SP⟁CED GO⟁TI've mostly been indifferent to #Systemd over the years. I have had reservations about it, wrt being so monolithic and seemingly getting it's tentacles into everything. Always did feel a bit over complicated and I could definitely see the comparisons people make saying it is trying to make #Linux more like Windows. I generally prefer things to be more simple and straight forward. Think it might be time to make a decision between #Artix and #FreeBSD.
Might have to spin each up in a VM and and spend a little time playing around with them and see which I think I like better.
Dane Harrigan@finner throw Slackware in there as a middle ground between your two options
Slackware was the very first Linux distribution I installed waayyyy back when. Very high nostalgia factor for that one. Also, IMHO, one of the best named distributions.
You could be right though. Maybe that ought to be a high contender.