Hello:
Welcome to Dev1.

I fear that while you have supplied some data, it is not enough for anyone to be able to help you.
To start, what base Devuan release you are using.
I would assume Daedalus (?), but that is just me assuming.
ie: the output of

~$ uname -a

Then, the brand/model of the docking station would be one very important bit.
Also, if you are using the PS/cables supplied for the docking station or are using a different PS or other non-OEM cables; it can be a problem if the cables are not the excat spec the docking station requires.

Then comes the proof of life, so to speak:
The [dmesg] printout with the docking station and monitors in place and powered on.
That would give us an idea of what is going on with the docking station / monitors as your Thinkpad boots.

BTW: please make sure you use the proper [tags] when posting the dmesg output. 
eg:

--- snip ---
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation TU106GLM [Quadro RTX 3000 Mobile / Max-Q] (rev a1)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] (rev 02)
--- snip ---

Something you may want to consider trying (to rule out any Artix Plasma issues) is to boot a Devuan Live *.iso and see how it goes.

Best,

A.

Hello:

See here.

This is what is available from the repositories.

Two archived versions and one in testing/unstable.

No idea why it is not in the Debian repository (but not being there is the main reason it is not in the Devuan repository).
Maybe Debian has some temporary beef with VirtualBox till they can move it to a stable release?
Who knows ...

I use this version downloaded from the VirtualBox repository:

virtualbox-7.0/now 7.0.20-163906~Debian~bullseye amd64 [installed,local]

# virtual box repository x installation
# deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/ bullseye non-free contrib 
# deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/ bookworm non-free contrib 

Just in case, I have not updated it as it works fine as it is.
But then I don't use it for anything complicated. ie: a server or such.
Most important thing I run at every boot is a headless Chimaera VM for PiHole+Unbound, no issues to speak of.

There's also an XPSP3 VM and a stock untouched (save updates/upgrades) Daedalus VM which I bring up when needed.
Like I said, no issues to speak of.

Best,
A.

Edit:
Here you go --> https://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox

Hello:

Got a reply after a few days.
As expected, nothing new, just the obvious:

As you can gather, my specific question was *not* answered.
ie: just what does [TRIM] do on a HDD (spinning rust)?

Further on there is a link which takes me to a page that does not have a link to the only WD document* with some information on what I wanted to know albeit with no clear answer.
* It is linked to on my previous post.

So no, no surprises here.

Best,

A.

Hello:

Ahh ...
Should have known.

The description was the giveaway.

So that makes two of us.

Please ...

Like I said: the end is near.

Best,

A.

Hello:

And this is something Linux Devuan actually needs to have in the repositories?
Who drummed up this crap?
Incredible ...

I tell you, the end is near.

A.

Hello:

From what I can see in the https://dyne.org/donate/ web page, [monero wallet] is accepted.

This string is whatever is used for the transaction:

Could not find a contact email to write to but there are quite a few other (Telegram and such) options.

Edit:

See this post for a way to contact [jaromil] to ask for the pertinent information:
--> https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2317#p2317

Best,

A.

Hello:

Hmm ...
Disclaimer:
Mine is probably not the most authorised opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. 8^°

From my point of view, usrmerge is a clusterfuck.
I see it as totally unneeded and poorly thought out / unplanned.
But that is no surprise to anyone at this stage of the Debian game.

That said, it is what it is: Excalibur gets [clean] installed and [dist-upgraded] as a usrmerge'd system.

It will be some time till the maintainers of all the packages present in the Debian repositories catch up to this.
If they don't, their applications will most probably throw errors on installation and as a result, will not work or will not work properly.
Some maintainers may not even bother.

But there are much more important issues for Devuan to deal with and this usrmerge crap pales in comparison.

With respect to your specific situation, there is one (and only one) real problem for you to think about and it has a name: 32-bit
Why do you think you need to run Excalibur on your 32-bit machine?

My dear Asus 1000HE from ca. 2010 has been running on Devuan since mid 2019, first on ascii and then Beowulf with a backported kernel.
And it still has the XPSP3 partition I previously installed on it, just for experimental purposes.
I purchased it second hand with barely any use for a very good price.

Unless I come across a very good motive to upgrade it, it will stay exactly as it is.
The coffee roasting software I am running is the last 32-bit version published and support for it is non-existent.
I do not want to risk screwing it up.

Not something to ignore, by any means.
Maybe the gods are telling you something?

Do think about keeping Daedalus running in your rig, maybe with a backported kernel (ask here before) if you can be sure it will help you in any way. 

Like I said: with a grain of salt.

Best,

A.

Hello:

Indeed ...
But I'll raise you one:

The default for Devuan should be Openbox with Mate as the DE option.

Best,

A.

Hello:

After thinking about this for a while I decided to contact WD support to see if they can explain if the [TRIM] command actually does something.

I should have a reply in a matter of days.

Then I found this page.
I don't undertsand much of what it says, but it would seem that the [TRIM] command does have a function in HDDs using SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording).

See this white paper* https://www.senetic.ci/i/objects/mmo_76 … 06_478.pdf
* p. 3 - Benefits for an SMR Drive

I'll post again if / when I get a reply from WD.

Best,

A.

Hello:

Must have been dragged by some other application.
In my case, conky-all needs it.
In yours, it is mpv.

Just thinking out loud.
Do libavdevice62, libguvcview-2.2, libsdl2 get removed if you purge mpv?
If so, you could use another media player and in the process rid yourself of libpulse0.

Best,

A.

Hello:

Indeed ...
Makes two of us.

Best,

A.

Hello:

Good first step.
Next one is to block it in /etc/apt/preferences.d.

The apulse package is (?) a compatibility layer to allow pulseaudio applications to work with ALSA.
Q: do you want pulseaudio applications running in your box?   

If not, check with aptitude why for the reason the apulse package was installed.
If there is no valid dependency, you can probably remove it.

No idea why conky-all wants libpulse0.
See description here: https://packages.debian.org/sid/libpulse0

Apparently it is a package of pulseaudio libraries.
But if you do not have pulseaudio installed, what would the use case be?

BTW:
Please use the [ c ] tag for in-line code and [ code ] tag for blocks of code.

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.