i really doubt your freezes are due to the libre kernel. its possible a video
driver is messing you up, so i wont say dont check this, but i doubt thats
what it is. i am just going to guess it is your gpu acting up. ive looked
around for information on your hardware though i keep mixing that up with
calms hardware-- not yours.
i have managed to run trisquel (today) without systemd, i thought i would
mention that. not only without systemd, but without systemd in the live
version. i have produced a live version that uses upstart. it does lose a few
things in the process, such as gnome-bluetooth and mate. i use icewm.
im not saying any of this will help your particular situation; we are not
working on a lot of information about your setup here. (the more information
we have, the more useful it is to us, though i realise you didnt come for
tech support.) why tell you this? just to say "yes, trisquel does work
without systemd." mostly-- i thought that the gui wouldnt load, but im about
to make an update about that too.