I think my next step, which may take a while, is to try to follow the Debian installation notes and even do a kernel compile, so I can take more of a look at what options are available. It’s a bit frustrating that the kernel is ~2-3 years old, it would be great to have up-to-date sources to build from.
Wondering whether the Clockwork Pi staff folks have any ability to help, beyond the existing wiki information they shared?