I did the same thing with Slackware 7. I remember downloading Linux 2.4 the day it came out on my Windows machine which took over 8 hours on NetZero dial up. I then compiled it on my Linux machine which took over a day. It was still running when I went to (middle) school and returned. I completely hosed my machine but I've learned a bit since then. :)
I was so excited to have a "real" C/C++ development environment for free, after years of using a pirated version of Visual Studio. I installed Slack, and within 45 minutes I had totally hosed the system and had to re-install. Then I did it again and again and again... those were the days :)