Debian was my first linux distribution. It took me perhaps a week to download the 7 CDs for Woody (I don't think many of them ever actually got used). I was only 12 and really didn't have a clue what I was doing. My main memories are probably more of frustration than enlightenment... However, as the basis of Knoppix (the first linux distribution that I had much success with) it was a huge pillar in my (and no doubt many others') Linux education. The work put in by the maintainers has had a fantastic knock on effect and provides the basis for so much of the internet infrastructure. It's a brilliant project!
Same here. Although I can't call it hacking. I lived in the middle of nowhere (tech wise, 30k people town in Lithuania) and somehow I found a book (probably the only one about Linux in my native language at that time) about Mandriva with a CD attached to it. Have no idea what that book was doing there in the local book store. Usually it were a dozen of random IT books and they had 1-2 copies of each. After a couple of tries, I installed it. Didn't have any clue what I was doing (I just heard that Linux was a cool thing) but that's how it's started... :)
