I just use Debian’s installer, and I preseed it with all of my OS preferences (e.g. installed package list, apt config to turn off recommends and suggests, sysc

I just use Debian’s installer, and I preseed it with all of my OS preferences (e.g. installed package list, apt config to turn off recommends and suggests, sysctl settings, adding unstable to apt). Then I log in, add my auth essentials, git clone my home directory, and grab whatever else I need to get work done. It takes about 30 minutes with most hardware, and a good network connection.