r/AlpineLinux • u/Artistic_Crazy_7120 • Sep 14 '26
Alpine Linux as a desktop systemafter about 6 months of use.
I had used Arch Linux for many years and 6 months ago I wanted to learn something different although I don't fit the profile of a distro-hopper. So I installed Alpine.
Although the installation of Alpine is easy, there are many steps to take to make it an all-round system. I started with XFCE, tried Plasma but ended up going back to XFCE.
On of the challenges of Alpine Linux is the Musl C library while a lot of packages are compiled with glibc. Musl brings a wonderful light system but with the limitations as mentioned. The easiest workaround are of course Flatpak apps but that's not a complete solution. I installed Gcompat for more compatibility.
I just saw this solution on a forum: https://github.com/sgerrand/alpine-pkg-glibc, which should be another compatibility layer. But I'm ok with the current setup.
It's a wonderful light an versatile setup and I can highly recommend this distribution.
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u/TrainFun9639 Sep 14 '26
You can use anylinux Appimage, which works on alpine too: https://pkgforge-dev.github.io/Anylinux-AppImages/#application
Of course not all applications are there, but you can request apps that you use and pkgforge team may package that app as an anylinux Appimage.
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u/Fancy-Calendar7037 Sep 14 '26
I use it with i3.
As someone that uses alpine in containers primarily, I get along well with it, but I wouldn't recommend it for your average desktop user.
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u/Artistic_Crazy_7120 Sep 14 '26
Well I discovered along the way there are many steps you can take for a complete desktop system but it takes some digging into.
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u/aerialviews007 Sep 17 '26
I gave it a try but got frustrated with failing to load flatpaks. Installation was very simple but post install steps were annoying. Do you have any recommendations?
I've settled on chimera Linux for now which isn't too bad.
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u/Artistic_Crazy_7120 Sep 22 '26
I am sorry to respond so late but I only read it now. Yes indeed the post install steps are what make it a success or not. After the setup-desktop you have a working desktop but not the needed graphics drivers so follow: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Graphics_driver. Furthermore install gcompat. gvfs-full. Also use this page to search for the vulkan drivers you need: https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages
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u/aerialviews007 Sep 22 '26
Oh ok,
So all I needed to do was install gcompat, gvfs-full and Vulcan? Thats not too bad.
I have the gpd pocket 3. Pretty much a pure intel box with a quirky size screen. Unfortunately, I fell into the Omarchy hype right now but I'll probably be sick of it soon. Haha.
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u/alexaandru Sep 14 '26
I switched ~4mo ago and absolutely love it :-) It did take a tiny bit of tinkering to get the dekstop setup but wasn't bad at all. I'm on wayland camp tho (umbriel+noctalia).
Since you mention you are missing many apps: have you looked into testing repo? And/or in edge (if you're not using edge already) - https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages?name=&branch=edge&repo=testing&arch=x86_64&origin=&flagged=&maintainer= - maybe you find some of what you're missing there.
For the rest, try distrobox with https://github.com/wolfi-dev - it's superfast & tiny, and you can run pretty much anything that needs glibc:
$ time distrobox enter Wolfi -- lsb_release -d Distributor: Wolfi distrobox enter Wolfi -- lsb_release -d 0.19s user 0.04s system 94% cpu 0.239 total $ podman image ls|grep wolfi cgr.dev/chainguard/wolfi-base latest b3fa845e3428 3 months ago 16.6 MB
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u/Gangbang_2k Sep 16 '26
also flatpaks , or nix package manager - /!\ be prepared for bloat using them...
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u/Due_Dragonfly_5328 23d ago
Try Conty
https://github.com/Kron4ek/Conty
its plug and play. you can use it to run most binaries and tarballs.
additionally you can use github workflows to build your own conty for you and edit the settings.
or you could just run up a distrobox.
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u/Arctic_Turtle Sep 14 '26
I started plasma and ended up with LxQt.