Now that IS weird. I don't know how you could install systemd (or even get a broken symlink to systemd) in devuan. Is there a /lib/systemd/systemd on /dev/sdd1? You're sure you were looking at the mounted sdd1? (have to ask that) Leaving swap unformatted shouldn't affect that. If you know how to boot from grub command line, that might be useful for diagnosing the problem, in case the problem is related to the disk order changing.

linux-image-amd64 is a metapackage that will always give you the newest kernel for the release. Until recently, that would have been linux-image-3.16.0-4-amd64. The kernel with the patch for meltdown is linux-image-3.16.0-5-amd64. You probably want that one, but don't expect it to fix the current problem.

FWIW, I installed kde5 in ascii last week, and it seemed to be working fine. I haven't played with it much.

The locale, tzdata and keyboard selection pieces that run in pre-install are just the debconf dialogs you get when you run 'dpkg-reconfigure locales' and so on. The one for keyboard is 'dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration'. At least that's what I assume you're talking about. I thought I had turned that off, but maybe I remember turning it on. I usually skip all those pre-install scripts. (You can mess with them or add your own scripts in /usr/lib/refractainstaller/pre-install/)

Make sure you have consolekit, libpam-ck-connector and policykit-1 installed. Any of those missing has been a source of authentication problems for others. Maybe look at some of the discussions about mate on this forum. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem. (Usual problems are with shutdown/reboot and mounting removable media.)

This is a confused mess to begin with. It won't help if you keep installing grub from different distros. Have you been closely examining and comparing the grub.cfg files from each distro every time you run grub-install? How can you keep track of what you're doing?

Pick one disto to be in charge of grub. Then see which ones you can boot from that menu. If any don't work, try starting them from grub command line. It might be that one or more installations is not where you think it is or not where grub thinks it is. https://www.linux.com/learn/how-rescue- … ub-2-Linux

With this in /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii main
deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii-security main
deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii-updates main

I think this was missing, so you couldn't see the version. I had the same problem when I tried to download it today. I got it after updating the package cache.

apt-get update

You might be able to install them with apt-get. If not, download the packages and install with dpkg --force-downgrade -i *.deb.

apt-cache policy libeudev1 libudev1
libeudev1:
  Installed: 3.2.2-9
  Candidate: 3.2.2-9
  Version table:
 *** 3.2.2-9 500
        500 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libudev1:
  Installed: 1:3.2.2+devuan2.10
  Candidate: 1:3.2.2+devuan2.10
  Version table:
 *** 1:3.2.2+devuan2.10 500
        500 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     215-17+deb8u7 500
        500 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged jessie/main amd64 Packages

user@snapshot-ascii:~$ apt-get download libeudev1 libudev1
Get:1 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii/main amd64 libeudev1 amd64 3.2.2-9 [92.3 kB]
Get:2 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii/main amd64 libudev1 amd64 1:3.2.2+devuan2.10 [2,092 B]
Fetched 94.4 kB in 0s (110 kB/s)
user@snapshot-ascii:~$ ls lib*
libeudev1_3.2.2-9_amd64.deb  libudev1_1%3a3.2.2+devuan2.10_amd64.deb

apt-get install eudev=3.2.2-9 libeudev1=3.2.2-9

You may get a warning that you are downgrading. Proceed. You are "downgrading" to a newer version that has a smaller version number.

Aha! Did you notice that what was in the video looks completely different from what you saw during the installation? I recognize the warnings about using uuid or labels with encryption. That was the live installer. You can use uuids or labels with encrypted partition, but you have to do it manually after the install. The installer won't do it for you.

Are there any files in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/ in the devuan installation? If so, what's there?

Is there more than one hard drive on the computer? If so, please say a little more about your setup.

If you lost your home directory after editing files, you should restore those files to their previous working state. Exactly what edits did you do?

It makes sense that your /home is not visible after you comment out the lines for /home in fstab and cryupttab. That's not the right solution.

1. Boot a live CD/DVD/USB
2. As root, run:

cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda15 homefs
fsck /dev/mapper/homefs

3. When that's done, you can fix those two files:

mount /dev/mapper/homefs /mnt

Then edit fstab and crypttab to uncomment the lines you commented.
4. Finish

umount /mnt
cryptsetup luksClose homefs

5. Reboot into the installed system.

There is no package named suspend in the repos, but there are these. I didn't know about these three - I always install pm-utils for suspend and hibernate. If you want to see a longer list, run 'apt-cache search suspend'.

aptitude search suspend
p   autosuspend                                         - daemon to suspend a system in case of inactivity              
p   gnome-shell-extension-suspend-button                - Gnome-shell extension to modify the suspend/shutdown buttons  
p   razorqt-autosuspend                                 - Autosuspend component for Razor-qt desktop environment    

I just tried Subsurface, and it works in Refracta jessie (Devuan) and also works when I boot miyolinux-64bit-20161217.iso in virtualbox. I did not run any commands except chmod to make it executable, and then ./Subsurface-<version>.Appimage. A couple of popup windows asked me some questions. I declined to install it, and then the app opened.

So I guess the answer is yes, appimages can work on devuan. I don't know if that means they'll all work. What did you try?

I just created a ticket asking them to revert to the old UI.

Now I need to go stare at a blank sheet of paper until I can see again.