I would like to express a concern of mine. I am worried about my privacy and my freedom. I am worried about the current state of the internet. It is in a state of absolute chaos. I am worried about the centralization of the world wide web, which is more and more limited to a few online platforms such as YouTube, Medium, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and several others which I cannot name, for the sake of keeping this introduction concise.
What Is The Web?
It is the common appellation of something much bigger: The World Wide Web. It should not be mixed up with the internet, which is a worldwide infrastructure, a global network of networks. The web is only one service provided by the internet. Another service which you should all be familiar with, except if you have been looking in a cave for the past twenty years (and in such case I respect your decision), is electronic mail, also known as Email.
But then, you ask, what canone do with the web? It is an information system which one may access with a web browser, such as Google Chrome,Vivaldi, Opera, MicrosoftInternet Explorer, Brave... to name but a few. Since most of you will think I speak Chinese, I merely recommend to those of you who are interested to find some more information on HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), which is a protocol utilized to transfer the various resources of the web; and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) which locate said resources.
An Unexpected History?
I am not convinced that Tim Berner's Lee imagined the consequences of his invention, back in 1989. Indeed, what he named "The Web" only a year later has tremendously grown into... Well, into a beast that is rather complex to define. If you travel back one, two, or even three decades in the past, the web was only walking its very first steps with much lighter tools. The web was almost a hundred percent text-based. Loading an audio file or a video required far too much resource for people to do it lightly.
What Should One Do?
The major problem is: using a computer has become synonym to using a personal computer. The Chrome book illustrates this argument perfectly. From now on, huge companies like Google (so YouTube), Netflix, Amazon, Apple, expect you to use only their online resources in the cloud. This means that you no longer have root (or administrative) powers over your machine. Take another example: Android. You do not have root access on your phones, yet this is the machine you use the most on a day to day basis.
Do you find this normal?Should one accept this?
I do not. I cherish my freedom, and this affects me more than anything else in the world.
What Are Our Options?
Let Ourselves Be Enslaved
It is easy and comfortable to ignore the threats which represent these companies on your personal rights. It is easy and comfortable to find excuses such as: I will do it later, it allows me to stay in contact with said friend, it is better to find a job... These have become truths over time, yet there are much better alternatives which will respect your individuality.
Resist, One Person At A Time
Every time you make a choice, it affects others. You may not see it, but your smallest decisions have an impact on the whole world. With the internet, this is amplified. You need to become aware of these small yet terrible decisions which you make on a daily basis. You need to stop using Google Chrome, or Facebook, or all these platforms which could not care less about your privacy.
Privacy is only dead if you choose to believe it is!
A VPN: Thank you, but no thank you!
Who has not heard of Virtual Private Networks these past few years? Presented as the one miraculous solution to get your privacy back, are they really what they seem to be? Well, I do not believe so. Perhaps I am too skeptical, yet I would rather be excessively cautious than give away my data to some random people that cannot entrusted with it.
If it is not opensource, where is the guarantee that your VPN is not selling your data just like google is? there is none. The only VPN I can safely recommend is OpenVPN. Install it on your own server, configure and do what you will with it but do not trust someone else with your data.
If you search properly, you should be able to find some other open-source alternatives. I did not look closely but had a glance at a few promising reviews for these VPN services :
Libreswan
SoftEther
OpenSwan
FreeLan
A New Old Way To Browse
What if the web strove to be more minimal? What if it was the solution? Should you stop using the web entirely? Perhaps. Although, it would probably mean excluding yourself from modern society. It may not be your most brilliant idea... In any case, here are some suggestions which I did my best to properly nuance:
Disable javascript: do only what you need do. If you cannot trust a website, stop visiting it. The only thing you need is the information it has to offer. Nothing else. For this purpose, said website merely requires html and CSS. JavaScript will only get in the way (and track your every move on the page, because it is so much fun).
Change browser:Ditch Old-Sport Google Chrome. Use one which does not accept JavaScript out of the box, if you are extreme: Surf, for instance. Be more minimalist. Not only do you not need all this JavaScript but the environment will thank you for it, since networks will consume less bandwidth. If you are not willing to go that far, there are plenty of other promising fish in the sea:
Qutebrowser
Brave
Iridium
Stop using social-networking platforms. Delete all your accounts and reduce your consumption to what is strictly necessary. No need for Facebook to keep in touch with old friends and colleagues. Regarding all the people you see all day long, you may or may not need to be connected to them all the time... Anyway, if you insist on keeping something to communicate with others (or just waste your time, generally speaking), here is what I can safely suggest:
Jami
Mastodon
If you are like me, you may even want to unsubscribe from all your YouTube channels. All you need is a RSS feed-reader to keep track with what is happening in the rest of the world. If your eyes are sharp enough, you may even have noticed that I have an RSS feed (in the top-right corner of my home page).
Reduce your overall time interacting with technology. Go for a run, read a book, play a board game instead of watching TV, draw... There are countless possibilities. As a start, you could actually use your phone as a phone, instead of playing candy crush whenever you have a second for yourself. Plus, what if you took that spare time to just breathe? Would you feel more relaxed in the end?
Conclusion
It would certainly be naive to turn a blind eye on all the problems which current society is causing with its so-called progress. It would be just as naive not to see that there are myriads of solutions. You barely need reach out. The answers are all in your hands, already. I am not here to tell you what to do or not to do. I am here to warn you. I can only hope you will act on my warning afterward.
If I can make at least one of you change today, the battle will be won.
Modern society probably never has been as perilous as in the past decade. The emergence of what experts enjoy calling cyber security demonstrates the fateful ill-being of the internet. Our world may never have seen such an enlightened era yet, ethically speaking, the tools humans play with have the capacity to bring as much good as bad.
Disclaimer
I may not be a professional engineer, yet I profoundly look up to system administrators. One of their many duties is to anticipate potential threats. Whether it be for a company or any type of organization, and even on a more personal level. Indeed, you never know where an attack might come from. As it is, I take my admiration rather seriously, I see it as my duty to warn you against said threats.
Beware of the world wild web!
Social Engineering
What used to be known as phishing nowhas now evolved into something much more powerful : spear phishing, which one may also refer to as social engineering.
Be careful of what you post on social media such as Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn... These web platforms are gold mines for hackers, and they will not ask for your permission before helping themselves and ruining your lives. In my humble opinion, social networks should not even exist anymore. People have repeatedly proven they cannot responsibly make use of them. Not only do they represent the biggest security breaches out there, but they also maintain an atmosphere of disinformation.
Everything begins with you.
A company may have the best technical security policy in the world, it is worth nothing if its people are not sensitized. Keep yourself informed and careful, and you should be at least one step closer to being secure. Indeed, anyone can accomplish this type of hack. Anyone. No need to be a professional engineer.
Brute Force Attacks
Before worrying about what happens online, you need to change your behavior, as I said in the previous paragraph:
Do not leave your computer or your phone somewhere unguarded. Anyone could plug in a USB key and access all the data from your hard-disk anytime they want. Without even needing your password. They could also just steal your computer and take their time to mess with said data when they are comfortably back at home.
This goes with my first point: do mind your surroundings when in a public place and/or connected to a public network.
Have a strong and differentpassword for every user account you have. Otherwise you will be vulnerable to password attacks. If you still have a password like "123456789", or "P@ssword", or even the name of your cat, for all I know, it is time for a change! A dictionary attack would break your password in less than 10 seconds... This is 2020 people! The Far Web is a dangerous place, so start taking it seriously!
What is it a dictionary attack, you ask? Why, glad you asked! First of all, it is an attack on your password. An individual tries to uncover it with:
A file which contains a list of potential passwords (of words or other potential combinations).
An algorithm which, when fed that file, tries all the potential combinations as quickly as possible. If your password is too weak, it can take seconds. If it is strong, it can take years.
Since it has never been easier to know where you click or what you spend the most time looking on a page, I recommend you be careful which web pages you visit, with which protocol, and where you click when on said page. If you follow this advice, you should avoid a lot of malware, ransomware, spyware, and whatnot.
How To Protect Yourself: Beware Of Appearances!
Update your software regularly so that breaches of security coming from the source code get fixed. Keep away from outdated software as much as you can.
Install a firewall and configure it properly.
Install an antivirus and do the same. I am not talking about Windows proprietary junk like Avast or McAfee, though. Keep away from that. As the saying goes: Better be alone than in bad company.
Avoid connecting to public networks or do it at your own risks...
Do not trust certain old protocols: prefer https to http. Block telnet. Use ssh, though only if necessary. If you do not need it in your workflow, block it with your firewall.
Do not take your emails for granted. You could always be the target of a hacker. Especially, never execute a .exe file which you do not know! Ever! It probably goes without saying for Linux users, but obviously do not execute a bash script if you are not sure what it does!
Disable JavaScript whenever possible. If it does not break the website (you will not be able to watch YouTube without Javascript, for instance), just disable it entirely. It will be much more difficult to get to you already. Regarding cross-site scripting (JavaScript injection to change the behavior of a website), I hope all companies are aware of it nowadays and are taking it seriously.
Do not just buy a Mac Book because it is nice and shiny. Do not just buy Windows because it is easy. These operating-systems are targeted everyday because loads of people (like you) use them. Choose to stand out and run GNU/Linux or Unix (any flavor of BSD really). You will never be bothered again. First of all because it will force you to know what you are doing much more. Secondly, because it would not be profitable for a hacker to create a virus for BSD or Linux users, since there are so few (and Linux distributions all have their differences).
When installing opensource software, a community of enthusiasts and professionals also proofread the code. This means that you would know straight away if there was a virus in the program you intend to run.
You should really carefully choose your gear. This does not begin with your operating-system, obviously. It rather begins with the personal computer you will pick at the store or, as it is now customary, order online. If you purchase a Chrome Book, at least know what you are in for. If you always want the latest intel CPU on the market, at least know that Minix, a small operating-system originally created for educational purposes, runs inside of it. At least know that it has the capacity of running a web server behind your back and send your data wherever it feels like without asking your permission.
I have not spoken of network attacks like Man-in-the-middle, packet sniffers, compromised keys, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks... but this was voluntary. Most of you will never have any problems with those, since most of you (I expect) are not working with servers or ssh keys on a daily basis. If I was wrong, feel free to tell me in the comments and I will be happy to write a more detailed article about network attacks later. In 2021, for instance?
Conclusion & Sign-Off
In this troubled modern era in which cheating at a general election has become child play, and all big companies are fighting for your personal data and attention, it has never been more urgent to protect yourselves.
Cyber security starts with you!
Do be careful with everything you do online and, especially, begin reducing the time you spend connected to the internet. Your brain will thank you, and so will your family. It strangely is SO MUCH easier to connect with people when it does not happen through a screen.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post! If you liked it, feel free to let me know via email, by subscribing, liking, and/or commenting. You may also check out some more of my work. I also have a Patreon page, a YouTube channel, if you wish to support me there, and a GoodReads account.
I have not yet decided to pick a new Linuxdistribution to settle down in, but I am currently testing a few out in VirtualBox. This time will be the GUI installation of Artix, because I figured that is what would interest all of you the most. Most people do not really care what happens in a TTY and, since a graphical installer is available, which may remind you of Manjaro, I thought, you know, why not?
Artix is essentially Arch Linux, except without systemd. It sounds a lot like what I am looking for, since it will allow me to run openrc. However, it is not a parent distribution. I would really like to read your opinion in the comments. I have been saying for quite a while that I do not see the point in installing the fork of another distribution, yet this time Artix really is bringing something interesting to the table.
If you wish to install it, I would like to point out that you may do it 3 different ways:
Migration from an already-existing Arch Linux system.
Downloading an ISO with a GUI installer.
Downloading a base ISO to install it much like you would do with Vanilla Arch, from a TTY.
Let us now get started with the actual install. I am just going to configure my Virtual Machine the usual way, except that I am going to give it more RAM this time. Since I downloaded an ISO with KDE Plasma, I will need the extra RAM.
For those of you who have never installed Artix, you should select 'Install from ISO' in the GUI installer. This step is the same whether you choose to install with a GUI later on or from a TTY.
When the system boots up, you should be able to recognize the colors of openrc. I expect most of you will only be familiar with systemd and will not notice the difference, however. This is why I thought particularly important to comment on this.
My Latest YouTube Video
https://youtu.be/63KvUD_m81Y
Calamares: The Automated Installer
Since it always is more of the same, I will not say too much about the graphical installer (Calamares in this case). It obviously allows you to do everything you could wish to do for a basic installation of Arch Linux.
As usual, you first need to choose a keyboard layout, test if everything works as expected, pick a timezone, a locale... Then you set up your partition scheme, which you can do manually or automatically, configure the user and password and... all done with the base install!
Finishing The Installation
I decided to leave the installation running in my video. I obviously accelerated the process but, this way, you get to see it as well as some reasons for which you may or may not want to install Artix instead of what you are currently using at the moment.
Time for me to disappear... It's decaf time.*
Removing ISO
When the distribution has finished installing, there only is one thing left to do:
Removing the ISO image.
This is the same step on physical hardware, except that you would be unplugging your USB flash drive from your computer. When working in a Virtual Machine (and more specifically in VirtualBox), you need to go to Settings > Storage. Then you should be able to see the ISO image under Controller: IDE. Simply right click on it, and then remove it.
Afterward, you only need to reboot and you should be able to see the usual grub boot menu, and then your login manager.
A First Look After The Install
Artix offers you a true base install. Except for the few programs which are shipped with the ISO you picked, such as the desktop manager, you are left with barely anything when through with the installation process. You cannot install programs from the installer, but it is not such a big deal. It is trivial to do it after rebooting the operating-system.
Regarding all the basic packages (at least I consider them as such) which are left out by default:
Base-devel: I do not expect you to run into any trouble, since GitHub pages and Readme files usually are well written and tell you to install this package. However, it might mean trouble if you ever wish to compile anything from source.
Vim / Neovim: I am only being picky, since they do offer vi out of the box.
Git: Same comment as for base-devel.
Yay: Like any AUR (Arch User Repositories), it has to be installed from source. You can find it on GitHub.
Firefox: Surprisingly, Artix comes with another web browser by default: Falkon. This might be because I selected a KDE ISO, Falkon originally being a KDE web browser.
Of course, it is most likely most of you will not need these packages, especially if you live in a graphical environment all day long and are not developers. Furthermore, all these packages are not shipped by default on a base Vanilla Arch installation either. Artix is merely being faithful to its philosophy there, and I am merely doing my job in noticing.
What Can You Do In Artix?
Everything you can do in Arch, and more!
Not only are you extremely free regarding the desktop environments and window managers you could want to install, but you can even pick the init system that you want between runit, openrc and s6. I chose openrc because It's the second one with which I am the most familiar.
All this customization aspect however, is merely the tip of the iceberg. You can do so much more with an Arch-based system that an amateur like me cannot dream of listing down all the possibilities laid out in front you:
You get to benefit from not one, but two package managers: Pacman and the community-maintained AUR. Thus you may to easily set up the archetypal Linux workflow: Web browsers, text editors, window managers desktop environments, login managers are all trivial to install. Switching terminal emulator has never been simpler too. Everything is just at the tip of your finger. You only need type: pacman -S.
You get a C-written rolling-release distribution which strives to fix the flaws of Arch Linux: It implements several ways of installing it (with various ISOs), several init systems, and almost all systemd-dependent Arch programs (which have been re-written for you).
You can customize your kernel as you wish, just like on Arch. It may not be as powerful a feature as on Gentoo, but it is possible.
If you install Artix with KDE, a lot of customization is very accessible to you, right out of the box.
If you want to play games, you get the same perks as on Arch, again. You can easily install Steam. The rest will depend on your hardware. As for retro-gaming, you can find all the emulators you could dream of.
Conclusion & Sign-Off
Something I find rather shocking is that this Virtual Machine takes more time to boot than my actual computer... KDE, you know? Anyways, I hope you liked this article and that you found it useful. At least you discovered a new flavor of GNU/Linux, just like I did.
Take care!
Phil.
* I actually am a rather healthy dude, I mostly drink decaf.
I am coming back to you with a question I find essential for all of us to answer. Not only me or some of you, but everyone in this world. Yet, so many people have never asked themselves why they are where they are and what they get up for every single morning. Is it because there is nothing else to do ? Is it because of their relatives, or parents ? Is it because they need to go to work ? Let us find out !
What do you get up for?
In my case, it varies. Generally, it is because I want to keep fighting for what I believe in. I want to keep doing what I enjoy on a daily basis. There are times reading motivates me a lot, so I tell myself that I get to read 30 minutes to an hour when I wake up the next morning. That gets me out of bed, even at such an early time as 5 a.m. Of course, I am not saying that one should wake up at 5 a.m every single day. You should follow a flexible system which will adapt itself according to your present reality.
These days, blogging, making videos, learning Italian, researching computer-related things is what motivates me most, for instance. So, this is what I do in the morning. What about you?
What About You?
What are your goals? What gets you through life? Do you even know the answers to these questions? Have even wondered once in your life? I assume all of us have, for it is necessary to have a strong motivation to move forward in life. To advance in the right direction. You know, there is a quote which goes like this:
‘We all have two lives. The second begins when you realize you only have one‘.
Confucius
Are you going in the direction that you wish or, on the contrary, are you doing something because someone else told you it was better for you? If you do not know or are in the second case, I recommend you take a good look at what you are currently doing.
We should all strive to make every day count, for we only live once!
There is no time to go in the wrong direction or live somebody else's life when one should be much too busy living their own. It does not matter whether you want to be extravagant, or out of the ordinary. Normality does not exist. It is merely an illusion which was invented for us to feel better about ourselves. Yet it is a terrible lie which you need to let go, for it is probably preventing you, right now, from making a dream come true.
Are You Willing To Change?
This is certainly the most important part. If you are not willing to change, your brain will always find all sorts of excuses to avoid a potential difficulty:
It is not possible to [replace with anything].
[replace with anything] has never been done before.
I am too old for [replace with anything].
I have never been good at [replace with anything].
I was not born to do [replace with anything].
I do not have the time to [replace with anything].
If you find yourself saying this often, you are probably suffering from a case of severe-hypocrisy-syndrome. Do not worry, it is a rather common pathology.
In case you would not be willing to change, I will only ask one thing of you: Please, please, please, stop saying 'I do not have the time'. You have the darn time, you only do not want to take it. Everything in life is a choice that you make. Accept it! I even underlined bold words for you, that should show you how much I believe what I am saying.
As for the cure, you have always had it in your hands: stop saying and thinking that, find what you want, and act on it right now! Yes, right now! Change happens now, not later. Chances are you also have the mind of a procrastinator, just like I did. However, I am here to tell you that it is possible to change. Being a procrastinator is not a condition, but a choice, once again.
So, what are you going to do about it?
Conclusion
Do you know procrastinators or people who cannot get up in the morning? Are you or were you like this yourself? If so, would you be willing to change your frame of mind and finally do that thing which you have been waiting to do for so many years that you have lost count?
I only have four more words of advice for you, and they are the ones which have the most profoundly changed me when I only was eleven years old:
Listen to your heart...
If you do, nothing can ever go wrong. If you do, nothing will ever stop people from seeing the amazing person that you already are inside anymore.
You are probably familiar with the fact that I tend to switchLinux distribution from time to time: This is technically known as distro-hopping. Today, I wish to speak about SlackWare, Crux, Void, Artix, Gentoo, and Arch Linux. I would like to compare them in order to get a better ability to choose one among them.
My Latest YouTube Video
If you wish, you can watch my latest YouTube video, which actually is roughly the same as this blog post but in audio format. Here it is:
https://youtu.be/vWy5ikO5c6k
Disclaimer
Before we get to the meat of the subject, I would just like to quickly say something important about the identity of this channel. In a conversation, I usually do not like saying something when I do not have anything interesting to bring to the table. This metaphorically means that you should not expect me to publish a video every single week. I do not want YouTube to become a constraint. It has to remain a pleasure, just like blogging. If I don't have something interesting to show you, or at least if I consider my work not interesting or polished enough, I will not publish anything.
Distrohopping: Gentoo, Arch & My Other Options
Alright then, now that this is clear, let us move on to my distro-hopping problem. Is it a problem, though? I am not so sure. I rather believe that it is the solution to a much bigger issue: My insatisfaction.
This is a problem indeed, since I seriously need to stop switching distributions every few months. I need to find one which satisfies me entirely and convinces me to stay for good.
The one which will rule them all, and in the darkness bind them...*
For about one week or a little bit more, I have been thinking about distro-hopping again. I have enjoyed myself on Gentoo, I really have. I discovered USE FLAGS, C FLAGS, masked packages, an almost flawlessdocumentation, compiling every program from source, overlays (which are the equivalent of the Arch AUR, if you are not familiar with them), and countless other features which are specific to Gentoo.
However, I am already aware that it is not the distribution I will stay in. I feel like the new possibilities I obtained with Gentoo, such as USE Flags, are more like a waste of my time than anything else. I do not feel more efficient than before, on Arch Linux. I am happy to have switched away from systemd, however. Not because I did not enjoy it (I actually really like systemd for its simplicity) but because systemd does too much. I want an init system that only is an init system, not also a boot loader and whatnot.
What am I looking for exactly?
Dear Santa, for Christmas, I would like a new distro:
Without systemd. That is the first thing. I want an init system which does one thing, and does it well, like openrc, for instance.
I want binary packages. Downloading from source is not my cup of tea.
I need a fast package manager which supports a large array of programs.
Said package manager should support steam.
Since I have been looking at other distributions, let me show you my findings and describe the options I have.
First of all, I could stay on Gentoo. At least for a while more. This time, I intend to thoroughly test my next distribution in a Virtual Machine before installing it on physical hardware. Gentoo is even more stable than Arch, since it is not a rolling release distribution. I update my system much less often, which means the likelihood of breaking something is… almost inexistant. On Arch, it would be the reverse. You want to update at least once a week or every two weeks or you may break something whilst upgrading.
I could also go back to Arch Linux, but I would feel like making a step back. I love Arch Linux, so much that I have it in a Virtual Machine just to play around with it from time to time. Nonetheless, Arch is still running systemd and comes with some kernel modules out of the box which I do not want. I could of course customize my own kernel, but I currently have no time to waste with such operations. I would much rather do more conventional system-management.
SlackWare, Crux & Void Linux: Crux Is Out
As for my other choices, I have selected 4 distributions : Crux, SlackWare, Void Linux and Artix. As I am writing this, I must admit that I have already opted Crux out. I just finished my research on it and am not satisfied with several things regarding its philosophy.
With Crux, I would need to install everything from source again but with much more difficulty than on Gentoo. Everything I am not a fan on Gentoo I would find back on Crux, and even more: that is compile time, and too much DIY. Far too much DIY. Because, even though there is a ports system on CRUX, a lot of packages have to be compiled with only the equivalent of a PKGBUILD. I consider this would not only be a waste of my time but also a lack of security.
Package managers are there for a reason, are they not?
So, if CRUX is out, we still have to choose between SlackWare, Void Linux and Artix. I quite like the idea of installing SlackWare to be honest. It is one of the oldest distributions out there and that seriously appeals to the minimalist side of me. I would not install something that is not a parent distribution, since I don't much see the point in them except for adding more freedom and simplicity to our GNU/Linux eco-system. For me, they're there, and that's cool, but I'd never run them on physical hardware.
By the way, UNIX & LFS
By the way, before comparing Void Linux & Slackware, I would like to digress a little and tell you that I have been considering an entirely different operating-system for my main machine: BSD.
Yes, I have been thinking about switching to Unix due to a change in the Linux kernel which I did not like. However, at least for the moment, I find this idea rather extreme and unnecessary. As long as I can customize the kernel as I like, I should not have to switch away from Linux, I suppose. Plus, many programs I like would not be supported on BSD. There would be too much to learn and I do not have this sort of time to dedicate to it.
For now I better keep my BSD enthusiasm in a virtual machine, that is my conclusion. This is the same one I have drawn for LFS (Linux From Scratch). Unfortunately, it is too time consuming and since it would not be functional out of the box, I can only work on it in a Virtual Machine until it is fully ready to be deployed on physical hardware.
Void Linux VS Slackware VS Artix
Let us compare Void, SlackWare and Artix Linux.
Both distributions have several key characteristics in common:
They are both independent and built from scratch. They aren't forks of other distributions like EndeavourOS or Manjaro would be to Arch Linux or Ubuntu to Debian.
I would not have to compile all programs from source.
They do not run systemd.
Void Linux
First of all, I must say that Void is very attractive for several reasons:
Its philosophy: It aims at being fast and secure. For instance, it chooses LibreSSL over OpenSSL. This should remind you of a BSD system such as OpenBSD.
It has a clear documentation.
It is rolling-release and bleeding-edge.
It doesn't use systemd, but runit, which focuses on doing one thing and doing it well.
Its package manager, XBPS, is mainly developed in C. Even the name of the distribution should remind you of C since it comes from the literal 'void'.
It is lightweight and minimal.
It also has one major CON however:
It is not very popular. This means that it's harder to count on an active community for a fix.
SlackWare
Now, let us have a closer look at SlackWare:
Its philosophy: Slackware aims at providing the most 'Unix-like' distribution on the market. They focus on simplicity and stability.
It is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It's currently based on the Linux kernel 4.4, which means I would not have to comply with the latest changes of the Linux kernel.
It is well documented, is easy to install, and manage with its menu-driven package-management system.
It is the oldest-living distribution besides Debian. It was first release in July 1993.
It uses SysVinit instead of Systemd.
It does have its CONS however:
Slow release cycle (slow being a euphemism in this case)
Dependency issues: since it is not updated very often, it is to be expected that there would be more dependency issues than on other distributions.
Its ISO is huge: 2.6GB just to download it.
Artix
Yes, I also decided to look into Artix Linux. Some of you may believe that I would be betraying my ideology of only installing parent distributions. I would have to disagree however.
Artix is basically Arch Linux, only without systemd.
Not only the install is 95% percent the same as the Arch install but it is even possible to migrate to Artix from an already-installed Arch distro. If that does not make my point, I do not know what will!
What about it, then:
It is a modern Arch-based Distribution. This means the installation process is roughly the same as Arch.
It has a great documentation and community. Another advantage of Arch-based distributions is that all their issues can be related. If you do not find enough information in the wiki of Artix, you can still look in the wiki of Manjaro or Arch.
It is a rolling-release.
It uses the pacman package manager. Moreover, the AUR is available with yay.
It is an Arch-based distribution and not Vanilla Arch.
All packages from the AUR or Pacman may not work since Arch Linux heavily relies on systemd and Artix has chosen to run different init systems like openrc, s6, or runit.
Conclusion
It is extremely hard to decide on which GNU/Linux distribution I am going to settle down in. They all have their pros and cons...
In the end, I am pretty certain that what I am looking for is a slightly different version of Arch Linux. Artix with openrc sounds like what I want but I cannot be sure yet. I could also do Linux From Scratch but it would take much more time. The only distribution I could stay on forever would certainly be one of my making, but at the moment I will be content with a functional one. I will keep my LFS enthusiasm well-contained within VirtualBox.
As a conclusion, I should thoroughly test all these distributions before making up my mind for good. I believe that Artix is what I am looking for but, being uncertain, I should test for myself.
