Alpine Linux is a fast distro for your desktop – with just one caveat

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Alpine Linux is a fast distro for your desktop – with just one caveat

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Alpine Linux is a small but powerful distribution.
With a little work, it can be turned into a very fast desktop OS.
Alpine Linux is free to download and install.

I’ve used every Linux distribution imaginable, from the lightest to the full and bloated. With almost every kind of distribution, I can find a rock-solid implementation to take full advantage of what it has to offer.

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Alpine Linux is no exception. However, for the most part, I used this lightweight, security-oriented distribution for container deployments — one of the most common uses of Alpine Linux because its base image is incredibly small (between 2.67 and 5 MB – yes, megabytes). This gives Alpine Linux a small attack surface, ideal for containers.

But is Alpine Linux a desktop option? The answer to that is yes, but with a big loud star.

Let me explain.

What is Alpine Linux?

Alpine Linux is a very minimal distribution, which translates to, “It doesn’t run in the desktop environment or most of the applications/tools you’re used to.” In fact, it doesn’t run with sudo or even bash.

As a result, it takes some work to make Alpine Linux a viable desktop option. But that doesn’t stop it from being an option, especially for those who value simplicity and security.

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At the same time, finding Alpine Linux suitable for desktop use is not exactly for the faint of heart. If you know what you’re doing, you can have a solid desktop up and running in minutes. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it can take a while.

Is it time well spent? If you like a little challenge and want to enjoy the end result of your efforts, the answer is yes. Alpine Linux as a desktop distribution is definitely worth the time spent.

Let me show you what that time involves.

Installs Alpine Linux

Installing Alpine Linux is a documentation-based affair, but not remotely challenging (as long as you can answer a few simple questions).

The process includes the following:

Create a bootable USB drive with the downloaded Alpine Linux ISO.
Open the USB drive.
When prompted, log in as root (no password).
Run the setup-alpine command.
Choose your keyboard.
Set your host name.
Set up a network connection (accept the default by hitting Enter on your keyboard).
Set the password for the root user.
Set the time zone.
Select the Alpine mirror. (I suggest the official Alpine mirror, as I ran into trouble with the fastest option.)
Set up a regular user account.
Select your secure shell daemon. (Press Enter to accept OpenSSH as your default.)
Partition your disk. (Because we’re going to use this as a desktop, type sys for the standard hard-disk installation.)
The installation will finish in about a minute. Once it’s done, reboot with the command: reboot

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After it restarts, log in as the regular user you created when you installed it.

It includes the KDE Plasma desktop

Before installing KDE Plasma, there are a few things you should take care of. First, you will need to enable the public cache. To do this, install the nano text editor with:

doas apk add nano

Once that’s done, enter bash and sudo with:

doas apk add bash bash-termination sudo shadow

Start again.

setup-desktop

Type plasma and hit Enter on your keyboard. This will go through installing everything needed for the KDE Plasma desktop.

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If that completes, reboot again. After the reboot is complete, you will be greeted with the KDE Plasma login screen, where you can log in as a normal user and start using the desktop.

The first thing you’ll notice is how fast Alpine Linux runs. It gets crazy fast. You may also notice that, even if you have a network connection, some applications do not recognize you. That is because the NetworkManager service is not running. To start and open that, issue the following commands:

doas rc-service networkmanager starts
doas rc-update add network manager defaults

Now you should be able to use everything as expected, even KDE Discover for installing applications (like Flatpak).

That’s a lot of hoops to jump through, yes, but the hoops aren’t a challenge — as long as you don’t mind typing some commands. The result is a lightning fast desktop that can serve you very well.

Who is Alpine Linux best suited for?

I would never recommend Alpine Linux as a desktop distribution for those with no Linux experience. But for those with little experience with open source operating systems, Alpine Linux can be a great addition for personal use. Plus, you’ll learn more about Linux along the way.

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One last thing: Alpine Linux doesn’t come with a firewall (although if you install KDE Plasma, it adds a firewall GUI). You can install the firewall with a command like: