hello ,

one command that can function is

sudo lsusb

it would likst you connected usb devices; if your cd drive is listed there, depends on wether it is an usb-connected-dvd/cd/bluray-drive in the first place, of course; sometimes, one usb port may have gone bit loose and wont power the usb-drive enough, that could be an issue;
if it is sata drive, the command is another one, which dont have present; but sometimes, depending on distro, had also issues with DVD drive not showing up properly; but it could be also that the drive itself is bit faulty, which happens; i have a newer bluray drive now which i cherish quite; to me, it is still an essential part of computer.

for making camera visisble, think it depdens a bit on the firmware of the camera; but in principle, linux is a lot more flexible than say macos with cameras, and you should have no problem whatsoever pulling the pictures off it.

EDIT: now that you mention it, found that my bluray-drive is also not listed under "devices" which is a bit odd; however, when i put a media into it, the device suddenfly shows-up.
i use Mate Desktop atm; and the Caja File manager seems rather limited, or not so much updated since a  while (may be wrong about it; credits syy 1999-2009, 2011-2021) version 1.26.4)

hello ,
you should not have issues with internal and external gpu loaded, they can both be used;
my computer has 9700x (with raphael igpu) and rx 7600, and both can be used on devuan excalibur;

you need to make sure to install devuan properly, best in uefi mode.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/r … 700s.c4015
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/r … 7600.c4153

EDIT:
also the radeom 860m should be supported by excalibur, but maybe since gorgone point newer release, you could have more luck with devuan 7.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-860m.c4289

you could test this by using devuan only without the rx 7700s, and see i you still have the same issue; if so , would try to use devuan 7 (provided you have devuan properly in the first place). or install devuan 6 again, but from another boot-medium (like dvd-r) or via boot-stick; there are some settings in BIOS that effectively shut-out the iGPU, but don§t remember what actually determines if the iGPU gets properly recognized or not (had also Linux install where only the dGPU got recognized properly after install of amdgpu drivers for example, but in principle both should be able to function)

this is how it look like on "geekbench" info-table for devuan 6 excalibur

Vulkan
+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------------+
| Platform ID | Device ID | Description                                  |
+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------------+
| 0           | 0         | AMD Radeon RX 7600 (RADV NAVI33)             |
+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------------+
| 0           | 1         | AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO) |
+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------------+
| 0           | 2         | llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits)             |
+-------------+-----------+----------------------------------------------+

@RecklessEpoch if forced you need to use a WiFi there is things called "Travel Router" that lets you bridge and use an Ethernet cable on device instead, but myself never used one, cannot vouche for it.

on first years of University, remember the scarce laptop positions used to have shared spaces, with 3 ethernet cables, so you got to sit around a table(t), and actually chit-chat if you wanted, that was rather nice!

nowadays is focered wiFi and no Fun at all.

@clueless, if you using ZFS, might readily be more advanced in the computing then me here;
however, the GT 730 according to Techpowerup conly hdmii 1.3a, so you might not fare well with 4k;
even the GT 710 has hdmi 1.4; and might be luckier for higher resolution, but that might also be wrong info on the side of techpowerup (/which happens sometimes)

have checked again, and found that the devuan box mentioned has the proper driver installed; but don't asked how it is done; it is elaborated probably only thanks to this post from user in southern france, that shared the respective kernel patch or something.

happy landing on devuan.

used this software when i had problems installing scanner on linux; getting to function.

it is good for testing purpoese, but leaves a watermark.
(trial full-version)

https://www.hamrick.com/

[aio]

would like to thank for this distro, it seems a very promising.
like on first contact.

if you dont mind please the following "bugreport" on tried and tested laptop T420.

1. used latest excalibur with xfce4 iso
2. text install (not-expert)
3. install and first-boot-fine - xfce4 asking for (desktop-icon-layout) upon entrie into GUI
4. installing updates - after updates reboot -
5. unfortunately after reboot the touchpad and pointing stick no longer respond.
(maybe you can see the error from screenshot)

tried also with expoert - install - it seems function, but then i get no wired-connection (disconnected) , maybe did something wrong.

screenshot gallery

https://ibb.co/k25MW6QJ
https://ibb.co/99Hpqxvv
https://ibb.co/WNfXqGcX
https://ibb.co/qYVyNKJV
https://ibb.co/zH2ktk5r
https://ibb.co/ynQgd295

edit> with LXDE the same happen, maybe it is only peculiar to the laptop, however, upon first boot *befor upgrade the touchpad-pointing stick function<
noticed there is error msg upon booting like @failed to create CE channel -22

edit2> seemto have found solution here https://computingforgeeks.com/fix-touch … ues-linux/

sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse

brings touchpad&point stick back,  to make permanent, edit

/etc/rc.local

and add

you could find some info here if you want to use "ventoy"
https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=8124
also would suggest you cpiöd do yourselves a favour and use an ethernet cable (atleast) for a more stable first-installation ~

good luck.

edit: if you have a dvd-r(w) laying around, yoiuu could master the iso onto it; that works best in my experience, specially with excalbiure. (am repeating myself)

it would be nice if ther is option to readout the whole booting process onto .log file,
since am encountering also lots of messages during startup that are not easy to decipher.
using newer computer.
maybe got already advised so, but please show the proper handling.

thank you both,

used cinnamon in before, but droppoed to mate loosely; kinda like it (always like debian squeeze, my favorite probably).
nowe, the issue is also with cinnamon DE, so it is probably related to this "lightdm" think or similar; am not too knowledgeable in these things, there are quite some actors involved.

logging-off user does not stop the script, that is the issue.
to me, this seems unacceptable. (but again, since script was probably made with "systemctl" in mind, maybe , but just maybe, it is due to that).

there seem to be one such mentiuon on github (however, not caja related)

https://github.com/mate-desktop/mate-se … issues/165

(not sure if lightdm is involved in devuan 6.0 standard with mate-desktop, though)