Linseed oil works great. It's been my favorite spoke lube for decades. These days I use walnut oil instead, because I have it around for guitar fretboards. It is basically the same thing, a drying vegetable oil. If I didn't use that I'd use the wheelsmith stuff. Don't get carried away, keep it light, and IMO avoid teflon products. I made that mistake once.

Pulling spokes on the inside vs outside is a good debate to have on long bike rides. BITD there were also proponents of asymmetrical. All have their ups and downs, pick your team... I prefer pulling inside and symmetrical, which is pretty mainstream I guess. I do still use 4x sometimes, especially for high flange, which is a bit old fashioned.