alpine-wiki

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

Hardware requirements

For installation and usage consider that Alpine can run on several kinds of devices, from the popular PC machine to video game consoles like the Game Boy Advance and the 3DS, and as such you must check the following of your machine:

Architectures

Architecture means kind of computer. The most popular architecture is the misnamed “Intel IBM PC” or “i386” which is actually in fact the x86 or x64. There are other supported computer architectures that are not “x86”, like mainframes, servers, and embedded devices (such as routers like Sonicwall and Cisco ones). Here are the architectures supported by Alpine:

Supported Arch	since	until	Meaning of installation and target architecture
x86_64	all	current	The popular AMD64 compatible 64-bit x86 based machines, i386 is not recommended for newer/latest hardware.
x86	all	v3.17	The all popular 32 bit intel (i386 pc 32bit) and x86_64 with 32bit compatible (i686 pc 64bit amd64)
ppc64le	v3.6	current	For the PowerPC devices with pure little-endian mode, mostly for POWER8 and POWER9
armhf	v3.0	current	The newer ARM hard-float for newer, more powerful 32-bit devices alongside 64-bit. Including video games!
armv7	v3.9	current	The 32-bit ARM only execution state of the ARMv7 devices machines. Including video game consoles!
aarch64	v3.5	current	The 64-bit ARM only execution state of the ARMv8 device machines. Like Rasberri’s
ppc64le	v3.6	current	for 64-bit big-endian PowerPC and Power ISA processors like some MAC computers.
s390x	v3.6	v3.15	For the Super powered IBM mainframes, especially IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE servers.

CPU

Intel
- Core i3 8121U are supported from alpine v3.6 to v3.14 only.
- From 486 to pentium/pentiumII/pentium3 supported up to v3.16 only
AMD
- Semprom are pretty slower with recent kernels, so its practically not supported, use older versions of alpine or own build kernel
- DX*SX 486 supported up to alpine v3.16 only
- K5 and K6 supported up to alpine v3.16 only

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:

Target Arch	Mim RAM to start	Min RAM to install	Min RAM for GUI	Best for GUI work
x86_64	512 Megs	512 Megs	3 Gigs	8 Gigs
x86_32	128 Megs	256 Megs	1 Gigs	4 Gigs
ppc64le	128 Megs	256 Megs	1 Gigs	8 Gigs
armhf	256 Megs	512 Megs	2 Gigs	6 Gigs
armv7	256 Megs	512 Megs	2 Gigs	6 Gigs
aarch64	256 Megs	512 Megs	2 Gigs	8 Gigs
ppc64le	256 Megs	512 Megs	1 Gigs	6 Gigs
s390x	128 Megs	256 Megs	1 Gigs	N/A

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

ISA devices are not supported since 3.8 because kernel drops support. those pc machines must use an older alpine linux, our wiki has good recipes for such cases. To support those devices use v3.8.0 alpine version as maximun.

GPU devices

GPU devices 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. Recent devs wants to deprecated intel support on mesa.
ATI/AMD, only radeon series with exception of recent two last years respect Alpine release, Rage r128/match64 series has limited support. Recently AMD “Next” gen are only basic supported.
Nvidia: limited; only few are complete supported! not all features are allowed! Needs 5.10 ad up kernels and have issues with power management. Recommended to disable Display power management.
Matrox: not all features are supported, this is shipped on most servers. Those GPU has 3D support, but with newer kernels due the increment of requirementes that is practically not usefully.
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

WIFI devices

WIFI devices are supported well if are not hybrid ones, nomadays currently wifi devices are now hybrids that are mostly mix of bluetooth and wifi.

Note that bluetooth adapter, while on the same card as your wifi will have a seperate hardware ID but both will be reconiced always as USB devices.

Mostly mayor of those are not well suported unless you use kernel 5.10 and up, so the recommendations for recent hybrits devices are Alpine v3.16 and up. the only problem are few modules like Broadcom (that some not matter if are older or newer will require compilation and firmware) and the Realtek Semiconductor only if your device are so so recent.

prism54 FullMAC PCI / Cardbus devices used to be supported only by the prism54 wireless driver its not supported by alpine, only debian 4, 5, and 6 supports

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.

Available for	ISO (for USB, CD/DVD)	IMG (for Netboot)	TAR (for ROOTFS img)	Download links recommended
x86_64	YES	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/x86_64/
x86	YES (best is v3.12.0)	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.12/releases/x86/
ppc64le	NO	YES	YES	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/ppc64le/
armhf	NO	YES	YES	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/armhf/
armv7	NO	YES	YES	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/armv7/
aarch64	YES	YES	YES	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/aarch64/
mips64	YES (until v3.14.0)	YES	N/A	https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.13/releases/mips64/
s390x	YES	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.15/releases/s390x/

For some architectures, those pc machines must use an older alpine linux, our wiki has good recipes for such cases, like the x86 knowed widely as i386 or 32bit pc, its better to use the recomended download link,

Contrary to everything that stupids devs will say about using up to date, fashioned and latest versions, the age of these devices will require that you do not use software so modern things that it always increases the requirements to do the same task as any recent version of same.

Booting

Means support for kind of BIOS/UEFI/OEM setup of machine, and where can be media downloaded will be boot.

Supported Arch	Supported BIOS	Supported Types	Media Boot Recommended
x86_64	Coreboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, UEFI	USB, CD/DVD (ISO)
x86	Coreboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, UEFI	USB, CD/DVD (ISO)
ppc64le	Coreboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, UEFI	USB, CD/DVD (ISO)
armhf	Uboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS	NET, MINIROOTFS (TAR.GZ)
armv7	Uboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, UEFI	NET, MINIROOTFS (TAR.GZ)
aarch64	?Coreboot?, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, ?UEFI?	USB, CD/DVD (ISO)
mips64	Vendor/OEM	?	v3.14.0 end of support
s390x	Vendor/OEM	BIOS, ?UEFI?	USB, CD/DVD

Boot process

The boot process for most common computer are described at the alpine-boot-uefi-bios.md document.

The Uboot process for most common devices are described at the apine-boot-uboot.md except for Odroid-C2 devices..

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 support and disk layout wiki page.

Minimum sizes	Partition for BOOT (`/boot`)	Partition for ROOT (`/`)	Partition for HOME (`/home`)	Partition for SWAP (`N/A`)
base only	100 Megs	500 Megs	1+ Gigs	Optional
default server	200 Megs	2 Gigs	2 Gigs	4 Gigs
default desktop	250 Megs	120 Gigs	320 Gigs	8 Gigs
mail server	200 Megs	80 Gigs	120+ Gigs	8 Gigs
web server	200 Megs	10 Gigs	20+ Gigs	8 Gigs

LICENSE

CC BY-NC-SA: the project allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creators involved. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms, includes the following elements:

BY – Credit must be given to the creator of each content respectivelly, starting at the first contributor.
NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted, with exceptions if you fill an issue here!
SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms, you must obey this terms and do not change it.

For more information check the alpine/copyright.md