@@ 5,7 5,6 @@
An Alpine Overlay to set up an easy-to-use distro,
which is low on memory consumption.
-
*This project is NOT affiliated with the Alpine Linux project*,
use at your own risk.
@@ 16,22 15,23 @@ by people with no Linux experience, coming from a Windows background.
It is ideal for people who quickly need to write a word document,
or browse the web and print out a picture.
-* System requirements
-As of writing I was unable to update the overlay
-(which you probably have to do, if you want to persist changes,
-without manually editing the files and regenerating the overlay)
-with less than ~4GB~ of RAM.
+** About the name
+The name & logo are inspired by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_plant][Alpine plant wikipedia article]].
+[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushion_plant][Cushion plants]] are alpine plants (according to the first article),
+which means that they can be found in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_climate][alpine environments]].
+
+Cushion is an overlay for Alpine Linux,
+thus operating in an alpine environment.
-(This is because the ~tmpfs~ created by Alpine is ~RAM/2 GB~ in size,
-and given that our base install is about one gig, we need twice as much)
-You might be able to get away with less RAM
-(for example by removing unwanted files and rebuilding the image,
-or somehow increasing the ~tmpfs~ size),
-however the size is probably only going to increase,
-as I would love to add printer drivers.
+The logo is a version of the [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alpine_Linux.svg][official Alpine Linux Logo]],
+with the smaller mountain removed,
+and the mountain oriented on the right moved below the biggest.
+The photo in the background is a cushion plant
+with the Gimp weave filter applied.
* Default Applications
- ~xfce4~ with a windows 10 theme & icon pack
+- ~lightdm~, with a basic windows theme and /guest/ autologin
- Office Suite
- ~libreoffice-writer~
- ~libreoffice-draw~
@@ 39,8 39,95 @@ as I would love to add printer drivers.
- ~libreoffice-impress~
- ~firefox~
-* Setup
-** With an ISO
+* Packaging
+To manually package the overlay file,
+simply run the following command
+#+begin_src bash
+tar -C overlay -czf cushion.apkovl.tar.gz .
+#+end_src
+
+
+* Installation
+Both ~sys~ and ~data~ installs are supported.
+
+Because we rely on /guest session/,
+all data created/modified in the home folder (when logged in),
+won't persist after reboot or after logging out.
+Additionally the ~guest~ users do not have ~root~ access,
+this means that people accessing the system
+should not be able to able to break anything.
+
+** Installation in sys mode
+#+begin_quote
+This mode is a traditional disk install.
+The following partitions will be created on the disk:
+/boot, / (filesystem root) and swap.
+
+- ~setup-disk~ help page
+#+end_quote
+
+*Better suited for devices with less than 4GiB of RAM*,
+however it is easier to setup than the ~data~ install,
+so you probably want to use this mode.
+Especially since it is the type of installation commonly found on computers.
+
+*** Steps
+To install the cushion overlay on a ~sys~ install,
+simply run through the ~setup-alpine~ process,
+as you would normally, reboot into your newly setup OS
+and login as the root user.
+
+Now you have to extract the overlay onto your system root:
+#+begin_src bash
+# install git to clone the repo
+apk add git
+# clone this repo & the theme/icon submodules
+git clone https://codeberg.org/comcloudway/cushion --depth 2
+cd cushion
+# Package the overlay
+tar -C overlay -czf cushion.apkovl.tar.gz .
+# extract the overlay onto the root
+tar -xvzf cushion.apkovl.tar.gz -C /
+#+end_src
+Alternatively, you could use the [[./scripts/setup-sys.sh][script in this repo]],
+which does exactly the same:
+#+begin_src bash
+curl https://codeberg.org/comcloudway/cushion/raw/branch/main/scripts/setup-sys.sh | sh -
+#+end_src
+But keep in mind,
+that running scripts over the network might be potentially dangerous.
+
+After you finished extracting the overlay,
+reboot the system and the files should be installed automatically.
+
+** Installation in data mode
+#+begin_quote
+This mode uses your disk(s) for data storage, not for the operating system.
+The system itself will run from tmpfs (RAM).
+
+- ~setup-disk~ help page
+#+end_quote
+
+The system doesn't remember any changes made,
+unless they were commited using the ~lbu~ [[https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_local_backup][Backup Utility]].
+
+*** Requirements
+As pointed out by the quote above, the system runs from ~tmpfs~ (RAM).
+From what I can tell,
+Alpine Linux creates a ~tmpfs~ that is half the size of the system memory.
+That means that when you have ~4GiB~ of RAM,
+your ~tmpfs~ will have a size of ~2GiB~.
+
+As the system has to fit onto the ~tmpfs~,
+half of your RAM has to be able to fit the overlay (after installation).
+
+As of writing the *required memory* size is ~4GiB~.
+
+If you don't have ~4GiB~ of RAM,
+you might want to consider [[Installation in sys mode][installing in ~sys~ mode]].
+
+*** Steps
+**** Using an ISO
When using the official ISO (as you would, when setting up a Desktop PC),
you either have to perform a basic ~data~ installation
and copy the overlay file later.
@@ 66,11 153,11 @@ The system should install itself automatically.
If you don't want to download the packages every time,
you might want to setup an apk cache.
-** With a rootfs
-When using the rootfs to setup the computer
+**** Using a tar archive
+When using a ~tar.gz~ to setup the computer
(for example, when using the Alpine Linux Raspberry Pi image),
you simply have to copy the overlay file onto the drive
-where you copied the other installation files.
+where you extracted the ~tar.gz~.
Make sure your system is connected to the network
and power it on.
@@ 78,28 165,6 @@ The system should install itself automatically.
If you don't want to download the packages every time,
you might want to setup an apk cache.
-** As a sys install
-If you don't want to,
-or can't (i.e you do not have enough RAM) use the ~data~ install,
-you can fall back to the ~sys~ install mode.
-
-However: Keep in mind, that all changes made by the user will persist.
-
-To install the cushion overlay on a ~sys~ install,
-simply run through the ~setup-alpine~ process you would normally,
-when performing a ~sys~ install, but then mount the root partition
-and extract the overlay archive onto it and reboot.
-
-The system should now install itself,
-everything should be working without the need to reboot,
-however you might want reboot just to make sure.
-
-* Packaging
-To manually package the overlay file,
-simply run the following command
-#+begin_src bash
-tar -C overlay -czf cushion-generated.apkovl.tar.gz .
-#+end_src
* Resources
- [[https://github.com/B00merang-Artwork/Windows-10][B00merang-Artwork Windows 10 Icon Theme]]