I’ve done the Arch to Artix. It wasn’t hard, per se, but it took a while. I think that should be Medium, because Artix isn’t just an Arch derivative.
In fact, might I suggest a different way of looking at the difficulties?
- Replacing the package manager: Hard.
- Replacing the package manager without a live USB: Extreme.
- Going from a basic systemd-based distro (init, log, cron) to anything else: Hard
- Going from a systemd distro that’s bought into the entire systemd stack, including home and boot: Extreme
- Going from one init to another: Medium
- Changing boot systems: grub to UEFI, for example: Easy.
- Replacing all GNU tools with other things: Extreme (mainly because of script expectations).
And so on. You get 1 point for Easy, 2 for Medium, 4 for Hard, and 8 for Extreme. Add 'em up, go for a high score.
I don’t think rolling your own is that hard, TBH, unless you’re expected to also build a package manager. If maintaining it would be harder than building it.
Gimme.
It’s got everything: ePaper, hardware keyboard… I’m not hugely fond of ESP32, but you can’t best the battery life on devices that use it. I have a BangleJS watch that’s ESP32-based with an ePaper display, and I get over a week between recharges.