Alpine Linux Diskless Mode | Hacker News Reader

Alpine Linux Diskless Mode

wiki.alpinelinux.org

45 pointskblissett15 comments

Diskless rocks for making appliances. I have rock solid raspberry pi based micro-sd based services because of this - diskless mode keeps the sd writes to a minimum. unplug the power at will? sure, go for it.

Isn't this... kind of having your cake and eating it too? With RAM being so generous these days (especially compared to Alpine's memory requirements) wouldn't it make sense to run this way all the time on a desktop?

But we NEED JavaScript on the desktop!

> It is similar to what other linux distributions may call a "frugal" install or boot using a "toram" option.

Indeed. For instance AntiX turns Debian into a speed demon, that way. But much more refined.

> Proudly anti-fascist "antiX Magic" in an environment suitable for old and new computers.

AntiX looks like a cool project, but the one place I don't want to see any kind of politics is in my OS [1]. I don't want my distro taking a stance on Israel vs Palestine, or Ukraine vs Russia, for example.

[1] https://antixlinux.com/

I never noticed any politricks while using it :-)

I remember Mastodon [1] was this free, open source social media network for micro blogging, which was against censorship and centralisation. Slowly but surely, the politics of the people developing the system became clear. They actively banned Gab [2], an otherwise compatible network, on the basis of politics.

I am extremely hesitant to get involved in these "with us or against us" projects.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_(social_network)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gab_(social_network)

Dude. This is getting OT. Since I've never cared about M.

Anyway, I can assure that using AntiX was simpler/more hasslefree than using plain Debian. Because they give a shit about not including needed drivers for hardware relying on "big bad binary blobs" (Oh Noez!1!!) on their installation media, instead just focusing on getting things done, or rather UP on crappy hardware in innovative ways. That aside you're free to remaster that thing, once it's running, to your hearts content, removing anything you wouldn't want, or adding anything which is missing, styling, theming, choosing window-manager or desktop-environment, potentially making YOUR personalized installation media even smaller, and thus using even LESS RAM, thereby running more stuff even faster.

All by simply pressing a few function-keys during initial boot/install, and easy clicking in their graphical tools, afterwards.

If you'd apply your reasoning thoroughly to all the stuff you're using, you should probably disconnect from the net right now, never come back again, and try to live in a cabin in the woods, sustaining yourself. Have fun with that.

You could say that supporting Open Source is a strong moral, ethical, and perhaps political position. The same could be said for someone's position on Fascism.

That being said, is there something there beyond the one statement in the homepage headline?

> You could say that supporting Open Source is a strong moral, ethical, and perhaps political position.

Yes, and positions against encryption or censorship could be considered political. But I don't want my OS to take a stance on wars, gender, and anything else not related to the code.

It seems a lot less political than the codes of conduct that most large FOSS projects have. Its also not specific to any particular culture as those often are. Its not taking a stance on any specific issue such as those you mentioned.

Its just saying "anti-fascist" which is a pretty uncontroversial thing to say. I am pretty sure the vast majority of people are opposed to fascism.

> I am pretty sure the vast majority of people are opposed to fascism.

Looking at current day politics of most western countries, I'm not so sure about that anymore. Most people are only opposed to being labeled as such while supporting fascist politics

> Looking at current day politics of most western countries, I'm not so sure about that anymore. Most people are only opposed to being labeled as such while supporting fascist politics

Only by broadening the definition of fascism to the point of meaninglessness.

It is clearly not true against any reasonable definition of fascism (e.g. Umberto Eco's 14 features of fascism)

The problem is that "anti-fascist" has been co-opted by Antifa [1] which have been designated as a terrorist organisation [2].

I think if it was "anti-communist"/"anti-marxist" it would be equally not appropriate for an OS.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States)

[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/desi...

> The problem is that "anti-fascist" has been co-opted by Antifa

That is very much an American problem. The founder of Antix is Greek and it would be appropriate to interpret anti-fascist in the context of Greece and its history. It is very obvious he means something any decent person would oppose.

Why do Americans expect us all to conform to their culture and vocabulary? I am really fed up of this.

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