I was recently searching for my dream distri because I felt Mandrake which I run was to bloated. I tried the hardcore way with Gentoo but gave up. I got a Kernel running and had to start over to build the XServer, but I would like to have some concerts and exhibitions in THIS year too.
The pure, 'woody' way of installing Debian failed on my little barebonebox, to much drivers missing (nvidia stuff etc). BUT there is some other, more recent ways to get a Debian running. The livesystem Knoppix is often mentioned firstplace but it was not easy to install on harddisk and it is a bit to mixed up for being a real Debian. But the derieved Kanotix-distribution I can recommend, a livesystem which can result in a running Debian on your harddisk.
Cheers,
Malte