I try to use to use free software applications in lieu of non-free software applications as much as is possible and palatable to my tastes.

I was a happy Suse user for years and switched to Knoppix primarily to achieve this aim.

Knoppix does a pretty good job of minimizing non-free packages.

I ran "Virtual RMS" (apt-get -t unstable install vrms) and found only 8 items.
All of which I never heard and I can uninstall without missing any of them.

Steve