I recommend to install Devuan with installer - not with dd. Insert SD card, run installer and install Devuan on SD card just like on HDD. Install bootloader on SD card. Boot from SD card.

Yes.

Hitting esc at boot time gives me what Asus rather awkwardly calls the BBS Popup (Boot Selection Popup) menu, where I can choose from HDD, SD Card slot or whatever is plugged into whichever one of the three USB 2.0 ports has something booteable plugged in. I haven't been able to find out what the extra B in BBS stands for, but it sounds/looks bad.  =-D!

OK

That's great.

No, not really.

In my experience, I have found some USB ports to be liable to have problems, not in the contacts (unless abused) but with the plastic 'tonge' that is supposed to be the support for whatever is plugged in.
Unfortunately, it is far too easy to inadvertently exert force on the plugged in whatever in such a way that it leverages this plastic piece up/down.

After a number of these instances (think 2010 to today) and even if they are very slight, the plastic will eventually weaken and then break off.   
Which is why I'd rather boot from the SD slot.

What would drive me to boot to RAM is that it would be a faster read while installing.

Will do. Once again, thanks for the heads up.
2MB it is then.  =-)

Thanks a lot for your input.

A.

This will be a normal installation that can be updated/upgraded.

If you want to install to the usb stick, you should really use two sticks. But it is possible to boot to ram and then install to the same stick. The drawback is that you only get one chance. If you have to run the installer again, you have to dd the stick again.

When you partition the sdcard, leave 2MB free space before the first partition. Grub might need that. Gparted insists on leaving 1MB. Keep your eye on that.

OK, one down.  =-)

I thought as much once I realised I could split / from the rest of the installation and boot my main rig from a SSD. 
Have not done it yet.

I really like Linux's ability to put things in their own place.
I recall that in another life/another OS, I put both the /swap and a /programs directory on separate partitions.
I did not trust the MS 'program files' arrangement.

Not to much use besides keeping things tidy as a lot of stuff still ended up in /program files.   
Eventually I put the swap file in the same partition as /programs as all that took a toll speedwise.

Of course, thanks for the heads up.

OK.

What worries me a bit is the actual process, eg:

1. boot Devuan ASCII (to ram?) from image dd'd to a USB stick.
2. install to the second partition (ext4) on HDD, where the first partition (NTFS) holds the XP installation.
3. make sure /, boot record and GRUB are installed to the SC Card in the slot.

Q1.: How do I make that last part of the process failsafe?

Q2.: Am I correct in assuming that installing ASCII in this manner will allow for updating?
It is something I have found booting from an *.iso with persistance will not and mess it all up.

Thanks for your input.

A.

Take note of what the device names are when you boot from usb vs. booting from internal disk. Using uuids in fstab should help with that.

I've seen that I could boot my ASCII rig from a 32Gb SDD (holding just / ) with the rest of the installation ie: /home, /var and /swap residing on separate partitions in another HD.

I was wondering if I could do something analogous with my Asus 1000HE 2Gb netbook on which I need to run XP for some time yet.

ie: boot from a USB or SD card holding just / and with the rest of the installation ie: /home, /var and /swap residing on separate partitions in the netbook's HD, where the first partition and the boot record belong to XP.

I have attempted to boot with an *.iso image and use the persistence option but it has proven to be rather problematic.

Thanks in advance.

A.

Edited: dyslexical spelling mistakes.