Revision as of 03:44, 15 May 2024

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 personal computers to video game consoles, and as such you must verify the details below:

CPU architecture
Memory
Storage
Peripherals

Architectures

CPU architecture is an instruction set design that defines how a processor is used by software. Widely used across desktops and servers are x86 (mostly i386) and x86_64 (also known as amd64). There are other supported computer architectures that are not "x86", like mainframes, servers, and embedded devices (such as routers like Sonicwall and Cisco ones). The table below represents architectures supported by Alpine:

Supported architecture	Available since	Description
x86_64	all	Widely spread AMD64 compatible 64-bit x86 instruction set.
x86	all	i686 compatible (or later) CPUs with at least CMOV and SSE2
ppc64le	v3.6	For PowerPC devices with pure little-endian mode, mostly for POWER8 and POWER9
armhf	v3.0	A 32-bit ARM instruction set with hard-float point extension.
armv7	v3.9	The 32-bit ARM only execution state of the ARMv7 devices machines.
aarch64	v3.5	The 64-bit ARM only execution state of the ARMv8+ device machines..
s390x	v3.6	For IBM mainframes, especially IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE servers.
riscv64	v3.20

Memory

This material is work-in-progress ...

Most of these numbers seem to be guessed, if not outright fabricated for non x86* architectures.
(Last edited by Zcrayfish on 15 May 2024.)

Below are shown minimum RAM amounts for various installation types and phases:

Target Arch	Minimum RAM to start	Minimum RAM to install	Minimum RAM for GUI desktop	Enough for GUI work
x86_64	128 Megs	320 Megs	512 Megs	8 Gigs
x86	96 Megs	128 Megs	320 Megs	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
s390x	128 Megs	256 Megs	2 Gigs	N/A

Storage

This means any external or internal storage device that can be added after or before installation to use by the Alpine Linux system.

PATA and SATA hard disk drives are supported, as well as any USB or SD card that can be detected by the Linux during installation.

Peripherals

This means any external or internal device that can be added before or after installation and detected by Alpine Linux. The peripherals that are supported depends on the current version of the Linux kernel.

Almost any GPU is supported, but certain features and 3D acceleration might depend on MESA drivers:

Intel: Most Intel chips since approximately 2001 should work with the exception of PowerVR-based chips (such as GMA 500, GMA 600, GMA 3600, GMA 3650)
ATI/AMD, only Radeon series with exception of recent last two years, Rage r128/mach64 series are unsupported.
Nvidia: support for Nvidia GPUs is limited since their drivers are proprietary and built for GNU libc. Nouveau drivers are available as free alternative.
3DfX, S3 Savage, SiS, VIA, and Matrox are all completely unsupported since kernel 6.3 (Alpine 3.18 was the most recent version that had even the slimmest chances of these devices working)

Software requirements

Media

Alpine boot images are provided on downloads page or on a mirror

The images should be verified as in Installation, to ensure the file wasn't corrupted during transfer.

Booting

The following table describes supported firmware types, for more information please check Alpine and UEFI wiki page.

Supported Arch	Supported firmware	Supported Types
x86_64	Coreboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, UEFI
x86	Coreboot, Vendor/OEM	BIOS, UEFI
ppc64le	Coreboot, Vendor/OEM	UEFI
armhf	Uboot, Vendor/OEM	UEFI
armv7	Uboot, Vendor/OEM	UEFI
aarch64	Vendor/OEM	UEFI
s390x	Vendor/OEM	unknown

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