It's getting to be time for me to upgrade my ascii server to beowulf.

But I have some worries, having heard people have had problems with
said upgrade.

What I absolutely need after the upgrade is a text console and network
cnnectivity. Because this is my link to the rest of the world, and if
something goes wrong I won't be able to ask for help. Since i'm in
coronavirus lockdown, a trip to a local coffeeshop's wifi isn't really
an option. (they're pretty closed down anyway)

So. What information, code, binaries, documentation should I be
collecting ahead of time in case it doesn't go smoothly? I don't care
that much about interactive graphics, desktop environments, and the
like. If I get a text console with root access, internet connection and
bridging and masquerading to my LAN, that's enough.

Yes, I've heard of people's woes with things like ehternet device
renaming and the like. I need to know what to do if this happens to me.

The machine is an old AMD-64 box; it's been running for over a decade.
I'm not entirely sure of the USB subsystem; and its floppy drive is
dead. The lase Debian on it was the one before jassie; it has been
updated to Devuan's jessie and has been running Devuan ever since.

-- hendrik