Here are the installation instructions I followed. Follow them closely (perfectly & correctly).

How to Install Alpine Linux (Linuxiac)

The install is as easy as Arch…. easier than Void (in my experience). I installed the ‘hefty’ 200MB version.

Here is the Alpine Linux Download page.

My intention is to expand this page into a tutorial, or perhaps more than one tutorial. Expect the url, etc. to change (morph) over time.

Should you have Alpine Linux learnings you wish to share/ contribute, please use our Contact Page to let me know.

Remember, like with all of my work, I am able to provide the following assurance(s):

• It is almost certainly going to work until it breaks; although I have to admit it may never work and that would be sad.
• When/if it does break, you may keep all of the pieces.
• If you find my materials helpful, both you & I will be happy, at least for a little while.
• My advice is worth every penny you paid for it!

For those who are unfamiliar, “ricing” is a small but interesting (to me anyway) *nix sub-culture. These are folks who focus on transforming lower resource environments into works of art, beauty, and efficient work-flow. Most typically, they focus on tiling window manager (twm) environments although there is also regular interest in Openbox and less frequently Fluxbox (stacking window manager ~ swm). Occasionally,  you may encounter efforts focused on addressing heavier Desktop Environments (DEs) such as gnome, cinnamon, KDE, etc.

For more detailed insight, please read:

• Ricepedia

By way of full disclosure, I may be one of the older ‘ricers’. If you meander this site, you will see many of my ricing efforts (although they are not often described via that term.) My special interests involve using Debian (MX & antiX) and arch (ArchLabs & manjaro) based distros. Distros such as Void, Gentoo, and KISS are interesting to me but I simply do not have enough time to become proficient in their use. The window managers I enjoy most are:

• bspwm #1 (by a long shot)
• hlwm (HerbstluftWM)
• Openbox

N.B.: I do not really spend much time ricing my xfce4 desktop.

In the past, I have, also, played around with:

• iceWM
• fluxbox
• jwm

If you are among those who might be interested in improving the look & feel of your desktop, while improving its performance, here are some clues as to how-to begin.

1. Know that most of the windowm manager tweaks are published via items called ‘dotfiles’.
2. Most people store and share their dotfiles on github & gitlab (I happen to use both).
3. A wonderful place to view & share ricing efforts may be found on Reddit in the subgroup called unixporn.

If you want to become quickly acquainted with one of the premier ‘ricers’ check his (addy’s) work out:

• https://github.com/addy-dclxvi/almighty-dotfiles
• https://www.joyk.com/dig/detail/50291

My dotfiles may be accessed here:

• GitHub
• GitLab

I have made some changes to my original exploration plans; shall we say, I have taken a few “diversions”. These diversions include:

• Rather than using antiX19 as my base, I have elected to use MX Linux 18.3.
  I made this change because of where the distros are in their release cycle(s) to address the new Debian 10 (Buster) transition.
• I have become quite enamored and dependent upon the use of “rofi”.
• I have elected to abandon the use of jgmenu (due to its systemd dependencies). Ergo, my rofi use.
• I have decided to run a multi-headed MX desktop (xfce4 & bspwm).  I choose my preferred desktop on the LightDM login page.

I plan to begin using bspwm on both MX & antiX. MX will use Debian stable. My antiX platform will be set such that it uses Debian (Test). I hope. The antiX desktop will be implemented shortly after antiX19 releases. My plan is to run it standardlone without the traditional antiX window managers.

My plan in the near term is to begin augmenting the eirenicon Knowledgebase with my learning(s) from this exploration effort.

“There are no perfect distros”.

As you may have guessed (if you have read my posts and materials here),  I’m a bit of a geek and also like to explore places I should probably stay away from…

Anyway, here are the aspects of antiX I find magnificent:

• cli-aptiX (installer, updater, etc.)
• antiX repos
• Debian without systemd and without Devuan… (Sorry, Devuan guys.)
• antiX snapshot tools
• the ability to using Debian Testing repos (I don’t like being far from the edge.) My thinking is that:

“Stability is an illusion; change is the norm.”

bspwm dependencies added to base antiX19beta were:

• xcb libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-ewmh-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libasound2-dev libxcb-xtest0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev
• Note: some of the above may have been there already before I cut & paste the command stream into my terminal… who can say??? Not me.

antiX standard items I removed from my base antiX19beta for use in my bspwm install include:

• gnome-ppp (I don’t use it…)
• midnight commander (not my style)
• Firefox ESP (too big)
• jwm (I can get this on a antiX vanilla setup. I removed it to eliminate some slim related issues; no train wrecks yet.)
• icewm (I can get this on a vanilla antiX setup. I removed it to eliminate some slim related issues; no train wrecks yet.)
• fluxbox (I can get this on a vanilla antiX setup. I removed it to eliminate some slim related issues; no train wrecks yet.)
• herbstluftwm (I can get this on a vanilla antiX setup. I removed it to eliminate some slim related issues; no train wrecks yet.)
• rox-filer (I settled on the use of spaceFM and did not have a need for three file manager tools.)
• claws mail (I did not need email. FWIW if I did, I use Thunderbird.)
• asunder CD (There’s no CD Burner on my machine.)
• xfburn (There’s no CD Burner on my machine.)
• hexchat (I don’t use it…)
• Mirage (Was replaced with Viewnior which I like better, editorial prerogative.)
• rxvt terminal (This was replaced with xfce4-terminal due to Rxvt’s lacking a cut & paste function/ feature; which I absolutely need.)
• vim (Just because I don’t like it and don’t use it.)

antiX functions which remain but are not used, or are otherwise disabled, include:

• SLIM (Can not be safely removed due to forced dependencies. I find it too cumbersome to use on the login page, just my opinion. Note: I actually think that having a dependency in a distro on a Display Manager is a bug. But that’s just me.)
• conky (polybar is more frugal and multi-purpose for my bspwm needs.)
• lxterminal (Is both heavier and uglier than xfce4-terminal, in my opinion.)

New functions added to my setup include:

• bspwm
• sxhkd
• LightDM (I find it much easier for window manager- desktop- selection than SLIM. Personally I dislike having to F1 my way through 6 or more options on the Login screen, too cumbersome. I, also, tend to miss my (wm) stop and get to take the F1 trip multiple times. Fun though that is… I’d rather something like LightDM.
• tint2 (task tracker, iconified task launcher, day/date/time, Logout button)
• polybar (primarily as an active workspace tracker, jgmenu ‘host’, conky replacement)
• jgmenu (utilizing Greeneye theme providing essentially whiskermenu-style functionality)
• Numix icons (eye candy)
• arc-dark windows theme (eye candy)
• Roboto fonts (eye candy)
• kupfer semanatic application launcher
• xfce4-terminal is slightly more resource efficient than lxterminal and supports screen transparency, cut & paste
• Falkon browser (Is lighter than Firefox, but then what isn’t??? Sorry mozilla guys…)
• viewnior (light and pretty useful)
• xcompmgr as compositor (eye candy, lighter than compton- it seems)
• feh as wallpaper changer/ manager (eye candy)

I will provide images, scripts, and perhaps even build a respin of my work, once I get a bit further down the road.  I am thinking of doing this for antiX and perhaps Artix (arch-based & systemd-free)

What I am especially interested in are small footprint panels such as:

• dmenu
• fbpanel
• Lemonbar
• lxpanel
• polybar
• tint2
• xdgmenumaker
• xlunch
• yabar

Please avoid providing data on resource heavy tools like Docky, plank, cairo, etc.  However should you have experiences that go beyond my 4 item list, I am interested in learning about those!

By way of introducing the discussion a bit… I am currently running tint2 & polybar on bspwm on both antiX19 and MX18. I plan to try lemonbar on that setup as well. Naturally, I’ll publish what I learn some here with links to details on the eirenicon Knowledge-Base

You may send me input via the eirenicon contact page.

Cross-posted on MX Forums, antiX Forums and Twitter.

I have just created a variant (respin, draft release) snapshot of antiX19-alpha2. It contains two non-antiX standard desktops:

1. Openbox
2. Xfce.

Things I did not worry about in this initial version include:

1. Wallpapers: I provided a bunch. Pick something you like. I’m agnostic in that realm. I like what I like; and, I am happy to admit you should enjoy what you like.
2. Themes: I have not really dug into that area very much for this version. Openbox uses Numix with Greybird & Xfce uses Flat-Remix with Greybird
3. Icons: I have used the flat-remix icons on both Desktops.
4. Fonts: I used Roboto.

Here is what and how I added to the base antiX19-alpha:

1. I added xfce minimal (via package installer).

   sudo apt install xcompmgr tint2 xcompmgr gnome-disk-utility fonts-roboto-hinted baobab fonts-roboto-hinted tumbler tumler-extras gvfs gvfs-backends light-locker lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings greybird-gtk-theme xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin obconf obmenu openbox
   

2. I build obmenu-generator using:

   sudo apt-get install build-essential cpanminus git && git clone git://github.com/trizen/obmenu-generator && sudo cp obmenu-generator/obmenu-generator /usr/bin && mkdir .config/obmenu-generator && sudo cp -r obmenu-generator/schema.pl ~/.config/obmenu-generator/ && sudo cpanm Linux::DesktopFiles && sudo cpanm Data::Dump && sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/obmenu-generator && obmenu-generator -p -i
   

Code & changes to the base includes:

1. I built a new tint2 taskbar for use on Openbox. (basic script included in the installation).
2. I turned off and removed the four native antiX window managers (iceWM, fluxbox, jwm, herbstluftwm).
3. Openbox uses tint2 as its taskbar.
4. Openbox uses xdesktop as its Desktop & wallpaper manager (it shares a common desktop with Xfce).
5. Tint2 in Openbox uses obmenu (obmenu-generator)
6. I used 5.0.9 antiX kernel (because I could, I guess.)
7. I removed spaceFM & rox-filer.
8. Conky has s few fancy (for me) tweaks. It should magically report any active network connects via eth0, wlan0, tun0, usb0. If you have a different network connection (name) you will need to modify conky to allow yours to be reported.
9. As for where to find each conky:
   — Xfce uses $Home/.conkyrc
   — Openbox uses $Home/.conky/.conky-startup.sh
10. I removed Slim (Display Manager) and replaced it with LightDM

All standard antiX tools/scripts have been maintained and the antiX control centre etc. remains intact (so far as I can tell). Although, I ‘may’ have introduced a few new bugs/ or perhaps uncovered a couple of latent bugs.

Known Open Issues/ Bugs:

1. I messed up and lost the install icon. Please use terminal with the following command for installation. (user: demo/ pwd: demo)

   sudo minstall
   

Here is the location for the download/ snapshot:

• eirenicon antiX Respin downloads

Please report bugs, problems, concerns as you find them. Here’s a place to reports issues, hopes, desires (for this respin). I greatly appreciate your using my Ticket Tracking System (osTracker) if you don’t mind–  eirenicon Help.

Thanks & have fun.

As services are turned on and off RAM usage will change. Be advised, Xfce provides native services, not available in OpenBox (out of the box).

As with all antiX installs, this is completely systemd-free. I have retained most non-windowmanger specific antiX tools. Those I have tested seem to work as they should. I’m sure people will find bugs (when they begin using the desktop & tools).

I hope to have a snapshot (of this setup) uploaded and available for folks to test in the next few days.

Here are screen shot links. Note: The capitalized portion of the label represents the image screenshot (window).

https://ibb.co/gg2BxS3
https://ibb.co/gZDrr7Z
https://ibb.co/jMWF2wd

I have created & uploaded a copy (installable snapshot) of a draft-alpha (prototype?) version of antiX-openbox. It is built using the alpha2 version of antiX19.

Obviously, this, like my xfce version, is not a production piece of software. It is simply provided so you may see what I’m building and can use this as a guide to build something much better. (I know you can.)

The install is a bit funky, I must have borked something in the snapshoting process; and, the fix is not obvious to me. It’ll get fixed “down the road”; but, here’s an easy work around.

1. Load the iso image using the provided snaphot link (below).
2. Once you get to the Login screen… use demo/demo as username & password.
3. After you are logged in, you’ll note there is no install icon (my bad). To install the software, simply open a terminal window and enter the following:

sudo minstall

From there everything is normal. Play around, see how things work (or break). As I develop better installs, I’ll make them available in the directory below (save the link if you want to see newer stuff, later).

Once you login to your installed version, you should click on the menu icon (bottom left) >>>Advanced Settings >>> Obmenu-Generator >>> Refresh Cache (that will get your menu icons back, I hope.)

Two screenshots:
https://ibb.co/WvzPhRs
https://ibb.co/rvY4VrS

Just in case this little note slipped by, do not use this as production software. It is for testing and learning purposes only.

Here’s a link (to the download folder):
http://treemagic.org/MX%20Desktops/antiX-openbox

I have created & uploaded a copy (installable snapshot) of a draft-alpha version of antiX-xfce4. It is built using the alpha2 version of antiX19. It uses the 5.0.9 antiX 64 bit kernel (not the kernel that ships with the most recent alpha). I changed kernels because this one seems to work better on my version of VirtualBox. (I have no idea why…)

Obviously, this is not a production piece of software. It is simply provided so you may see what I’m building and can use this as a guide to build something much better. (I know you can.)

The install is a bit funky, I must have borked something in the snapshoting process; and, the fix is not obvious to me. It’ll get fixed “down the road”; but, here’s an easy work around.

1. Load the iso image using the provided snapshot link (below).
2. Once you get to the Login screen… use demo/demo as username & password.
3. After you are logged in, you’ll note there is no install icon (my bad). To install the software, simply open a terminal window and enter the following:

sudo minstall

From there everything is normal. Play around, see how things work (or break). As I develop better installs I’ll make them available in the directory below (save the link if you want to see newer stuff, later).

Two screenshots:
https://ibb.co/M1XYSf0
https://ibb.co/wC25dMy

Just in case this little note slipped by, do not use this as production software.

Here’s a link (to the download folder):
http://treemagic.org/MX%20Desktops/antiX-xfce

Note: this tutorial is generally applicable as a tutorial to almost any Debian based distro you might wish to convert or build into a tailored xfce installation. You will need to customize the removals from your original base installation to remove any unwanted desktop setup(s)

Note: This is a learning tool. Not for ‘production’.

As with all my open source work, no guarantees are expressed or implied. If you break things you get to keep all the pieces. Practice safe computing! .

Bug fix list:

• I decided to leave wicd on the install and have changed to the scripts accordingly. – date: 26 May 2019
• I forgot to include the following thunar app in my initial release, they are added below: thunar-volman, thunar-archive-plugin,tumbler, tumbler-common, tumbler-plugins-extra
• Pulseaudio ‘fix’

  $ sudo apt update
  $ sudo apt-get –yes install pulseaudio pavucontrol pasystray paman
  $ sudo killall pulseaudio
  $ pulseaudio -D
  $ pavucontrol

  If things work and Pulse Audio Control center comes up go to the next step.

  Use the following to start Pulseaudio after making certain the above are installed (in Autostart).
  pulseaudio -D

To begin, install a recent antiX per normal procedure (I used and tested this tutorial on antiX19alpha2 version; this may work with previous 17.4 versions, as well).

Once you have the basic antiX version installed, log in to one of the traditional window manager setups. I prefer using the space-icewm environment.

To initiate the xfce4 build, begin by adding the following applications to create an xfce4 install with whiskermenu. You will need to add other xfce4-goodies later, if you want them. (To start, cut & paste the following into a terminal window)

Code:

sudo apt-get update -y;sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg x11-xserver-utils xfonts-base x11-utils lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter xfce4 xfce4-power-manager xfce4-power-manager-plugins xfce4-taskmanager blueman bluez-tools pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pavucontrol -y --allow-unauthenticated gvfs gvfs-backends light-locker lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings lxpolkit desktop-profiles greybird-gtk-theme catfish xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin kupfer xfce4-terminal thunar-volman thunar-archive-plugin tumbler tumbler-common tumbler-plugins-extra pulseaudio pavucontrol pasystray paman

You will be asked if you want to replace ‘slim’ with lightdm, answer ‘yes’ when the script ‘pops up.

Next run kupfer and set it up to start on login; you can set a unique launch key as well from the kupfer preferences settings. I like having a tool like this to make accessing and running apps quicker/ easier. kupfer is certainly optional.

Next: Use the following to start Pulseaudio after making certain the above are installed (in Autostart). Disable the original pulseaudio autostart command.

pulseaudio -D

Once the above installs are completed and kupfer is installed, restart and Login into xfce4 Desktop. Be certain to log in to the correct Desktop (xfce)!

Once you are logged into your new xfce Desktop Environment (ugly though it may be), you will be asked if you want a 2 panel setup (I recommend the 2-panel choice in order to quickly get functional, albeit incomplete, panels.)

The next thing you need to do is to remove the undesired antiX standard window managers and related software run (Note: to clean almost everything ‘out’ cut & paste the following into a terminal window):

Code:

sudo apt remove fluxbox desktop-defaults-fluxbox-antix fluxbox-themes-antix jwm desktop-defaults-jwm-antix herbstluftwm desktop-defaults-hlwm-antix slim icewm desktop-defaults-icewm-antix icewm-common icewm-icons-numix-bevel-antix icewm-themes-antix icewmcc-antix numix-bevel-antix papirus-antix lxterminal

Now to clean ‘residual’ cruft up a bit (Cut & paste the following terminal commands.):

Code:

sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt autoremove --purge

Optionally you may remove the following file managers. I remove both because I am happy using thunar exclusively, and I am also ‘not’ a fan of either rox-filer/ spacefm. Just a two of my accumulated personal preferences and biases.

Code:

sudo apt remove rox-filer desktop-defaults-rox-antix spacefm desktop-defaults-spacefm-antix spacefm-common

Next I recommend, you log out and back in… you should have a nice, standard, and ugly xfce layout! You are now running xfce exclusively on antiX without any vestige of systemd, or the original window managers, if you removed them. Yay, you!

If you feel like taking a plunge and installing some xfce apps I like, you may cut & paste the following into a terminal window (this will provide a few nice tools & a few easy on the eyes themes (icon & windows):

Code:

sudo apt install keepassx grsync gnome-disk-utility gcolor2 viewnior fonts-roboto-hinted filezilla clamav clamtk clamassassin chromium zim baobab ristretto greybird-gtk-theme blackbird-gtk-theme xfce4-terminal papirus-icon-theme faba-icon-theme moka-icon-theme numix-icon-theme-bevel numix-icon-theme

At this point you should have a setup that looks and works like most standard out of the box ‘clean’ xfce installs.

I’ll provide another tutorial on how-to further tweak xfce, to add conkies, misc eye-candy, etc. while being frugal with the addition of additional cpu consumption- cycles.