If you want debian without systemd, its literally a thing: devuan.

But once your mature enough you'll realize all distros are the same. No one smart or experienced uses arch or gentoo or whatever weird distro like slackware. Debian, ubuntu, maybe fedora. Everything else is a game

>>194103
smart or experienced users don't use linux

y systemd bad

I used it last year for quite a while. It was also my first distro decades ago.

I would use non systemd distributions for ideological reasons. There's a tendency to centralise that is worrying and dangerous. But other than that there's not much difference. Linux is Linux. You'll do fine. Also if you're used to writing unit files, an older init system will give you context and you'll understand what systemd came from (and why people rightfully hated it).

I like artix + dinit

slackware is mostly easy in my experience, particularly if you install literally every package

honestly, maybe I should go back and use slackware again, it has been a few years