@ 2. Press the direct print button (the one with the blue light) and notice blue <alt> on display
Unfortunately, that didn't work.
At least not until I pressed it a couple of times.
When I changed the debug data display to none and went back, the camera bricks with the lens extended.
I'll try reloading CHDK onto the card to reset it and see what happens.
=============
Reloaded CHDK onto the camera card.
All is well-behaved (except the issue with one-at-a-time RAW shots)
One minor difference is that I deleted the ver.req file (keeping the vers.req file). I do not know if that was the source of any of my difficulties in accessing the ALT menu, or the bricked bahavior that followed, but:
Now I am having fun, fun, fun.
One (minor) issue is that the [ R G B ] histogram mode displays the third histogram mostly off-screen.
Still cannot decode the RAW files. I have downloaded and will install the latest UFraw with GIMP to see if that helps.