enjoyed reading these:

ttps://mullvad.net/en/why-privacy-matters

especially appreciated their easy-to-find direct pdf link(nicely and visibly placed near the beginning of the page):

(direct pdf download link)
ttps://mullvad.net/pdfs/Total_surveillance.pdf

also of note is that they don't even need-to-have/want any of your personal information, not even an email address:

ttps://mullvad.net/en/why-mullvad-vpn

it should be noted that some governments use extreme measures to block/confiscate physical correspondence. for reference please see: ttps://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/08/for-whatever-reason-the-us-post-office-is-still-running-its-mail-cover-surveillance-program/

another commentary of note:

ttps://arstechnica.com/security/2024/07/code-sneaked-into-fake-aws-downloaded-hundreds-of-times-backdoored-dev-devices/

haven't used thunderbird for years but seem to recall having to do a "complete uninstall" and then reinstall to cure some misbehavior that i cannot exactly remember. also of note, only ever used POP3 and never IMAP.

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography

also was reminded of this(for windows users):

ttps://www.tenforums.com/general-support/104149-cannot-access-bios-boot-menu-during-startup.html

yes, please keep us posted on your progress!

downloaded daedalus 5.0.0 amd64 desktop live iso last year from this exact link.

ttps://mirror.belltower.us/devuan/devuan_daedalus/desktop-live/devuan_daedalus_5.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso

checksum:

ttps://mirror.belltower.us/devuan/devuan_daedalus/desktop-live/SHA256SUMS.txt

have used it successfully on more than one usb-stick to both live-run and install from live-run

definitely would like to know what OP finds out was their exact problem after these several months!

keep up posted sir!

consider the speed of this machine as it "solves"(picks the correct codes/commands/etc)

ttps://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/06/robot-solves-rubiks-cube-in-literal-blink-of-an-eye-for-new-world-record/

and how mere/puny humans could ever hope to defend against future "killer AI" controlling "killer robots" operating at "eye-blinkingly-fast speeds"

ttps://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/boston-dynamics-debuts-humanoid-robot-destined-for-commercialization/

Terminator anyone?

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator

nothing less than a Barrett M82 is going to be even remotely effective:

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_M82

enthusiast website(one of many):

ttps://1moa.org/

if you favored kde then choose mate.
if you favored old-school gnome then choose xfce.

re: suspect -
ttps://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/n6eo9m/strange_directory_persisting_in_devshm/?rdt=53428

re: size -
ttps://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=360159

re: *bsd

just stumbled across this(video circa 2017):

"Convincing a Linux guy to use FreeBSD" - Lunduke Hour - Feb 9, 2017(approx-1hr15min)
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cofKxtIO3Is

what is the model and version of your lenovo laptop?

have you successfully used _any_ other *nix operating system?

which version(s) of Devuan have you tried?

some semi-random webpages that may give some additional thoughts:
ttps://www.forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=70905
ttps://superuser.com/questions/1615364/selecting-entries-in-boot-manager-without-using-keyboard
ttps://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/724678/why-does-grub-fail-to-auto-boot-when-no-keyboard-is-connected
ttps://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/20588/how-to-make-bt-keyboard-available-at-login-and-os-selection-screens

regarding storage media, this might be important to you

Hard drives were already bad at random access I/O—but SMR disks are worse.
ttps://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/04/caveat-emptor-smr-disks-are-being-submarined-into-unexpected-channels/

also for your convenience here are the terms i searched at DDG(no quotes):
"arstechnica shingled magnetic recording smr"