Alpine linux system requirements

Requirements

This page will tell you what requirements you will need to use the Alpine Linux operating system:

Contents

Hardware requirements

For installation and usage take in consideration Alpine can run in several devices, from the popular PC machine also including video game consoles like Game boy Advance and 3DS, so you must check:

Architectures

Means kind of computer, The most popular is the misnamed «intel IBM PC» or «i386» which is actually in fact the x86 or x64, there are other computers supporteds that are not «x86» like mainframes also servers, as embebed devices.. inclusivelly routers like Sonicwall and Cisco ones. Here are the supported:

Memory

Means minimum amount of RAM memory. Need of RAM it depends of the meaning of the installation, any hardware are supported and there is minimum sizes for:

Storage

Means any external or internal storage device that can be added after or before install to use by the Alpine Linux system. Currently depends of the current linux kernel supported.

All the PATA and SATA hard disk drives are supported, also any USB or SD card that can be detected by USB BUS by the linux kernel subsystem during install.

Peripherals

Means any external or internal device that can be added after or before install to detectd by the Alpine Linux system. Currently depends of the current linux kernel supported.

ISA devices are not supported since 3.8 because kernel drops support.

Almost any GPU are supported, but for advanced features, 3D acceleration are manager by MESA project:

• Intel: mostly any Intel by one exception, intel i810/i815 will lack of features cos only has 4Mb memory, Mesa and Linux drop theit support.
• ATI/AMD, only radeon series with exception of recent two last years respect Alpine release, Rage r128/match64 series has limited support.
• Nvidia: limited; only few are complete supported! not all features are allowed!
• Matrox: not all features are supported, just cos are shipped on most servers.
• Sis: limited features are supported, since code are not updated on Xorg and Linux kernel
• Via: limited features are supported, since openchrome code are not updated on Xorg and Linux kernel

Software requirements

Media

Means the files need for dump the install media, and later boot from the target install machine, of course downloaded from http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/ or main Download page.

Checksum

Means Commands to verify the checksum and GPG signature of a downloaded image file on different systems, is complete optional!. This kind of check are made to verify if the download media ISO (for USB, CD/DVD), IMG (for Netboot) or TAR (for ROOTFS, in tar.gz) file are correct and will work. Just performs that command in your system before use that downloaded file:

Booting

Means support for kind of BIOS setup of machine, and where can be media downloaded will be boot, please for more info check Alpine and UEFI wiki page.

If the computer does not automatically boot from the desired device, one needs to bring up the boot menu selection for choosing the media to boot from. Depending on the computer the menu may be accessed by quickly (repeatedly) pressing a key when booting starts, or sometimes it is needed to press the button before starting the computer and keep holding it when it boots. Typical keys are: `F9`-`F12`, sometimes `F7` or `F8`. If these don’t bring up the boot menu, it may be necessary to enter the BIOS configuration and adjust the boot settings, for which typical keys are: `Del.` `F1` `F2` `F6` or `Esc.`

Space

This means amount of available space in disk partitions to perform a kind of install and of course will depends of type and meaning of your desired install, this are the recommended sizes but depends of the BIOS/UEFI supported you must perform and read the Alpine disk layout for UEFI/BIOS at Alpine and UEFI wiki page.

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Small. Simple. Secure.

Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.

About

Alpine Linux is an independent, non-commercial, general purpose Linux distribution designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicity and resource efficiency.

Small

Alpine Linux is built around musl libc and busybox. This makes it smaller and more resource efficient than traditional GNU/Linux distributions. A container requires no more than 8 MB and a minimal installation to disk requires around 130 MB of storage. Not only do you get a fully-fledged Linux environment but a large selection of packages from the repository.

Binary packages are thinned out and split, giving you even more control over what you install, which in turn keeps your environment as small and efficient as possible.

Simple

Alpine Linux is a very simple distribution that will try to stay out of your way. It uses its own package manager called apk, the OpenRC init system, script driven set-ups and that’s it! This provides you with a simple, crystal-clear Linux environment without all the noise. You can then add on top of that just the packages you need for your project, so whether it’s building a home PVR, or an iSCSI storage controller, a wafer-thin mail server container, or a rock-solid embedded switch, nothing else will get in the way.

Secure

Alpine Linux was designed with security in mind. All userland binaries are compiled as Position Independent Executables (PIE) with stack smashing protection. These proactive security features prevent exploitation of entire classes of zero-day and other vulnerabilities.

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