Revision as of 16:26, 8 June 2009

Alpine on USB

Starting with Alpine 1.9 alpha 13 we distribute both a .img file and a exe file containing USB images.

The images are premade the same size as the .iso image + 8MB for an apk overlay. This means that no matter wither you have an 8GB memory stick or a 512MB memory stick, you will only have 8MB free when booting from it.

Download the latest Alpine 1.9:

Linux users: download .img file containing Alpine (e.g.

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.9/usbimg/

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alpine-1.9.0_alpha13-i386.img)

Windows users: download .img file containing Alpine (e.g.

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.9/usbimg/ alpine-1.9.0_alpha13-i386.img.exe)

Get a USB-mem with at least 400MB of free space

Installing to media

Linux users

Run the following command:

 dd if=/path/to/img/file of=/dev/sdX

Where sdX is your USB devive. You can find your USB device by inserting it into your computer and run the following command:

 dmesg

This command will tell you the device name of your newly inserted USB device.
Please note that most desktop environments automatically mounts inserted USB devices. You should unmount it before running the "dd" command above

Windows users

Download the self extracting exe file (packaged with 7zip), and run it as administrator
It will self exctract to a temporary location and launch an image writing program
Select the removable drive letter you want to use, and click the "Write" button
Wait until its finished, and you will have your usb drive ready to use.

Boot Alpine

Put your AlpineLinux-USB in a computer that can boot from USB.
Note: You might need to change boot-order in your BIOS-settings in order to boot from USB.

When your computer has booted you will get prompted for a username.
On a clean AlpineLinux you just enter root and no password and you will get logged on to your Alpine linux.

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)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 = Alpine on USB =
-Because this doc will describe on how you get Alpine to boot from USB, you should prepare by doing:
+Starting with Alpine 1.9 alpha 13 we distribute both a .img file and a exe file containing USB images.
-* [[Downloads|Download]] .img file  containing Alpine ''(e.g. {{Latest_1.9_alpine_gz-mirror}}{{Latest_1.9_alpine_gz-filename}})''
-* Make sure you have a program on you computer that can extract tar-files onto your USB ''(See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(file_format) )''
-* Get a USB-mem with at least 400MB of free space
-'''''Note:''' In this document we use linux-commands in order to prepare our media.''
-== Preparing the media ==
+The images are premade the same size as the .iso image + 8MB for an apk overlay. This means that no matter wither you have an 8GB memory stick or a 512MB memory stick, you will only have 8MB free when booting from it.
-* install syslinux (i.e ''sudo apt-get syslinux'' or ''emerge apt-get syslinux'')
-* Copy MBR to the USB drive (assuming your USB drive is /dev/sda)
- sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
-* Run syslinux with your USB drive as parameter.
- sudo syslinux /dev/sda1
-* Flag the partition bootable
- fdisk /dev/sda
-  a (Toggle's the bootable flag)
-(The partition you want to have the flag)
-  w (Writing your changes to the disk)
-'''''Windows users:''' [http://dev.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.6/usbdrive/syslinux.exe syslinux.exe] and 'fdisk' is also available for Windows.''
+Download the latest Alpine 1.9:
+* Linux users: [[Downloads|download]] .img file  containing Alpine ''(e.g. {{Latest_1.9_alpine_gz-mirror}}{{Latest_1.9_alpine_img-filename}})''
+* Windows users: [[Downloads|download]] .img file  containing Alpine ''(e.g. {{Latest_1.9_alpine_gz-mirror}}{{Latest_1.9_alpine_exe-filename}})''
+* Get a USB-mem with at least 400MB of free space
-== Unpacking ==
+== Installing to media ==
+=== Linux users ===
+* Run the following command:
+  dd if=/path/to/img/file of=/dev/sdX
+* Where sdX is your USB devive. You can find your USB device by inserting it into your computer and run the following command:
+  dmesg
+* This command will tell you the device name of your newly inserted USB device.
+* Please note that most desktop environments automatically mounts inserted USB devices. You should unmount it before running the "dd" command above
-* Unpack all the files to your usb drive using a tar-unpacker
+=== Windows users ===
-'''''Windows users:''' [http://www.7-zip.org 7-zip] and other software can be used on Windows to unpack tar-files.''
+* Download the self extracting exe file (packaged with 7zip), and run it as administrator
+* It will self exctract to a temporary location and launch an image writing program
+* Select the removable drive letter you want to use, and click the "Write" button
+* Wait until its finished, and you will have your usb drive ready to use.
 == Boot Alpine ==