alpine-wiki

Alpine XFCE4 desktop setup: FF version

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Alpine must be previously installed. For a WAYLAND crap desktop check alpine-tutorial-desktop-wayland-try.md. For more extended version of this document check ../../newbie/alpine-newbie-xfce-desktop.md

How to use this guide
Preparation
Instalacion Desktop XFCE4 Alpine
Licensing clarifications
See also

preparation Alpine

You must have already installed alpine, for wayland only check alpine-tutorial-desktop-wayland-try.md

Warning YOU MUST HAVE DIRECT WIRED INTERNET, if not ask for an ISO from VenenuX: https://t.me/alpine_linux/762 or configure a network connection check alpine-tutorial-wifi-routering.md

Main problem with alpine is that most old images of installation doe snot have the tools installed to setup the wifi.. so you must have wired connection or setup a wifi manually!

setup OS configuration

Feels lost here? check How to use this guide section of this document

Warning For didactic processes, the root password will be “toor”, you can change it after

Runs following commands as root user:

sed -i -r 's|#PermitRootLogin.*|PermitRootLogin no|g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
rc-service sshd restart;rc-update add sshd default

cat > /root/.cshrc << EOF
unsetenv DISPLAY || true
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth
EOF
cp /root/.cshrc  /root/.bashrc
 echo "root:toor" | chpasswd

hostname venenux-desktop
echo 'hostname="venenux-desktop"' > /etc/conf.d/hostname 
echo "venenux-desktop" > /etc/hostname
cat > /etc/hosts << EOF
127.0.0.1 venenux-desktop localhost.localdomain localhost
::1 localhost localhost.localdomain
EOF

cat > /etc/apk/repositories << EOF
http://dl-4.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v$(cat /etc/alpine-release | cut -d'.' -f1,2)/main
http://dl-4.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v$(cat /etc/alpine-release | cut -d'.' -f1,2)/community
EOF

apk update

apk add tcsh && add-shell '/bin/csh'

adduser -D -g "" -u 998 -h /opt/daru -s /bin/csh daru
 echo "daru:daru" | chpasswd

rm -f /opt/daru/*
mkdir /opt/daru
cat > /opt/daru/.cshrc << EOF
unsetenv DISPLAY
export PAGER=less
set autologout = 6
set prompt = "$ "
set history = 0
set ignoreeof
EOF
cp /opt/daru/.cshrc /opt/daru/.bashrc
chown -R daru:daru /opt/daru

cat > /etc/apk/repositories << EOF
http://dl-4.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v$(cat /etc/alpine-release | cut -d'.' -f1,2)/main
http://dl-4.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v$(cat /etc/alpine-release | cut -d'.' -f1,2)/community
EOF

apk update

apk add mandoc man-pages nano binutils coreutils readline \
 sed attr dialog lsof less groff wget curl \
 file lz4 arch-install-scripts gawk tree pciutils usbutils lshw \
 zip p7zip xz tar cabextract cpio binutils lha acpi musl-locales musl-locales-lang \
 e2fsprogs e2fsprogs-doc btrfs-progs btrfs-progs-doc exfat-utils \
 f2fs-tools f2fs-tools-doc dosfstools dosfstools-doc xfsprogs xfsprogs-doc jfsutils jfsutils-doc \
 arch-install-scripts util-linux zram-init tzdata tzdata-utils

apk add font-terminus

setfont /usr/share/consolefonts/ter-132n.psf.gz

sed -i "s#.*consolefont.*=.*#consolefont="ter-132n.psf.gz"#g" /etc/conf.d/consolefont

rc-update add consolefont boot

Warning: font-terminus is ony since alpine v3.18, for older versions use terminus-font

For more extended info check ../../newbie/alpine-newbie-xfce-desktop.md

setup system users

apk add shadow shadow-uidmap doas musl-locales musl-locales-lang

cat > /tmp/tmp.tmp << EOF
set history = 10000
set prompt = "$ "
EOF

mkdir /etc/skel
cat /tmp/tmp.tmp > /etc/skel/.cshrc
cat /tmp/tmp.tmp > /etc/skel/.bashrc

cat > /etc/skel/.Xresources << EOF
Xft.antialias: 0
Xft.rgba:      rgb
Xft.autohint:  0
Xft.hinting:   1
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
EOF

cat > /etc/default/useradd << EOF
# useradd defaults file
HOME=/home
INACTIVE=-1
EXPIRE=
SHELL=/bin/bash
SKEL=/etc/skel
CREATE_MAIL_SPOOL=yes
EOF

cat > /etc/login.defs << EOF
USERGROUPS_ENAB yes
SYSLOG_SU_ENAB		yes
SYSLOG_SG_ENAB		yes
SULOG_FILE	/var/log/sulog
SU_NAME		su
EOF

useradd -m -U -c "" -G wheel,input,disk,floppy,cdrom,dialout,audio,video,lp,netdev,games,users general

for u in $(ls /home); do for g in disk lp floppy audio cdrom dialout video lp netdev games users; do addgroup $u $g; done;done

Warning your user name must be general, you can put a “human name” as you wish, later.

For more details check ../../documents/alpine-newbie-xfce-desktop.md

setup hardware support

apk add acpi acpid acpid-openrc alpine-conf eudev eudev-doc eudev-rule-generator eudev-openrc \
 pciutils util-linux arch-install-scripts zram-init acpi-utils rsyslog \
 fuse fuse-exfat-utils fuse-exfat avfs pcre2 cpufreqd bluez bluez-openrc \
 wpa_supplicant dhcpcd chrony macchanger wireless-tools iputils linux-firmware \
 networkmanager networkmanager-lang networkmanager-openvpn networkmanager-openvpn-lang

modprobe btusb && echo "btusb" >> /etc/modprobe
setup-devd udev

rc-update add rsyslog
rc-update add udev
rc-update add acpid
rc-update add cpufreqd
rc-update add fuse
rc-update add bluetooth
rc-update add chronyd
rc-update add wpa_supplicant
rc-update add networkmanager

rc-service networking restart

rc-service wpa_supplicant restart

rc-service bluetooth restart

rc-service udev restart 

rc-service fuse restart

rc-service cpufreqd restart

rc-service rsyslog restart

For more details check ../../documents/alpine-newbie-xfce-desktop.md

setup audio and video

Note on alpine 3.14 gtk3 will force xorg dependencies.. for 3.16 will use gtk4 and SDL2

apk add xinit xorg-server xorg-server-xnest xorg-server-xnest xorg-server-doc \
 xf86-video-vesa xf86-video-amdgpu xf86-video-nouveau xf86-video-intel \
 linux-firmware-amdgpu linux-firmware-radeon linux-firmware-nvidia linux-firmware-i915 linux-firmware-intel \
 xf86-video-apm xf86-video-vmware xf86-video-ati xf86-video-nv xf86-video-openchrome \
 xf86-video-r128 xf86-video-qxl xf86-video-sis xf86-video-i128 xf86-video-i740 \
 xf86-video-savage xf86-video-s3virge xf86-video-chips xf86-video-tdfx xf86-video-ast \
 xf86-video-rendition xf86-video-ark xf86-video-siliconmotion xf86-video-fbdev \
 xf86-video-dummy xf86-input-evdev xf86-video-modesetting xf86-input-libinput \
 mesa mesa-gl mesa-utils mesa-osmesa mesa-egl mesa-gles mesa-dri-gallium mesa-va-gallium libva-intel-driver intel-media-driver

apk add libxinerama xrandr kbd setxkbmap bluez bluez-openrc \
 dbus dbus-x11 udisks2 udisks2-lang \
 gvfs gvfs-fuse gvfs-archive gvfs-dav gvfs-nfs gvfs-lang


dbus-uuidgen > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id

rc-update add dbus

apk add font-noto-all ttf-dejavu ttf-linux-libertine ttf-liberation \
 font-bitstream-type1 font-bitstream-100dpi font-bitstream-75dpi \
 font-adobe-utopia-type1 font-adobe-utopia-75dpi font-adobe-utopia-100dpi \
 font-isas-misc

apk add alsa-lib alsa-utils alsa-plugins alsa-tools alsaconf sndio \
 pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa pipewire-spa-bluez wireplumber-logind

amixer sset Master unmute;  amixer sset PCM unmute;  amixer set Master 100%;  amixer set PCM 100%

cat > /etc/security/limits.d/audio-limits.conf << EOF
@audio - memlock 4096
@audio - nice -11
@audio - rtprio 88
@pipewire - memlock 4194304
@pipewire - nice -19
@pipewire - rtprio 95
EOF

rc-update add alsa

rc-service dbus restart

rc-service alsa restart

for u in $(ls /home); do chown -R $u:$u /home/$u; done

Warning your user name must be general, you can put a “human name” as you wish, later.

Instalacion Desktop Xfce4 Alpine

Since Alpine 3.13 the XFCE4 desktop its GTK3 for 32bit devices its better to use alpine 3.10 or 3.12 that uses GTK2 for almost all the programs, also most of the 32bit laptops has problems with kernel 4.X so best are 3.X kernels.

apk add gtk-update-icon-cache hicolor-icon-theme paper-gtk-theme adwaita-icon-theme xdg-user-dirs-gtk \
 numix-icon-theme numix-themes numix-themes-gtk2 numix-themes-gtk3 numix-themes-metacity numix-themes-openbox numix-themes-xfce4-notifyd numix-themes-xfwm4

apk add polkit polkit-openrc polkit-elogind networkmanager-elogind linux-pam \
 libcanberra libcanberra-gtk3 libcanberra-gtk2 libcanberra-gstreamer libcanberra-pulse \
 xfce4 xfce4-session xfce4-panel xfce4-terminal xarchiver mousepad \
 xfwm4-themes xfce-polkit xfce4-skel xfce4-power-manager xfce4-settings \
 xfce4-clipman-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfce4-screensaver xfce4-screenshooter xfce4-taskmanager \
 xfce4-panel-lang xfce4-clipman-plugin-lang xfce4-xkb-plugin-lang xfce4-screenshooter-lang \
 xfce4-taskmanager-lang xfce4-battery-plugin-lang xfce4-power-manager-lang xfce4-settings-lang \
 gvfs gvfs-fuse gvfs-archive gvfs-afp gvfs-afp gvfs-afc gvfs-cdda gvfs-gphoto2 gvfs-mtp \
 libreoffice libreoffice-gnome evince evince-lang evince-doc

for u in $(ls /home); do chown -R $u:$u /home/$u; done

At this point you already has a desktop environment and can choose to launch from the tty console by running startxfce4 command, but that is just a generic form, for a better end user implementation follows the next section commands.

apk add elogind elogind-openrc lightdm lightdm-lang lightdm-gtk-greeter \
 polkit polkit-openrc polkit-elogind  networkmanager-elogind linux-pam \
 network-manager-applet network-manager-applet-lang vte3

rc-update add dbus
rc-update add lightdm

rc-service networkmanager restart

rc-service lightdm restart

Warning : for alpine 3.14, 3.15 just works the login sesion but newers versions suddently raises blank screens, just rerun the previous commands and get sure your user follow all rules and is same name here in guide!

On older versions (Alpine 3.12 or less) the xx-openrc packages dont exists!

desktop integration and device media

apk add xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-wlr xdg-desktop-portal-lang xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-desktop-portal-gtk-lang

multimedia and hardware media device access for the users

apk add gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-bad gst-plugins-ugly gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-good-gtk gst-plugin-pipewire \
 libcanberra-gtk2 libcanberra-gtk3 libcanberra-gstreamer \
 mediainfo ffmpeg ffmpeg-doc ffmpeg-libs lame lame-doc rtkit rtkit-doc \
 mpv mpv-doc deadbeef deadbeef-lang libxinerama xrandr cairo pango pixman

apk add gvfs-fuse ntfs-3g gvfs-cdda gvfs-afp gvfs-mtp gvfs-smb gvfs-lang \
 gvfs-afc gvfs-nfs gvfs-archive gvfs-dav gvfs-gphoto2 gvfs-avahi

for u in $(ls /home); do for g in plugdev audio cdrom dialout video netdev; do addgroup $u $g; done;done

cat > /etc/network/interfaces << EOF
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
EOF

service networking restart

service wpa_supplicant restart

service networkmanager restart

How to use this guide

This guide structure all the commands in blocks, each block its separated by a line spaced, so you must type each line as is.. and hit enter, so you noted that then you typed each separated clocks of commands, copy/type only blocks separated by an empty line, all new(next) lines are made by just enter. the terminal will detect if must execute or not.

If you have another computer or gui, try to use SSH client like putty or just in terminal (MAC or Linux) do:

at the Alpine installation: sed -i 's|.*PermitRootLogin.*|PermitRootLogin yes|g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config;service sshd restart
at the other OS just connect: ssh -l root <ip> change “<ip>” with the address of your device.
copy each separated by empty line, block of command, copy only blocks separate by empty line
and paste each separated by empty line block in the remnote (ssh), do not paste all the blocks at same time!

Warning Some Linux or/and Mac terminals have security cut/paste locks, so if you paste, the first line will be preceded by garbage, check always the first char of your paste.

Warning after finish, rerun: sed -i -r 's|.*PermitRootLogin.*|PermitRootLogin no|g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart ssh service sshd restart becouse security implications.

Done? return to Preparation section of this document.

hardware used

item	minimal feature	Extra recommendations
RAM MB	1Gb DDR1	6Gb DDR3, web browsers consumes so much
CPU	intel Dual Core	Not necesary
RAM CPU	2Mb (L2) 4kb/L1
GPU	intel G41	Radeon X1200 For web browsers and modern apps will be need
RAM GPU	256Mb	1Gb For web browsers and modern apps will be need
Storage	120Gb HDD WD	256Gb SSD are mandatory for speed
ARCH	32bits (i386/arm6)	64bits (amd64) mandatory for most modern apps unfortunatelly
Audio	AC 97	HD audio and HDMI audio are a mess

usernames

item	name	password
remote	daru	daru
admin	root	toor
user	general	general