First ran on a (backed-up) virtual machine.  The only "major" problem was with wicd, a missing file /etc/dbus-1/system.conf -- I copied from my host system and resumed the upgrade... it finished, rebooted, all seems to be okay.

Then backed up my "baremetal" system.  Some other errors (depencencies?) partway through, had to run a "apt-get --fix-broken install" then resume the dist-upgrade.  Same issue with wicd, copied system.conf from most recent backup and resumed upgrade.  Rebooted, no gui.  Reinstalled nvidia driver, rebooted, all seems okay.  Remmina was uninstalled.  Opened synaptic to some error, had to run "dpkg --configure -a", now synaptic works.  Had to force specific remmina version (something about backports?), now it is okay.  Had to redo some other minor tweaks, but overall a rather painless experience.  Just kind of curious about that wicd thing, it seems the system.conf is deleted too early in the upgrade process?

I know this is supposed to work, in theory, but is it recommended to try debian 8 -> devuan ascii upgrade on a remote (ssh) machine?  Will I lose ssh connectivity during the upgrade process, what other things should I be aware of before attempting it?

Again, thanks to the developers for their work in this project, and the people who provide forum support / other chat.