Alpine Linux i3 installation

The Alpine Linux installation ISO uses root as the default user and an empty password. In order to login, just enter the username root and press return.

Post installation commands:

# apk update

# apk add xf86-video-intel xf86-input-intel xf86-video-fbdev xf86-video-vesa

# apk add terminus-font xrandr

# apk add dbus doas nano

# dbus-uuidgen > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id

# rc-update add dbus 

# nano /etc/doas.d/doas.conf

Add the following line and save the file  (ctrl+O, crl+X):

permit persist :wheel

# setup-xorg-base 

# apk add i3wm i3status xterm firefox-esr geany thunar pulseaudio pavucontrol

# apk add icu-data-full                     ----►(for non-unicode locales)

# adduser joe

# adduser joe wheel

# addgroup joe input 

# addgroup joe video

# adduser joe video

# adduser joe audio

# adduser root video

# adduser root audio

# rc-service dbus start

# rc-update add dbus

# rc-update add udev

$ pulseaudio -k

$ pulseaudio --start

$ pavucontrol

xrandr 

xrandr -s 1024x768

$ startx /usr/bin/i3

Press enter for the first time to select Win mod key, when you enter in i3 environment first time.

Important notice: Write on paper file path to i3 config file !

In i3 config just add:

 

In my case you have for instance file:

/home/joe/.config/i3

In that file just add following lines:

bindsym $mod+Shift+t exec xterm

bindsym $mod+Shift+w exec firefox

bindsym $mod+Shift+d exec geany

bindsym $mod+Shift+f exec thunar

So it works like...

If you want to start terminal press Win+Shift+t,

If you want to start firefox press Win+Shift+w,

If you want to start file manager press Win+Shift+f,

If you want to start text editor press Win+Shift+d,

If you want to close selected window press Win+Shift+d, that is like ALT+F4 (but alt+f4 not working in i3).

If you want to close i3wm, just press Win+Shift+e.

Isn't it sweet ?

Optional part:

But nitrogen is not in repositories ?

# apk add nitrogen

add line to /home/joe/.config/i3:
exec --no-startup-id nitrogen --set-auto /path/pic1.jpg --head=0 && nitrogen --set-auto /path/pic2.png --head=1

The Negative aspects of Alpine Linux are:

1.) Repository has not "nitrogen".

2.) ImageApp not working.

Instead of ImageApp you can use better solution = it is FLATPAK.

FLATPAK can install almost everything.

Lightdm exist in repositories, that is awesome :)

And last settings for loging Lightdm stuff:

# apk add lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter

# rc-update add lightdm

# echo "exec startx /usr/bin/i3" >> ~/.xinitrc

# rc-service lightdm start

Select user joe from lightdm form and enter proper user password for joe !

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That is i3wm installation, if you like rich XFCE try this:

https://beogradsko.blogspot.com/2022/06/alpine-linux-is-best-for-now.html

Docker Tips:

https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/5336563/Run-Database-and-GUI-Clients-in-Docker

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5336578/Lightweight-Carousel-Using-only-HTML-CSS-JavaScrip

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5336369/Porting-a-Large-Project-from-Windows-to-Linux