Hello I don't have Internet at home for now because I changed my ISP. I should have an operational network connection within two weeks. MiyoLinux told me about vuu-do, I shall give it a try. And yes, a dual-kernel version is a great idea: it would be the only devuan-based distribution for recent computers. Let me know if you decide to do this.

Edit: I chose the default/first option to boot MiyoLinux, no tweaking necessary.

Nice, i'll give it a shot then and post when/if I have a working one. ;-)

Edit: I chose the default/first option to boot MiyoLinux, no tweaking necessary.

For information, I can run MiyoLinux live CD, which is based on Devuan. (no network connection though)

I don't have a package list for the new Miyolinux, but I know some firmware was added. You might give one of my isos a try, I stuffed pretty much every wi-fi driver available in them including several extra Intel packages.

ETA: Okay just verified mine don't have the firmware you need either, they will more than likely boot but you won't have wi-fi, the firmware for your chip only works with 4.1 kernel or later......hmm............

I wonder if maybe you could get away with using the backported 4.9 kernel in jessie, and add just the 3165 firmware package? Just manually install the files in /lib/firmware/ ?

@fsmithred: Been mulling over trying to make a dual-kernel version of vuu-do, I think you need the newer ascii live-build packages to run snapshot with 4.9, but couldn't you just add the backported 4.9 as a second kernel, run snapshot using 3.16 session? If it works I also am curious about whether you could run a live-session with the 4.9 kernel or if the live grub menu could even offer that?

Boot the ascii iso (the one with openrc and eudev)
At the boot menu press TAB and add the word

nox11autologin

to the boot command. Then ENTER.
If you boot to a command line, run

sudo dpkg -i /firmware-iwlwifi*.deb
iwlist wlan0 scan   # to see if you detect any wireless networks
wicd-curses  # to set up a wireless connection

If you can get online, then part of the problem is solved, and we just need to figure out how to get X working.

BTW, some isos made with refractasnapshot have a failsafe boot option and some have a no-probe and a no-modeset option. The failsafe is the same as the no-probe with nomodeset added to it. I did that to eliminate a boot entry without eliminating the option in that entry. Feel free to experiment with the list of  "no*" options in those boot entries. You might only need one or two of them. At the boot menu, TAB gets you to the boot command where you can edit it.

eth  https://askubuntu.com/questions/670347/ … 00-drivers
ubuntu is based on debian, so except for systemd dependencies most of the instructions work on devuan as well.

wifi https://askubuntu.com/questions/672700/ … 65-drivers

Since you need an initial connection to download stuff either find the appropriate firmware****.deb download it with something else, save it somewhere where you can find it from devuan (usb stick??)
run $ sudo dpkg -i firmw*****.deb
or use sudo chroot /the_mount_point_of_your_devuan and use $ apt install firmw****

The first iso fsmithred mentioned, ending with 2222, had a /firmware directory with a ton of stuff.  When in doubt do $ dpkg -i * and install them all, you can always remove the ones you don't need later..

I tried failsafe with other live CDs though and it never worked on this computer.

I compared the kernel configs between bunsenlabs live iso and devuan. They are identical (jessie 3.16).

Then it remains a mystery. I can launch a 3.16 live CD but not a 4.9 (the iso you gave me is a 4.9), very confusing. Anyways, I am not even sure I have an Ethernet connection with BunsenLabs. No WiFi, that's for sure.

Thank you for your suggestions. I bookmarked files.devuan.org and I will download the iso as soon as it is released. My WiFi card is usually recognized by Debian-based distributions with a 4.9 kernel or superior (e.g. Parrot), so ascii is my best bet.

When the ascii installer isos get made, they will be at files.devuan.org probably in a directory called ascii or ascii-something. I'm hoping it will be no more than a month before there's an alpha release.

There will be live isos and regular installer isos for ascii.

This is good news! I have trouble finding ascii as well as unofficial isos with newer kernels. Where can I find them?

Yes, I can install and boot any OS as long as it has a command-line, standard or graphical installer. This is why I hope Devuan will keep releasing isos with regular installers.

It was confusing. I can only install and boot 2 live CDs, namely Calculate Linux and BunsenLabs. I cannot start System Rescue, I wanted to show you that I always get the same errors:
"ACPI error"
or
"NMI watchdog BUG soft lockup CPU stuck for ..s"
Those who get these errors can always install and boot normally from a command-line, standard or graphical installer. Moreover, I don't find Live CDs indispensable as I only need to click twice on the "Next" button to find out whether I have an Internet connection or not.

You can install jessie on it from an installer CD and it boots ok after that? If you do a small install (no desktop, just standard system utilities) then upgrading to ascii should be pretty easy. But you need to have a network connection. You might just need the backports kernel and firmware-iwlwifi. That could be done by downloading packages and installing off-line.

There are some installation guides here - https://devuan.org/os/documentation/dev1fanboy/

There will be live isos and regular installer isos for ascii. Sometime soon, I hope.

Edit: some interesting results on search for 'kernel watchdog bug soft lockup xorg'