Ok..decided to re-install with the latest jedi release. Install went fine (tho I still prefer the old installer).
When invoking smxi to install  the Nvidia driver I am presented with a "fail" (on many occasions) of:

ERROR (196) The driver package.....failed to extract and has been deleted.

Anyone else experience this , and would it be a Debian or smxi problem?

Many thanks folks   

Went  to du tonight and a whole lot of weirdness apparantly....kde???..think I'll lurk in the background for awhile...

Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://packages.siduction.org unstable InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 15CBD88045C45076
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  kate-data katepart kde-runtime kde-runtime-data kdelibs-bin kdelibs5-data
  kdelibs5-plugins kdoctools libattica0.4 libdbusmenu-qt2 libdlrestrictions1
  libgpgme++2 libiodbc2 libkactivities-bin libkactivities-models1
  libkactivities6 libkatepartinterfaces4 libkcmutils4 libkde3support4
  libkdeclarative5 libkdecore5 libkdesu5 libkdeui5 libkdewebkit5 libkdnssd4
  libkemoticons4 libkfile4 libkhtml5 libkio5 libkjsapi4 libkjsembed4
  libkmediaplayer4 libknewstuff3-4 libknotifyconfig4 libkntlm4 libkparts4
  libkpty4 libkrosscore4 libktexteditor4 libkxmlrpcclient4 libnepomuk4
  libnepomukcore4 libnepomukquery4a libnepomukutils4 libnl-route-3-200
  libntrack-qt4-1 libntrack0 libphonon4 libplasma3 libpolkit-qt-1-1 libqca2
  libqt4-declarative libqt4-designer libqt4-opengl libqt4-qt3support
  libqt4-xmlpatterns libqtwebkit4 libsolid4 libsoprano4 libssh-4
  libstreamanalyzer0 libstreams0 libthreadweaver4 nepomuk-core-data
  ntrack-module-libnl-0 oxygen-icon-theme phonon phonon-backend-vlc
  plasma-scriptengine-javascript soprano-daemon
The following packages will be upgraded:
  binutils cpp db5.1-util dbus dbus-x11 debhelper dmsetup dpkg dpkg-dev
  fakeroot ffmpeg fonts-opensymbol g++ gcc gcc-4.7-base gir1.2-gtk-3.0
  gir1.2-pango-1.0 ioquake3 libav-tools libavcodec55 libavdevice55
  libavfilter4 libavformat55 libavresample1 libavutil52 libavutil53
  libdbus-1-3 libdevmapper-event1.02.1 libdevmapper1.02.1 libdpkg-perl
  libfakeroot libfreerdp1 libgail-3-0 libgmp10 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin
  libgtk-3-common libid3tag0 libimobiledevice4 libjte1 libllvm3.4 libltdl7
  liblvm2app2.2 libpango-1.0-0 libpango1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0
  libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpangoxft-1.0-0 libpixman-1-0 libpostproc52 libpython2.7
  libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib libpython3.4 libpython3.4-minimal
  libpython3.4-stdlib libreoffice libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer
  libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-base-drivers
  libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw
  libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-impress libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-math
  libreoffice-report-builder-bin libreoffice-sdbc-firebird
  libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb libreoffice-style-galaxy libreoffice-style-tango
  libreoffice-writer librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common libswresample0 libswscale2
  libudisks2-0 libx11-6 libx11-data libx11-xcb1 lvm2 openarena-081-maps
  openarena-081-misc openarena-081-players openarena-081-players-mature
  openarena-081-textures openarena-085-data openarena-088-data openarena-data
  os-prober python-wxversion python2.7 python2.7-minimal python3-uno python3.4
  python3.4-minimal rsyslog udisks2 uno-libs3 ure wine wine1.7 wine1.7-i386
106 upgraded, 70 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 643 MB of archives.
After this operation, 191 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]


Stumbled through the overgrowth to the VSIDO website. Hacked my way in through the vines and underbrush. Ooooo...eerie silence and empty streets littered with debris.. Where is the population that thrived here? God this distro is so stable and boring

Seems like an interesting topic. Where do you call home, and include pictures if you'd like.

Myself, presently live approximately 35-40 miles north of New York City in a town called Mount Kisco. All my life previously was in NYC.
Linda (my wife) and I moved here in 1997  seeking a  balance of suburban/country life with ready access to NYC for whatever it might have to offer....which this Saturday will be a Yankees game! 

Hmmmmm..

After dist-upgrade a week or two ago I cannot shutdown/reboot from the normal right click option.
I "think" it was after an upgrade when apt mentioned "systemd" as a new package. Log out works but clicking on
either shutdown or reboot does nothing. Currently accomplishing both via terminal ( eg: sudo shutdown -h now) but it would
be nice to get back to normal, Any insights appreciated. All else running flawlessly.

OK..it's time to lay it on the line. VSIDO I am yours. You have totally assimilated me. I am in total awe as to your functionality and perfection. I, a former distrohopping whore have no desire or need  to stray
elsewhere. Probably a combination of my just "getting older" and the absolute quality of this distro. My compliments to the "chef" (VO) and others (jedi, lwfitz+) who have made me a happy camper.