i'm relatively new to linux, and only recently came across the controversy surrounding systemd (i'm running arch btw). my first experience with linux as a teenager was with ubuntu, but i quickly migrated to slackware because its og status appealed to me. it seems like the controversy surrounding systemd is fairly nitpicky, more based on unix philosophy than any actual questions of performance, but i am down with that philosophy. knowing that systemd breaks fundamental tenets of unix design does turn me off--admittedly, because i am fairly ignorant, without good reason.

reading about systemd lead me to read about gnu / free software, which is obviously a concept that i was familiar with, but didn't properly understand. after watching a few interviews with RMS, even disregarding computers--we share very similar political ideologies, and the philosophy of "free software as in free" is actually more relevant to me than whether or not something is posix compliant. that latter concept is specific to programming, and as a baby, amateur programmer whose IRL background is in philosophy and marxist politics, it is more abstract than the gnu ideology.

let me first say that my machine is a thinkpad x1c (5th gen.), so there are blobs and intel MEs and yadda yadda which make it so that i can't actually run libreboot--you may be able to tell that my understanding is getting hazy. however, with that exception in mind, i am now thinking of switching from arch to a gentoo-based system. i know that gentoo is not officially endorsed by gnu, and RMS explicitly says that he doesn't like it, but afaict it's possible to install gentoo with completely free software.

at this point i'm fairly committed to installing gentoo because i know that it will be extremely educational, and i have not really approached linux / programming in any kind of systematic way. that said, all of the knowledge i've acquired through installing and ricing my arch system really strokes my brain in a deeply pleasurable way. maybe it's just because i'm new to this discipline and it's easy to really get off on things when you're new, but based on how easy it is for me to spend hours figuring something out about my system VS. how difficult it is for me to spend hours writing a philosophy essay makes me think that i was actually born to be a computer guy...but whatever, i digress.

i apologize for the long, rambly post. the general questions i put to you are something like: how much do you think it actually matters to run completely GPL-compliant software? should i expect a significant loss of performance / usability of my computer?

also, does it make any sense to try to set up a fully liberated linux system when i am prohibited from completely breaking free because of my computer's processor?

if anyone wants to share their experience installing gentoo using only free software, i'm very interested to hear. if anyone wants to encourage me to switch to gentoo as an educational experience, i could use that too.

thanks for reading!

p.s. i'm going to post this on reddit because idk how active this forum actually is, apologies if that's disrespectful.