Firstly I was dumb and I messed this up. My only excuse is ... err it was 4h past bedtime and my judgement was suitable impaired.
Confessions over.
It was all working fine and I decided to add a Signal K server.
Because charging is important and not wanting to mess with a working thing (too much) I added the server on a separate Pi4. That has a pile of other fun issues. But... that is clearly not core.
I followed the Signal K Venus add on instructions for the Signal K plugin ( https://www.npmjs.com/package/signalk-venus-plugin ) and made the edit to /etc/dbus-1/system.conf . Unfortunately my fat fingers added a character below the dreaded <policy context="default">
line as I was curiously reading the rest of the file.
I know this because I was logging the SSH session.
Then - without checking the file - I committed to a reboot.
BOTHER BOTHER BOTHER.
I know better but that is not always enough, some times we need to relearn things.
So now the CCGX boots to the splash screen and reboots constantly.
The left buttons do what they should. But getting from there back to a working system does not seem to have an identifiable path.
My thought would be to reinstall the CCGX from scratch using an external USB or SDcard and then redo all the settings. But...
I don't seem to be able to find how to do an external install without access to the higher level functions.
Any and all help gratefully received.
Mub