Ok, so I spent a few months away busy with other things and not much time to pay attention to computing.
When I came back and had time, aside from checking out the latest Knoppix 8.6.1, and also the Debian / Raspberry Pi Desktop for x86/64 (DONT call it "raspbian"), and absolutely loving both, I booted my TC sticks again.
And got absolutely the biggest smile from TC. Thanks to all the devs for not dropping support - personally I think I'd be a bit bored after all these years, but not you guys. Thanks!
So here's a warning to new users - once you try it, you may find it VERY hard to leave the *core family.