Slackware is the oldest LinuxDistribution still around. The philosophy it follows is that the SysAdmin knows what they're doing and doesn't need handholding. It aims to be as close to Unix as possible while complying with the published Linux standards. That may result in some legwork when setting up a system, but the installation is just about unbreakable. Anyone with rudimentary Linux knowledge should be able to install Slackware without any trouble.
The PackageManagement format is as simple as it gets - plain old TarBalls of the files to install, plus an installation script. The PackageManagementTools are only rudimentary and mainly aid upgrading or uninstalling, while installation usually means compiling from source. You definitely want to have a look at 
checkinstall, a thiry party utility which monitors make install and writes a package from the new files, making later removal sane and simple.
The distribution comes on a single CD chock full of goodies.
See also
Part of CategoryDistribution
