>systemd-networkd, iwd, timers etc. The base usage barely touches 350 MiBs.

That’s absurdly high for a headless system that’s doing nothing. There are countless millions of embedded devices doing useful work today with 1/10 the RAM. They run modern Linux just fine without the ridiculous bloatware.

Who said that systemd doesn't run on it?

Also, what's bloated about systemd? It's a C binary, while I suppose you are into a ridiculous line-by-line textual interpreter?