Knoppix-like install of Debian?

[Eric Walstad <debian@ericwalstad.com>]

Hi All,
I'm a debian newbie that recently tried Knoppix.  My "Stable" installation of 
debian looks pretty old compared to the Knoppix CD I recently tried, at least 
with KDE and the gui apps.
How can I get a similar install of Debian?  Do I need to reinstall with Debian 
"unstable" or "testing?"

I'm not really interested in installing Knoppix, just how to get similar 
application versions with a Debian installation.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Best regards,

Eric.