Enjoyed this machine… Thanks to those who gave some great hints… Learned some new linux commands on this machine and some other techniques…
For those stuck on initial foothold: There are a couple of posts here, some with articles, that will help you out a lot!
For those stuck on the priv esc and steps before that, the key is research to what you have “access” to for the first part and then what can help you and you have access to to get what you need…