Artix Linux

→ Using Artix & KDE Plasma (†) & OpenRC (††). Artix is not for the general populace yet like EndeavourOS because there's a bit more minute configuration necessary beyond "pacman -Syu" and such. But for those who don't shy away from the terminal, don't have the patience for an Arch install procedure, and just want an instantly working operating system with the least amount of fuss and bloat, yet still want extensive customizablity, then Artix is for you. That Artix is not for the average person yet is not a downside, but indicates that the distro does as advertised. It's satisfying to use despite some trivial cosmetic issues and some config issues which are mostly a me-problem coming from ignorance by taking things for granted due to having been spoiled by other distros. Again, I'm so surprised none of my most important pieces of software broke. After installing the latest Nvidia (†††) driver Quake Live even ran perfectly out of the box without having to apply launch options in Steam, which wasn't the case in EndeavourOS.

→ Most software I absolute require ran pretty much out of the box, like "keyd" and "Espanso". Also "Betaflight" for quadcopter configuration works via standard procedure, similarly for "Steam" but with a minor setup change. Their forum is quite active and welcoming; no arrogance found so far.

→ I do dislike them still accepting a creeptocurrency—i.e., pyramid scheme—as donation, but that lapse of judgement doesn't seem to impact the operating system for now.

→ Their Telegram is active, but sometimes feels like it's filled with angry/edgy teenagers. They also often make stickers of the comments in there, without asking. So from a privacy point-of-view, a big no no. And their bot/Telegram bans when trying to edit messages. I just go with the forum.

→ In any case, I highly encourage trying it out and ending the systemd monopoly.

-- † Waiting for Cinnamon's Wayland support to go from experimental to official. †† OpenRC because it's tried and true for two decades in Gentoo. But all of them are good as far as I know. ††† Switching to AMD soon.