.0 Beta 4 is made public.
As [SiNaN] said, the Simple Portal Team is working on a Portal Soluction for SMF 2 Beta 4.0, so hopefully we will have a working (and bug free) portal for SMF 2 Beta 4.0, within a few days of its release, which shouldn't be too long now. ;)
that sounds great, I will have to hold off on my 2.0 launch for the release of a portal. thx