Copy a jpg or png image file into /boot/grub/
Run 'update-grub'

You'll see the background image on the next boot.

You could try editing /etc/xdg/tumbler/tumbler.rc to reduce the priority of the image thumbnailers. The range is -20 to 19. Try something like -17. (or +17 if I'm wrong about which way the scale goes.)

If you haven't typed anything yet, presssing ENTER will give you another login prompt. Then, do not look at the screen while you are typing. Just log in normally. (give it a couple seconds to prompt you for the password.)

Alternatively, you could turn off those messages by editing /etc/sysctl.conf:

# Uncomment the following to stop low-level messages on console
#kernel.printk = 3 4 1 3

You should put your own configs in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d so they won't be overwritten on upgrades. Quote from 'man xorg.conf' (I don't know why they list the dir twice. They do that in a few places.)

OK, then, that's a weird message to get.
4.9.0-4-amd64 is not a realtime kernel.
4.9.0-4-rt-amd64 is a realtime kernel.

grep PREEMPT /boot/config*

That gives me the same thing for 4.9 in ascii and for 3.16 in jessie:

CONFIG_PREEMPT_NOTIFIERS=y
# CONFIG_PREEMPT_NONE is not set
CONFIG_PREEMPT_VOLUNTARY=y
# CONFIG_PREEMPT is not set

I don't have a 4.9 kernel on the box with the nvidia graphics right now, so I can't test this.

It should be safe to wait. I've been using the older version in ascii until a few minutes ago. I upgraded to the newer package (the one you can't get) and so far, it seems to be working. It can be installed without the recommended packages. I don't know if that breaks anything.

apt-get --no-install-recommends install openssh-server

If there are any problems using the newer version, it's possible to revert by installing the older .deb package in /var/cache/apt/archives

You could upgrade to ascii, which has the same packages as stretch. And you can install openrc:

$ apt-cache policy openrc
openrc:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.13.1-4
  Version table:
     0.27-3 0
        100 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged/ ceres/main amd64 Packages
     0.23-1+b1 0
        100 http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged/ ascii/main amd64 Packages
     0.13.1-4 0
        500 http://auto.mirror.devuan.org/merged/ jessie/main amd64 Packages

When you get to the part in the installer where it wants to install grub, everything should already be mounted. The efi partition should be mounted at /boot/efi, and /sys /proc /dev and /dev/pts should all be mounted to the corresponding point on /target. It sounds like grub found it anyway.

When you get to the grub boot menu, press "e" and add to the linux line: nomodeset
Then ctrl-x to boot.

Sounds like you're in legacy mode. If you boot in uefi mode, there should be a /sys/firmware/efi. Check your bios settings.

When you boot the refracta iso, do you get a grub boot menu or an isolinux boot menu? (with grub, 'e' will get you to edit the boot command, with isolinux, TAB will get you to edit the boot command.)

I'm still in the neolithic age...

model name	: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+

(I actually have something a lot newer than that for building isos.)

Here's an ascii live iso with 4.12 backports kernel. There's not a lot installed, but it should be enough to get you going. I'd hate for anyone to be forced to use debian when they don't want to.

I'm sure others will see this and want it, so here are some important notes...

First of all, this is not an official release (of devuan or refracta.) See that it's in the EXPERIMENTAL folder. If something doesn't work or goes wrong, don't be surprised. Feel free to ask for help, but there should be no whining or complaining.

The backports repo is commented out in sources.list. There are also a few wireless firmware packages installed from backports. Regular ascii firmware packages can be found in /firmware. Also, contrib and non-free are enabled.

The installers should see your nvme disks and handle it correctly. If you use the cli installer, you'll have to type in the device name when you select a partition for installation. If you prefer, you can use this live iso to do a debootstrap install of devuan. I forgot to include the instructions for that.

There's no display manager. You should not need to log into a live session, but in case you do,

login name: user
password: user.
Root password is root.
Run 'startx' to get into an openbox session.

grub-efi-amd64 is installed. If you are installing to legacy bios, I recommend using the cli installer (run 'refractainstaller' in a root terminal). It will find the grub-pc packages in the root of the filesystem and do the right thing.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/refracta/file … 8_1525.iso

There's no gpg signature, but here's the sha256sum of the iso.

$ sha256sum snapshot-ascii-bpo-20171208_1525.iso
22f4bd23457c9a3619243967824bee14625777cc60e586b5c892bf1da069f8e3  snapshot-ascii-bpo-20171208_1525.iso

A couple of additional notes:

If you don't have the kernel metapackage installed (e.g. linux-image-amd64) then you won't get the new kernel automatically on dist-upgrade and will need to install linux-image-4.9.0-4-<arch> or install the metapackage and dist-upgrade again. After installing the new kernel, you should reboot, so you're running the new kernel.

You might lose policykit-1 on the dist-upgrade. Unless you're a stoic minimalist, you'll want to reinstall it.

If you're upgrading from debian jessie or stretch, you'll need to remove systemd and systemd-shim after the upgrade. You might need to reinstall some other packages, too.

If you're upgrading from debian with gnome, you are a glutton for punishment, and you are heading for a big adventure. It can be done, but a fresh install would be easier and faster.

You need the ascii-backports kernel. (4.10 or newer, so plain ascii won't do it.) I did put an iso up, but it was meant for one person. It was only there for a few hours. Been thinking about putting up another one. (One that doesn't have a copyrighted desktop background) But I wanted to wait until after the regular ascii isos were up before I do the bpo. Guess that's not helpful for all you razor-edge ryzenistas.

Lemme figure out which VM has the right system, whether or not 'less' is installed, add the bpo kernel, and upload it. I guess it'll happen later today.