Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the skills to understand and follow these instructions (linux, electrum, et al). My only concern is specific to the Apollo. When I got it I immediately updated it to the latest OS patch level - which of course bricked it and I had to re-image and start again. Any chance of issues like that cropping up while using these instructions? Re-imaging and starting from scratch is tedious!

Nope, this only happens if you update the Linux operating system itself to a newer major revision. The instructions I provided only update and install packages; not touching the system.