o1bigtenor:
> Looking at ESP8266 and wanting to program it using micropython (really
> don't want to have to learn C++ (not enough hours in the day as it is!!)).
>
> One of the tools I need to be able to use is esptools - - well in the
> debian world you need to run that on either Devaun 3 or 5 - - - its just
> not available on devuan 4.

Why not have a chroot with devuan 3 then.

If it doesn't work, you might want to look into gentoo:
https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/dev-lang/micropython
https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/dev-embedded/esptool
Gentoo has rolling realeases and compiles most thing on
the local host, so it might be a little painful to use.

Don't really know what esptool does, but shouldn't you be able
to what you want via JTAG ?

Regards,
/Karl Hammar