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!

The following was done on a Pi5 with a M2 compact Hat and a 1TB NVME.

I tried the main "Get Devuan" page, looking for an ARM or RPi5 version to download
https://www.devuan.org/get-devuan

But I got confused by that, sorry. :-(

Thanks to this topic, found the Latest Builds page.
https://arm-files.devuan.org/RaspberryP … %20Builds/

I chose
rpi-devuan-daedalus-6.1.93-armel-ext4-2025-10-16-0434.img
and flashed that image onto a Class 10 32GB SD card
(sticking to reputable brands with good performance)

Plug that in the Pi and it boots nicely to a command line.
Logon with the default user & pswrd of devuan, devuan
Then use menu-config to setup the basics.
But it is just the command line with no GUI.

Next, what desktop to use? I tried KDE.
sudo apt install kde-full

This was a mistake! From the size of the download and the time it took to install (30 mins +), I was thinking this is a *big* package. Sure enough, on the Pi5, its big, fat and slow. You can get a good idea how old the basic package is when you go looking for whatever Internet Browser comes with it. Firefox and Chrome aren't there, what you get is Konqueror. It felt like lurching back in time by at least ten years.

Next, change to XFCE
sudo apt install xfce4
A smaller download, and quicker to install, which is an encouraging sign.

Also needed lightdm, so that I could switch from KDE to XFCE
sudo apt install lightdm

Sure enough, XFCE is much faster than KDE on the Pi, and a pleasure to use. At this point, I had a stable and usable Devuan desktop booting from the SD card. But still had Raspian on the faster NVME.

Next:
How to copy Devuan from the SD to the NVME?
I wasn't feeling confident enough about using command line tools (dd)
So I tried rpi-clone
https://rpi-clone.jeffgeerling.com/

That talks about cloning an SD card to NVME
sudo rpi-clone nvme0n1
But that just did not work for me.
"Device not found" - even though nvme0n1 was visible with lsblk

Plan B?
Boot from Raspian on the NVME
Plug in a spare USB3 HDD
Use Raspian to install another copy of Raspian onto the spare USB3 HDD.
Then boot Raspian from the USB3 HDD.

Now both the Devuan (on the SD) and the NVME are visible without being active devices.
Use the Raspian Image Copier to clone from SD to NVME.
Shutdown, unplug the spare USB3 HDD.
Put a "backup" label on that and put it on the spare parts shelf.

Reboot from NVME, and here we are now, writing in Pi5 Devuan on the NVME.
Thanks!

Wondered why nfs-kernel-server and wifi stuff weren't functional ... solved.

I just (May 24) purchased a Raspi5 for interest. Wanted to get my Raspi4 devuan boot SSD running and learned that things arent such easy...
It's about my home dokuwiki (plus other tasks) server. I'm currently using a Pi4 booting from SSD, headless minimum daredalus system, no bling-bling. Runs like a charm.

My (maybe quick & dirty) approach to get a devuan-daedalus-bootable-from-SDcard text mode Pi5 was as follows:

- download recent arm64 minimum SDcard image (raspios-bookworm-lite-arm64 from downloads.raspberrypi.com)
- dd that image onto a SDcard
- fdisk that SDcard, delete Linux partition (p2) and create an entirely new one
- mkfs.ext4 that partition
- cp -a the root tree of my devuan-daedalus system SSD running on Pi4 to the empty SDcard partition
- edit /etc/fstab in order to get correct UUIDs for the mountpoints "/boot/broadcom" and "/"
- insert SDcard, power on .. YEAH! IT'S RUNNING!

It's kinda Frankenstein solution, I'm aware. Too much unnecessary bloated stuff on the FAT partition, maybe using a kernel which is not optimized in terms of speed and hardware support.

Next step will be to make this system booting from a USB3 SSD ...
Furthermore I'd like to attach a UPS HAT to the Pi5 because my solar powerplant delivers short blackouts sometimes :-/

Stay tuned, friends!

P.S. booting from the said SDcard via a USB3 adapter is working out-of-the box. Takes some seconds in extra, maybe.
P.P.S. wlan I/F setup still undone

Like what speed, etc?

I am sure its faster to use ARM with micro sd than x86 due to the technology being newer.

I use Pis for business, but for a presentation screen, the Pi 3B+ is to weak - espeacially, if you use Libreoffice Impress - that will solve the problem!

Sincerely

Roland

Thank you for your support!

I definitely do not want to use RaspiOS, since it depends on systemd. And - since I am clearly not as familiar with Linux as you are — therefore, I appreciate your support very much!

Roland

On that beta image, I'm currently researching some some odd RPi5 specific behaviour with sddm & KDE rendering before adding images to the arm-files site (as it's likely to impact other desktops in some way).

All the builds in https://arm-files.devuan.org/RaspberryP … %20Builds/ are built using the variant for the specific hardware and archictecture.

https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-firm … pi-5-b.dtb

(Click on 'view raw')

Well, I tried to boot the Pi 5 with an arm64 daedalus-image but got the message that a specific bcm2712.dtb was missing in the device tree

Unfortunately I am still stuck at that point.