Earlier quoted context omitted.
My first Debian was also Slink, installed from a box of floppies onto a 486. Had to use rawrite to put the disk image onto the floppies. That box of floppies is still around here somewhere, though the 486 is long gone.
I remember the troubles using "dselect" without a stable internet connection, "apt" came quite later (with Potato or Woody , don't recall). On the other hand, I never had the need to try something else...
The thing that most impressed me about the install was the experimental hardware detection. I had a list of all she system hardware and the installer only missed a single component. Even then, it was an alternate recommendation.