> Using Void on my main desktop has been fun and I've learned a lot about how modern Linux systems fit together whether I liked it or not, because the instructions for using ZFS root at that time involved starting mostly from scratch.

This is why I used Slackware 20 years ago. Slackware then tried to compete with Ubuntu and Fedora and IMO lost its way.

> How does Alpine compare in the day-to-day business of using a computer, do you suppose?

For day to day usage I think there are similairities, but I can share some reasons I prefer Alpine:

- Not rolling release, possible to stick to a version and just get security updates

- Focus on minimization. A minimal Alpine install is about 500mb, 700 after I install X and my WM and a few other core things. A void install was something like 1.2gb even trying to keep it minimal.

- Because Alpine, IMO is more dedicated to musl, the ports to musl have more care behind them and seem to work better, just anecdotal maybe biased experience.

- I prefer apk over xbps, one thing xbps can't do afaik is search files in packages, e.g. apk search library.h will return a result if it exists.

- I still feel void gets in the way more than it needs to. Installing or overriding a bootloader and custom kernel was easier in Alpine then void, only barely, but enough I noticed.

That's probably it.

There are folks using Alpine in the desktop (or laptops). Several of us are lurking in #alpine-linux.

postmarketOS is a downstream of Alpine, and they focus on shipping ready to use GUI images. They also count as Alpine users in terms of testing and fixing packages related to a GUI session.