FTW, install your favorite version in a virtual machine and then do the upgrade. That way, if you screw it up, it's easy to start over again. Then you can make your own iso with refractasnapshot and install to real hardware.

Set up both wired and wireless in /etc/network/interfaces.

Network Configuration Guide
https://www.devuan.org/os/documentation … figuration

I didn't know I could do this, but it works. I think it's basically the same as what you're trying to do.

Live-usb, first partition is fat32 and has filesystem.squashfs, kernel and initrd, syslinux and grub files with boot menus.

Second partition is linux partition and I made a loopback file for the persistent filesystem. I kept the default username of devuan, so I didn't have to do anything special on first boot.

With nottyautologin I'm able to drop to console with ctrl-alt-Fn and there's a login prompt (n=1-6). Without nottyautologin, tty1 shows the end of the boot messages and no login prompt or command prompt. And tty2-6 are just black.

This is the boot command for user 'devuan'

BOOT_IMAGE=/excal_6.1.1/live/vmlinuz initrd=/excal_6.1.1/live/initrd.img boot=live live-media-path=/excal_6.1.1/live persistence persistence-media=removable-usb persistence-path=/loopfiles/ persistence-label=dev1 username=devuan  nottyautologin apparmor=0 

Second loopback file for alternate persistence. For the first boot, I added nox11autologin and S to boot to single user. As root, I deleted the primary user (devuan) and deleted all of /home/devuan, then created phred. (deluser and adduser). When I exited the root console, the desktop came up without having to log in.

On subsequent boot, I removed the nox11autologin, and phred's desktop came up without a login.

This is the boot command for user 'phred'

BOOT_IMAGE=/excal_6.1.1/live/vmlinuz initrd=/excal_6.1.1/live/initrd.img boot=live live-media-path=/excal_6.1.1/live persistence persistence-media=removable-usb persistence-path=/loopfiles/ persistence-label=dev1b username=phred nottyautologin apparmor=0

If your user's name is 'user' then it doesn't need to be set it in the boot command.

@aitor

RE: mdadm errors in live iso.
See https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=57685#p57685

That post has the solution. The whole thread describes the problem and a couple of ineffective attempts at a solution.

TLDR: mdadm is not installed, but the package is in the iso for installation after boot, no network needed.

P.S. If you come up with a better solution, please let me know.

No, I don't have to delete 'user', and noautologin does work with or without persistence. I've been doing it this way for about 15 years. Before devuan existed I was doing this with debian. I guess we're not doing the same thing.

I use this to make a live-usb: https://get.refracta.org/files/tools/re … ~4_all.deb

I don't get the same results as you. The noautologin option is working correctly here on two different live-isos.

The devuan desktop-live iso has user 'devuan' pre-defined, and with noautologin, boot stops at the slim login screen.
A refracta live iso has user 'user' pre-defined, and with noautologin, boot stops at the lightdm login screen.

Maybe I should call it a pre-existing user instead. That user already exists and has a home directory inside the squashfs as opposed to being created when the system boots.

The default user already exists in devuan live isos. In debian live isos, the default user is created during boot if the option 'config' is included in the command line. I think if you remove that, you'll have the default user again.

@tyder, see if you can narrow down which kernel parameters make a difference. TAB or e to edit the boot entry on the fly.

Here's mine.
Booted from usb on hardware. It works here.

 inxi -G
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 5500 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Chicony Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 121x24 resolution: 1600x900
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 25.0.7-2 note: console (EGL sourced)
    renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 5500 (BDW GT2), llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7 256 bits)
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop,
    xrandr

This one (dzz's third example) shows me the boot menu and goes to black screen.

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 2048 -bios /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd  -boot d -cdrom devuan_excalibur_6.1.1_amd64_desktop-live.iso

I can get to serial console in qemu and log in. Slim is not running, xorg is running. I can kill xorg, then log into console as root and run startx. Desktop comes up. Alternatively, I can drop to console, install lightdm, start lightdm, get graphical login and desktop comes up.

This one (abbreviated fourth example - no network settings) works from boot menu to desktop.

qemu-system-x86_64 -machine accel=kvm -m 1924 -boot d -cdrom devuan_excalibur_6.1.1_amd64_desktop-live.iso -bios /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd -boot once=d,menu=off

Can you get different results using my qemu commands?

All the major desktops are available in the installer isos.

Install ntpsec-ntpdate and the command ntpdate-debian will work again.

Some of the broadcoms are left out because they require the user to agree to certain conditions. I thought this was one of those, but now I'm not so sure. I might try making a live iso with broadcom-sta-dkms, and if it works, I can upload it for you to use. Instructions for installing all the broadcom drivers can be found at wiki.debian.org,  and they might require that you have an internet connection to get what you need to have an internet connection.

Easiest way to get what you need is if you can use an ethernet cable. You need to add non-free to the active lines in sources.list.

Alternatively, you could download the packages in windows and then install them when you boot into devuan. Here's the list of what you need:

# apt install broadcom-sta-dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Installing:                     
  broadcom-sta-dkms  linux-headers-6.12.57+deb13-amd64

Installing dependencies:
  binutils                   libalgorithm-diff-perl     libitm1
  binutils-common            libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl  liblsan0
  binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu  libalgorithm-merge-perl    libquadmath0
  build-essential            libasan8                   libsframe1
  dkms                       libbinutils                libstdc++-14-dev
  dpkg-dev                   libc-dev-bin               libtsan2
  fakeroot                   libc6-dev                  libubsan1
  g++                        libcc1-0                   linux-headers-6.12.57+deb13-common
  g++-14                     libcrypt-dev               linux-kbuild-6.12.57+deb13
  g++-14-x86-64-linux-gnu    libctf-nobfd0              linux-libc-dev
  g++-x86-64-linux-gnu       libctf0                    make
  gcc                        libfakeroot                manpages
  gcc-14                     libgcc-14-dev              manpages-dev
  gcc-14-x86-64-linux-gnu    libgprofng0                pahole
  gcc-x86-64-linux-gnu       libhwasan0                 rpcsvc-proto

Edit:
I installed into a VM and was able to install broadcom-sta-dkms without having to agree to a license. I'm surprised. I'm making a new iso now that you can test. I don't have hardware for that.