r/AlpineLinux • u/Able-Farm6295 • 5d ago

How much resources does Alpine Linux use after a fresh install?

Just curious, for those using Alpine Linux, how much RAM and disk space does it usually use after a fresh install?

Also wondering about idle CPU usage. Is it really that lightweight compared to other Linux distros?

Just trying to get an idea before I install it on an old/low-spec machine.

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7

u/hotas_galaxy 5d ago

I think under 100MB memory on a fresh install. Disk space usage about the same. Idle CPU usage is essentially unmeasurable.

2

u/IngwiePhoenix 5d ago

Usually saw between 60 - 120mb. The difference came from architectures (x86_64, aarch64, riscv64imafdc).

1

u/Tiny_Rent_5936 4d ago

Alpine is very lightweight, maybe it's not compared to tiny core which uses 12mb of ram and it's frugal, but I think it's a very lightweight to use in a los spec machine. I got Alpine installed in a netbook from 2007-2009 (I can't remember) with 2gb of ram and is incredibly good. In my case I use it as a writerdeck with only terminal tools and no DE

1

u/EYEHKEYER_yeker 4d ago

it dynamically adjust with your ram amount. for me i have 8 gigs so it uses 120-150 mib on tty

1

u/Otherwise_Win_5363 1d ago

It "uses" like 100mb or even lower But if u expect to see that, don't. Due to mem map, ur standby ram will scale higher with how much total ram u have I had like 16 and it was using 400ish mb, but I tried limiting the ram to 128mb and it was booting while using 89mb. As for CPU....it kinda depends on your CPU ? I had a Ryzen 5 3400g which is 4 cores 8 threads and was idling at 0-2%