Installing Alpine on Compact Flash (CF)

This document applies to Alpine Linux 1.9.0 or later, and results in a run-from-ram style installation.

Requirements

In order to follow this document, you will need:

Alpine Linux CD-ROM (Download a .iso file containing an Alpine release.)
Computer with CF card reader
CF card
- Note: Some CF card readers have problems with the faster CF cards on the market. If you experience problems booting the CF card even after checking BIOS settings, you may need to use an older card.

If you already have a running Linux system (Alpine Linux 1.8.x, Debian, Gentoo, RedHat, etc.), log in as root, insert the Alpine Linux CD-ROM into the running Linux computer, and skip the next section.

Boot Alpine Linux CD-ROM

Insert the Alpine Linux CD into a computer.
Boot the computer from the Alpine Linux CD-ROM.
- This step may require changes to the BIOS settings to select booting from CD.
Login with the username root. No password is needed.

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Modify syslinux.cfg for Compact Flash Card

Most cards are mounted as IDE drives (sda1) and not as usbdisks. Therefore, edit /media/sda1/syslinux.cfg and replace usbdisk with sda1

Also, many CF card readers don't support DMA correctly, so you may need to add nodma to the append line.

Alpine Linux has some special applications that helps you to use it in the way you want.
Some of the first scripts you are suggested to use is:

setup-alpine (Configures all basic things on your Alpine Linux)
setup-acf (was named setup-webconf before Alpine 1.9 beta 4) (Configures ACF (webconfiguration) so you can manage your box through https)

Note: Just type any of the above commands on your console and hit Enter to execute the script.

Other useful pages

Configure Networking
Setting up a SSH server (Using ssh is a good way to administer your box remotely)
Package Management (apk) (How to add/remove packages on your Alpine)
Init System (rc) (Configure a service to automatically boot at next reboot)
Alpine local backup (lbu) (Permanently store your modifications in case your box needs reboot)