The only time I have trouble connecting to the/a mirror is when the repos are being updated, just recently like for kernel 5.9 :-), But I check nearly everyday and notice sometimes for a few days at most the repo is unreachable. When this happens I switch to the main one and not the local mirror for a while.

I have had a similar problem, iirc it was the permissions for the settings file would not allow change. ymmv

I'm not positive that all of these are good for my system, but these are what I have, running old games (CS:S) with 3d rendering nVidia module.

using vrms... (I didn't know I could do this, thank you HoaS)

root@GamesBox:~# vrms
              Non-free packages installed on GamesBox

amd64-microcode                     Processor microcode firmware for AMD CPUs
bluez-firmware                      Firmware for Bluetooth devices
firmware-amd-graphics               Binary firmware for AMD/ATI graphics chips
firmware-intel-sound                Binary firmware for Intel sound DSPs
firmware-iwlwifi                    Binary firmware for Intel Wireless cards
firmware-linux                      Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kerne
firmware-linux-nonfree              Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kerne
firmware-misc-nonfree               Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kerne
gawk-doc                            Documentation for GNU awk
libfaac-dev                         AAC audio encoder (development)
libfaac0                            AAC audio encoder (library)
openttd-opensfx                     sound set for use with the OpenTTD game
steam                               Valve's Steam digital software delivery system
steam-devices                       Device support for Steam-related hardware
unrar                               Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)
  Reason: Modifications problematic

              Contrib packages installed on GamesBox

alsa-firmware-loaders               ALSA software loaders for specific hardware
browser-plugin-freshplayer-pepperfl PPAPI-host NPAPI-plugin adapter for pepperflash
glx-alternative-mesa                allows the selection of MESA as GLX provider
pepperflashplugin-nonfree           Pepper Flash Player - browser plugin
ttf-mscorefonts-installer           Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
update-glx                          utility for switching the GLX implementation

   Contrib packages with status other than installed on GamesBox

nvidia-installer-cleanup            ( dei)  cleanup after driver installation with the nvi

  15 non-free packages, 0.6% of 2605 installed packages.
  7 contrib packages, 0.3% of 2605 installed packages.

I extract .deb's with the right mouse button menu dialog using Dolphin file manager, It allows me to check out all the parts if I am having trouble, especially when the bin file gets put in a distant galaxy. or something is deleted when I don't know why.

I have found libvirt-daemon-system in synaptic but not libvirt-daemon-system-sysv. I don't have it installed.

Yes there is a usb3.0 hub.

lsusb ... (snipette)
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

You may require a newer "kernel" and "firmware" from backports for the devices of your motherboard.

This usb3 read out from my box is running on kernel

5.8.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.8.10-1~bpo10+1 (2020-09-26) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Also the microcode for AMD64 processors may help too.

I think you can put the module for wifi on a separate memory stick for use during the install process but I can't remember how I did it when I was using Devuan ascii2.1 and upgrading to Devuan Beowulf3.0.

I also used the git download and install linux-firmware method shared in the other post.
I hope this helps you.

It needs to look like this

#autospawn=no

I hope this helps.

I've just put this together, I hope it helps :-)

Installing nVidia drivers from nVidia.com .run blob.

The first thing I do after installing a new kernel and headers (and sometimes the source too)
and any firmware packages you may require for your motherboard/chipset maker is

remove any nvidia packages... see Majorie's instuctions above to do that. Thank you Majorie :-)

get the nvidia binary blob...go to:

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

(I'm in Australia, so US english is close to the language we use here ;-) ymmv

The latest one I have is: NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-450.80.02.run

I have a GeForce GTX 1060 grapgics card

I'm running kernel version from Devuan 3.0 Beowulf back ports (bpo)

uname -a : Linux GamesBox 5.8.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.8.10-1~bpo10+1 (2020-09-26) x86_64 GNU/Linux

edit grub to nullify the nouveau driver (kernel module) and set the screen size so it's workable with out a gui.

I do that by editing grub at boot,

you will have to be quick to interupt the automagic booting of the system.

Just use the arrow key to interup it.

with the down arrow key (v) goto:

*Advanced Options for Devuan GNU/Linux

and hit enter

use the arrow again to select "your kernel (recovery mode)" line, mine is,

Devuan GNU/Linux, with Linux 5.8.0-0.bpo.2.amd64 (recovery mode)

and hit "e" to edit

Next thing you should see is the grub file... use the arrow key to move down to the "linux" line

it says something like this but your UUID and kernel name may be different,

linux	/boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 root=UUID=c2e432ce-5ac7-46f7-a00d-1982f970d1d1 ro single

Add these commands to the end of the line:

nokmsboot nouveau.modeset=0 vga=794

then press ctrl-x or F10 to boot

login as root, type in the password and hit enter

ctrl-d will just let the system keep booting, so watch out for that.

cd to the directory where you saved the nvidia .run file

type

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-450.80.02.run

and hit enter and follow the directions.

reboot the system and hopefully you should be presented with your desktop gui.

note: I use this backup of the grub(2) default file in /etc after the system is running to keep the settings:

the file, /etc/default/grub

add these commands to the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nokmsboot nouveau.modeset=0 console=tty12 vga=794"

you may not need the console=tty12 part, but I use it to see what's going on if something breaks.

rsync -avh /home/glenn/local/other/backup/backup-etc-sys/etc/default/grub /etc/default/
chown root:root /etc/default/grub
chmod a+rx /etc/default/grub
update-grub

any questions or errors? please post back here.

regards Glenn

I've tried this, it's hectic! but only because I was trying to stick with iptables instead of ebtables, I don't know why really,

I just didn't want to change from iptables squid firewalled proxy server setup I'd been using for years.

I ended up changing my scripts to nftables, seems to work ok.

I used arch and gentoo help/wiki pages to work my way through the install and setup.

I'm not sure forcing the install is feasible. The packages are stopping the system until the broken packages are removed. So forcing the installations got me no-where, really.

Thank you for documenting your steps to install a graphics module.

I remember why I prefer to use the .run from nVidia, because it was simpler to revert back to the manual way I learned to install with Mandriva /Mandrake.

All of those packages... wow!

Thank you

here's what a backup looks like...

there isn't one on my system in use atm.

/home/glenn/local/other/backup/backup-etc-sys/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf

install nvidia modprobe -i nvidia-current $CMDLINE_OPTS

install nvidia-modeset modprobe nvidia ; modprobe -i nvidia-current-modeset $CMDLINE_OPTS

install nvidia-drm modprobe nvidia-modeset ; modprobe -i nvidia-current-drm $CMDLINE_OPTS

install nvidia-uvm modprobe nvidia ; modprobe -i nvidia-current-uvm $CMDLINE_OPTS

remove nvidia modprobe -r -i nvidia-drm nvidia-modeset nvidia-uvm nvidia

remove nvidia-modeset modprobe -r -i nvidia-drm nvidia-modeset

# These aliases are defined in *all* nvidia modules.
# Duplicating them here sets higher precedence and ensures the selected
# module gets loaded instead of a random first match if more than one
# version is installed. See #798207.
alias	pci:v000010DEd00000E00sv*sd*bc04sc80i00*	nvidia
alias	pci:v000010DEd00000AA3sv*sd*bc0Bsc40i00*	nvidia
alias	pci:v000010DEd*sv*sd*bc03sc02i00*		nvidia
alias	pci:v000010DEd*sv*sd*bc03sc00i00*		nvidia

/home/glenn/local/other/backup/backup-etc-sys/etc/modules-load.d/nvidia.conf

nvidia-drm