https://devuan.bio.lmu.de/devuan/dists/ … rd-images/

with devuan 6 it function too

https://devuan.bio.lmu.de/devuan/dists/ … ard-images

Thanks everyone for your help on this.

The only drawback device tree (config.txt) doesn't seem to work e.g. gpu_mem=16, dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt etc. Customized kernel needed or something?

I would think you need to be actually booting in device tree mode for that to work, not the EFI mode you used. It is one method or the other with these things.

I found this solution for myself. I'm using a kernel, etc., as well as the latest firmware from http://raspbian.raspberrypi.com/raspbian/ in Devuan. I created a file called raspbian.sources:

Types: deb
URIs: http://raspbian.raspberrypi.com/raspbian/
Architectures: armhf
Suites: trixie
Components: main contrib non-free rpi
Enabled: yes
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/raspbian-archive-keyring.gpg

Types: deb
URIs: http://archive.raspberrypi.com/debian/
Suites: trixie
Components: main
Enabled: yes
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/raspberrypi-archive-keyring.pgp

and added the following to /etc/apt/preferences:

...
Package: *
Pin: release n=daedalus
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release n=trixie
Pin-Priority: 400
...

I also changed the following in /etc/inittab to get a login shell.

# Example for systemd-nspawn
# Only /dev/console exists inside nspawn, so we need a getty on that.
# Also make sure to comment out the gettys on tty* above.
C0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -8 --noclear --keep-baud console 115200,38400,9600
#T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L serial0 115200 vt100

I'll see if this was a good idea...

fuchur

git archive --remote=https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git --format=tgz v6.9.10  | tar xzf - -C mydir

not seen it done that way before, added to my git cheat sheet.

Hope that helps.

Well it is not in the the Pi images on that page with it you get stuck with a kernel that is roughly 60 revisions behind the Debian kernel with no way to upgrade. As I posted I got rid of that and went with a install that updates without problems, just today got the latest new kernel from the archives.

zeus@raspi:~$ uname -a
Linux raspi 6.12.57+deb13-arm64 #1 SMP Debian 6.12.57-1 (2025-11-05) aarch64 GNU/Linux

The compute module has eMMC so an SD card can't be used, to get a disk image into it you need to use rpiboot from https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot/ I built it from source using the instructions in the ReadMe.

rpiboot allows you to set the boot config or to make it appear as a Mass storage device. To turn it into a Mass storage device run:

./rpiboot -d mass-storage-gadget64

Fit a shorting link across the two "disable eMMC Boot" pins on J2 and connect the USB C connector on the module to your computer when the display shows:

This uploads a minimal linux image to change the function of the USB C port. It doesn't seem to like USB hubs, the first time I tried that it didn't work. You can check if it's worked by running

lsblk -p 

Mine showed:

In that list /dev/sdb is the NVMe drive attached to the compute module and /dev/sdc is the eMMC. It's likely to be different on your machine, check very carefully!

I copied the rpi-5-devuan-daedalus-6.12.55-arm64-ext4-2025-10-29-0209.img file directly to the NVMe using a command like this: 

dd if=raw_os_image.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4MiB

I also changed the boot order using rpiboot by editing recovery5/boot.conf on my computer and running   

cd recovery5/
./update-pieeprom.sh
../rpiboot -d .

Details available from: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentati … figuration

After all that removing the link across the "disable eMMC Boot" pins and powering up using the normal USB C power supply got me a running Devuan. Login as root:toor.

The welcome screen says to run menu-config to set up the basics like kernel config, hostname, network, etc.

After that I regenerated all the host ssh keys to make sure they're unique to me 

rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*
ssh-keygen -A

I also renamed the default "devuan" user. Note this won't work if "devuan" is currently logged in. First I needed a new group: 

groupadd myname 

To change the username, home directory & group name:

 usermod --login myname --move-home --gid myname --home /home/myname devuan 

You can also change the full name associated with the account using: 

 chfn -f "New Fullname" myname 

And, of course, set a new password using either

passwd myname

if running as root or just

passwd

for the current account.

And then on to apt to configure everything else!

I used
sudo rpi-eeprom-config --edit

To boot usb first followed by nvme:
BOOT_ORDER=0xf461

To boot nvme first
BOOT_ORDER=0xf416

Also useful in the same config, to reduce power consumption when the Pi is shutdown but still plugged into the power supply:
POWER_OFF_ON_HALT=1

See
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/ … ption-140x

And sometimes it ain't easy to change them

I managed to install the Devuan Daedelus ARM build from the netboot ISO, on an ARM Virtual Machine on an Apple M1 Mac, using Parallels.

I am using Cinnamon and it works perfect. The Parallels tools for integration with the Mac environment also work OK.

I also managed to upgrade it to the Excalibur branch 2 weeks ago and is still working perfectly.

Thank you to all the contributors and developers!

Ed.