Debian or slackware?

[Jes and guide dog Harley]

Folks, I have a few questions about my first installation of Linux. I'm wondering since I am a total newby, if I should go with
debian woodie/potato first, or try slackware 9.1 for a trial run? I don't need a lot of packages right now, I want a lot but don't
need a lot for an introduction to Linux, and I figure that if I'm going to get really introduced to it the less packages, the
better. This way, I can be more focused on the structure of the operating system itself, rather than on what packages do what and
which ones I have installed, etc. My final question is, I know that to install Debian's packages you must have an iso image of the
cd unless you want to do a network install (which I'm not planning on.) but what about slackware? If I have to have an iso image,
where do I get the cd images?
Thanks a lot for any help.
Jes