Revision as of 06:34, 8 August 2021

Initial setup

Start by booting Alpine (see these instructions on how to do that)
When Alpine is up and running, do the initial setup.

# setup-alpine

Enable Community Repository

In order to install the awesome package (see "Install packages" below), you need to enable the community repository for your version. Uncomment http://<url>/alpine/<version>/community in /etc/apk/repositories. For example:

Contents of /etc/apk/repositories

# /etc/apk/repositories

#/media/sdb/apks
http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/alpine/v3.8/main
http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/alpine/v3.8/community
#http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/alpine/v3.8/testing

Install packages

Install awesome, feh and aterm.
Depending on your network speed, it might take a few minutes.

# apk add awesome feh aterm

If aterm is not recognized by apk (Alpine Linux 3.2.x or above) you can install lxterminal instead.
On the same version of Alpine Linux (3.2.x or above) you have to install the package lua otherwise awesome will not start

# apk add lua

You may need to add packages for the Adwaita theme.

# apk add adwaita-gtk2-theme adwaita-icon-theme

Add other apps as needed. e.g. firefox, gnumeric, xchat, gimp, pidgin, geany, vim, etc.
For Alpine Linux 2.6.x add the following pkgs

# apk add cairo-gobject pango

Optional packages

Video and Input packages

You might want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.
For example, if you have an Sis video chipset, install 'xf86-video-sis'. For Intel video chipset, install 'xf86-video-intel'.

# apk add xf86-video-sis

and / or

# apk add xf86-input-synaptics

Run 'apk search xf86-video*' to see available xf86-video packages.
Run 'apk search xf86-input*' to see available xf86-input packages.

acpid

If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.

# rc-update add acpid

Configure xorg-server

On most systems, xorg should be able to autodetect all devices. However, you can still configure xorg-server manually by launching:

# setup-xorg-base

Create user accounts

Create a normal user account.

# adduser <user>

Optionally, give that user sudo permissions in /etc/sudoers. When doing so, it is important to use the command:

# visudo

This ensures that only one user is changing the file at any given time. Visudo has two modes: Command mode and Insert mode. To edit the file, use the arrows to navigate to the appropriate line and enter Insert mode by pressing the 'i' key. To save and exit, enter Command mode by pressing the 'Esc' key, then ':w' + 'enter' to save, and finally ':q' + 'enter' to quit.

Log out of the root account and log in to the newly created account.

Start your desktop

$ echo 'awesome' >> /home/<newuser>/.xinitrc

$ mkdir /home/<newuser>/.config

$ cp -r /etc/xdg/awesome /home/<newuser>/.config

$ vi /home/<newuser>/.config/awesome/rc.lua

Replace instances of xterm with aterm or (if 3.2.x or above use lxterminal instead)

Start awesome.

$ startx

Troubleshooting

D-Bus problems:

D-Bus library appears to be incorrectly set up; failed to read machine uuid: Failed to open "/var/lib/dbus/machine-id": No such file or directory

If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follows:

Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root for the step shown below)

# apk add dbus

Log in or su to the root account, then launch the following command (Note: sudo does not work for this step):

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

Now if startx is launched, it should load the desktop correctly

Dwm

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 = Initial setup =
-Start by booting up Alpine (see [[Installation|these]] instructions on how to do that)<BR>
+Start by booting Alpine (see [[Installation|these]] instructions on how to do that)<BR>
 When Alpine is up and running, do the initial setup.
 {{Cmd|# setup-alpine}}
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 = Install packages =
-Install awesome, feh, aterm as basic desktop system.<BR>
+Install awesome, feh and aterm.<BR>
-This might take a few minutes depending on your network speed.
+Depending on your network speed, it might take a few minutes.
 {{Cmd|# apk add awesome feh aterm}}
-If aterm is not recognized by apk (Alpinelinux 3.2.x or above) instead of it you can install lxterminal.<BR>
+If aterm is not recognized by apk (Alpine Linux 3.2.x or above) you can install lxterminal instead.<BR>
-On the same version of Alpinelinux (3.2.x or above) you have to install the package lua otherwise awesome will not start
+On the same version of Alpine Linux (3.2.x or above) you have to install the package lua otherwise awesome will not start
 {{Cmd|# apk add lua}}
-Also, you may need to add packages for the Adwaita theme.
+You may need to add packages for the Adwaita theme.
 {{Cmd|# apk add adwaita-gtk2-theme adwaita-icon-theme}}
-Add other apps on need, eg. firefox, gnumeric, xchat, gimp, pidgin, geany, vim, etc.<BR>
+Add other apps as needed. e.g. firefox, gnumeric, xchat, gimp, pidgin, geany, vim, etc.<BR>
-For Alpinelinux 2.6.x add additional pkgs
+For Alpine Linux 2.6.x add the following pkgs
 {{Cmd|# apk add cairo-gobject pango}}
 == Optional packages ==
 === Video and Input packages ===
-You <u>might</u> also want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.<BR>
+You <u>might</u> want to install a package suitable for your video chipset and input devices.<BR>
-For example, if you have an Sis video chipset install 'xf86-video-sis', for Intel video chipset install 'xf86-video-intel'.<BR>
+For example, if you have an Sis video chipset, install 'xf86-video-sis'. For Intel video chipset, install 'xf86-video-intel'.<BR>
 {{Cmd|# apk add xf86-video-sis}}
 and / or
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 === acpid ===
-If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest you might find it handy to be able send ACPI shutdown.<BR>
+If you installed your Alpine Linux as a VirtualBox or VMWare guest, you might find it handy to be able execute an ACPI shutdown.<BR>
 {{Cmd|# rc-update add acpid}}
 = Configure xorg-server =
-On most systems, xorg should be able to autodetect all devices. However you can still configure xorg-server by hand by launching:
+On most systems, xorg should be able to autodetect all devices. However, you can still configure xorg-server manually by launching:
 {{Cmd|# setup-xorg-base}}
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 Optionally, give that user sudo permissions in /etc/sudoers. When doing so, it is important to use the command: {{Cmd|# visudo}} This ensures that only one user is changing the file at any given time.  Visudo has two modes: Command mode and Insert mode.  To edit the file, use the arrows to navigate to the appropriate line and enter Insert mode by pressing the 'i' key.  To save and exit, enter Command mode by pressing the 'Esc' key, then ':w' + 'enter' to save, and finally ':q' + 'enter' to quit.
-Logout from root and login into new created account.
+Log out of the root account and log in to the newly created account.
 = Start your desktop =
@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 {{Cmd|D-Bus library appears to be incorrectly set up; failed to read machine uuid: Failed to open "/var/lib/dbus/machine-id": No such file or directory}}
-If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follow:
+If startx fails and returns an error about D-Bus failed to read machine uuid, as shown above, proceed as follows:
-Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root, as for the step below)
+Install dbus from apk (you must be logged in as root for the step shown below)
 {{Cmd|# apk add dbus}}
-Login or su to root account then launch the follow command (Note: sudo is not working for this step):
+Log in or su to the root account, then launch the following command (Note: sudo does not work for this step):
 {{Cmd|# dbus-uuidgen > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id}}
-Now if startx is launched it should load correctly the desktop
+Now if startx is launched, it should load the desktop correctly
 = =