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I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

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Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#81

Post by uxcolumbo »

smitty1e wrote: post #78
uxcolumbo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds interesting. But I don’t fully follow? What are your use cases? To run Linux GUI apps? Does mobaxterm allow you to view those GUI apps?

Yes, Moba provides the X11 functionality to allow me to run QGIS under Arch and see the maps.

Just had a look at QGIS. It appears to be cross platform. Why not run it directly on Windows?

Are there benefits running it under Arch and then 'stream' it to Windows?

Assuming it's faster running QGIS in Linux? Or is it because all your other dev stuff is in Linux?

(Sorry of these questions are basic - just curious).

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#82

Post by robertlagrant »

stavros wrote: post #61
j4coh wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not OP but for me I end up having trouble with games and maintaining dual boot for it isn’t worth it. Most recently I was trying to install gamescope on PopOS LTS for retro gaming, but it was too old of a distribution for gamescopes dependencies, so I upgraded to Cosmic and it broke my software KVM. I use PopOS because it has great NVIDIA support and I’ve run into issues before with other distros. At that point I…

With Steam, I haven't seen a game that doesn't work yet. I was just playing Clair Obscur yesterday, it worked great. I don't know about Gamescope, but I think you can run whatever Windows thing you want through Proton and it'll probably work well.

The remastered C&C used to work but now the launcher crashes. No idea why!

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#83

Post by stavros »

robertlagrant wrote: post #82
stavros wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With Steam, I haven't seen a game that doesn't work yet. I was just playing Clair Obscur yesterday, it worked great. I don't know about Gamescope, but I think you can run whatever Windows thing you want through Proton and it'll probably work well.

The remastered C&C used to work but now the launcher crashes. No idea why!

In general, when that happens, I select "force specific compatibility tool" and select the last version, and then it works.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#84

Post by heresie-dabord »

pmontra wrote: post #32

Samsung DEX had a Linux desktop package in 2018. It was a lxd container based on Ubuntu 16.04. They developed it in collaboration with Canonical. Unfortunately they deprecated it shortly after, maybe already in 2018. The next Android update would remove it. It worked but Android killed it mercilessly if it used too much memory or the rest of the system needed it.

Some current Android devices that have USB-C 3.1+ and support dp-alt-mode (USB-C to HDMI) will detect when an external display is connected and provide a full extended desktop. [0]

You can connect mouse, keyboard, and display to the Android device through an unpowered USB-C hub that offers the respective ports. Battery life depends on the make/model of Android device.

I have a Motorola phone and the experience is very nice.

[0] _ https://uperfect.com/blogs/wikimonitor/list-of-smartphones-w...

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#85

Post by okanat »

smitty1e wrote: post #80
okanat wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a much less efficient way of running Linux GUI apps over WSL since it will use software rendering. WSL2 provides a GPU accelerated Wayland server. If your Mesa build (ver > 22) has d3d12 drivers you can use Windows DirectX as your OpenGL driver. Combined with the WSLg Wayland server you get near native desktop performance out of GUI apps.

One other nit was that WSL2 does not expose the USB ports to the Arch guest very easily. So I had to install USBIP on the Windows11 host, and bring in a tool chain and compile a Linxux 6.x kernel in order to add external storage for my QGIS data.

WSL2's default kernel has USBIP modules built-in. I am using it daily at work for FW development. So I don't think that's your problem. However, WSL kernel might be missing specific USB device classes. Luckily they rolled out kernel module support lately and you can compile modules instead of the full kernel now.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#86

Post by okanat »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #22
teraflop wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost. For one thing, Docker is not really "Linux inside Linux". It uses Linux kernel features to isolate the processes inside a container from those outside. But there is only one Linux kernel which is shared by both the container and its host (within the Linux VM, in this case). For another, running Linux containers in a Linux VM on Windows is one (common) way that Docker can work. But it also supports running Win…

I thought docker only supports windows as a host if you enable wsl, in which case you're running on hyper v and Linux kernel as part of wsl2, so absolutely Linux tech on a Linux vm on Windows... Am I wrong?

You are. Docker Desktop supports two different container platforms: usual Linux ones and Windows Containers.

With the former a Linux kernel is required. You have two options: using WSL2 and benefiting from all the optimizations and integrations that Microsoft made, or running a full Hyper-V VM that gives absolute control and isolation from rest of the system.

For the latter, you need a Pro license and need to enable Containers feature (deployment requires more expensive Server licenses). Then you can run slimmed down Windows images like "nano server" which doesn't have GUI APIs.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#87

Post by okanat »

nine_k wrote: post #27
NikolaNovak wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought docker only supports windows as a host if you enable wsl, in which case you're running on hyper v and Linux kernel as part of wsl2, so absolutely Linux tech on a Linux vm on Windows... Am I wrong?

You are. You can run Docker for Windows, and run Windows binaries in reasonably isolated containers, without involving Linux at all [1]. Much like you run Linux containers on Linux without involving Windows. It's Docker Desktop what assumes WSL; Docker engine does not. Also, you seem to need Windows Server; IDK if it can be made to work on a Pro version. [1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowsco…

Docker Desktop defaults to WSL2 but it has no assumptions whatsoever. You can run it with HyperV

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#88

Post by j4coh »

stavros wrote: post #61
j4coh wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not OP but for me I end up having trouble with games and maintaining dual boot for it isn’t worth it. Most recently I was trying to install gamescope on PopOS LTS for retro gaming, but it was too old of a distribution for gamescopes dependencies, so I upgraded to Cosmic and it broke my software KVM. I use PopOS because it has great NVIDIA support and I’ve run into issues before with other distros. At that point I…

With Steam, I haven't seen a game that doesn't work yet. I was just playing Clair Obscur yesterday, it worked great. I don't know about Gamescope, but I think you can run whatever Windows thing you want through Proton and it'll probably work well.

It’s been hit or miss for me. I mostly play strategy games. I often get weird game graphics, flickering and things like that that go away when I give up and reinstall windows.

Re: I run a full Linux desktop in Docker just because I can

#90

Post by jchw »

JanisErdmanis wrote: post #72
jchw wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely love the direction KDE Plasma Wayland session is headed; I think it looks great, it definitely runs great, and it really is just packed with features. I do have some personal KDE gripes I'd like to work on, mainly just improving the KIO fuse integration more, but wow have things progressed fast. Still, I caution people to not just jump to Linux. The actual very first problem is not software. It's hardwar…

What issues have you seen recently in the wild where Linux just does not work on a laptop? I have pretty good experiences just putting Ubuntu on old laptops for people who asks me to fix their computer.

For old laptops it's significantly less bad, but definitely old. 5+ years old is usually a good start, though these days it may be better if it's even older.

The most significant issues:

- Peripherals simply don't work at all, as in, no touchpad or keyboard, or at least no touchscreen. This is definitely an issue with a variety of laptops including some Microsoft Surface and Dell laptops.

- Power management. Frequently, machines fail to sleep or resume reliably.

- Audio is low quality and quiet. This problem was publicized pretty well by the Asahi Linux project, but it is far from unique to MacBooks: a lot of laptops now require OS-level audio processing to have good audio quality. Even my Framework 16 partly has this issue, though it can be alleviated partly with a BIOS option. I believe this also impacts some System76 laptops.

- WiFi/Bluetooth instability. This issue is probably worst with some Realtek radios, but I've also seen it from time to time with Mediatek.

- Sometimes, issues booting at all. Yep. Sometimes it just won't boot, as sometimes the kernel will just break support, and maybe unbreak it later. That's the nature of just running random shit, though.

I think that illustrates enough so I'll stop there, but also don't forget the hurdles to even get started. Often times the very first thing you want to do is disable secure boot which differs a bit per system. This isn't always truly necessary, but even if you're using a Linux distribution that works with Secure Boot it's often a good idea, as there are a variety of things that you can't do easily with Secure Boot on Linux.

Older laptops are less of an issue since Linux tends to get a lot more mature with older hardware as time goes on, but it's still a little hit or miss, especially with vaguely recent laptop hardware that has weird stuff like Intel IPTS. But that having been said: Linux doesn't support old hardware literally forever, either. Old hardware sometimes stops working and gets pulled from the kernel, or moves out of mainline Mesa, and so forth. So even that isn't a 100% panacea.

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