If you wish to try a frankenstein build, you could see if copying just tce-load from 2.11 to your install lets you install recursive extensions. Unsupported, but so is 2.8 now.
Thanks, curaga. I may give that a try. I guess the shift to "recursive dependencies" had escaped my notice. Fortunately, I wwas able to download and install Namoroka without problem. And I doubt that I'll need or wanted additional programs soon.
Of course, I still hope to work my courage up and try to move up to 2.11. Hard to do it without wifi, though, since I haven't got access to an ethernet connection.