Requirements

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

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
  • Memory
  • Storage
  • Peripherals

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:

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

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	Minimum RAM to start	Minimum RAM to install	Minimum RAM for GUI desktop	Enough for GUI work
x86_64	512 Megs	512 Megs	2 Gigs	8 Gigs
x86_32	128 Megs	256 Megs	1 Gigs	3 Gigs
ppc64le	128 Megs	256 Megs	2 Gigs	8 Gigs
armhf	256 Megs	512 Megs	1 Gigs	6 Gigs
armv7	256 Megs	512 Megs	1 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	2 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 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
  • Booting
  • Storage
  • Firmware

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, in tar.gz)	Download links
x86_64	YES	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/x86_64/
x86	YES	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/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	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/mips64/
s390x	YES	YES	N/A	http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/s390x/

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:

OS where media was downloaded	sha265 calculation (to be compared manually)	GPG signature verification
Linux	sha256sum -c alpine-*.iso.sha256	curl https://alpinelinux.org/keys/ncopa.asc | gpg --import ; gpg --verify alpine-*.iso.asc alpine-*.iso
MACOS	shasum -a 256 alpine-*.iso	- ? -
BSD	/usr/local/bin/shasum -a 256 alpine-*.iso	- ? -

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.

Supported Arch	Supported bios	Supported types	Media boot recomended
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, UEFI	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	?	MINIROOTFS (TAR.GZ)
s390x	Vendor/OEM	BIOS, ?UEFI?	USB, CD/DVD

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.

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	12 Gigs	80 Gigs	8 Gigs
mail server	200 Megs	20 Gigs	20+ Gigs	8 Gigs
web server	200 Megs	10 Gigs	20+ Gigs	8 Gigs

See Also

1. Installation
2. Alpine_newbie Install section