main reason for me to want standard debian is to get the latest firefox/chrome browser for whatsapp web, and to get docker running on the n900 (just don't ask ^^) - also i want gnome3, which isn't available in squeeze.
kernel 4.9 is currently compiling, but it takes a hell of time to complete on the n900.
the gsm phone shouldnt be much of a problem, the curernt kernel contains a n900 modem/gsm driver (maybe it has to get patched for voice data, but it seems possible.), which is another reason for me wanting to get a clean install. i've found a python phone that uses ofono after hours of searching which runs with fixed python repositories and manually compiled pygtk, as long as the modem driver is running.
maybe i can contribute it to the Devuan team. do you know which kernel they are using? (n900 modem support has been added to 3.16 afaik). it could become hard to get it into devuan, because as said before it needs a patched kernel for voice support (mainline kernel only has got ssi, whereas voice requires hsi). i don't know if the project maintainer will give his ok to this.
edit: yeah, my phone drained again... damn bs, it has to be restarted every half an hour, and kernel compilations takes hours, up to days. in my next live, i'll start a carreer as a politican. that's much less of an hassle.