Have MS Windows, Want Linux? A 5 minute Docker solution

I found this youtube about Docker interesting for how easily they got an Ubuntu image running. It takes just a minute (depending on download speed) and then pops open an Ubuntu shell / terminal window. I’ve been planning to “someday” get familiar with Docker as a way to have multiple system images and security isolation between things, without a lot of changing uSD cards or SBC systems; but jut not got that Round Tuit yet. For me, it will be somewhat different as I’m on Linux already. This is demonstrating putting an Ubuntu (or any of several other system images…) onto a Windows base platform. It does it in nearly no time and with nearly no effort.

Visit the Docker site and install Docker. (Does need a CPU that supports virtualization, so not for that old crappy White Box PC in the corner…)
Launch it.
Open a MS “power shell” (i.e. command line window)
Type: docker run -it ubuntu
Wait while 50 MB gets downloaded and uncompressed (it is a small image lacking things rarely used)
Pops open an Ubuntu window and you are live.
That’s It.

If I’m ever stuck on a Windoz box again, I’m doing this immediately ;-)

20 minutes as it then goes through some image management commands and other operational bits:

So now I’m much more encouraged to get set up with Docker and give it a try. For me, it will be more complicated as I’ll need images built for Arm arch. It does look like there are folks running Docker on the R.Pi and this page (picked at random from a quick search) looks like it is not that hard either. It does caution to make sure you search for Arm images.

https://blog.hypriot.com/getting-started-with-docker-on-your-arm-device/

One great aspect of running a Docker-based app is, you can be sure that it works on every machine running Docker with one exception.

Here we run Docker on a Raspberry Pi. So the CPU architecture here is ARM rather than x86/x64 by Intel or AMD. Thus, Docker-based apps you use have to be packaged specifically for ARM architecture! Docker-based apps packaged for x86/x64 will not work and will result in an error such as:

FATA[0003] Error response from daemon: Cannot start container 0f0fa3f8e510e53908e6a459e817d600b9649e621e7dede974d6a65761ad39e5: exec format error

Keep this in mind when searching for apps on the Docker Hub – the source for Docker apps/images. If you see the keyword RPI or ARM in the heading or description, this app can usually be used for the Raspberry Pi.

We prepared a couple of Raspberry Pi ready images for your convenience. Try them out now and have fun!

There is also a place called the “Docker Hub” where it seems lots of folks can store “images”. I sense a certain amount of security issue in that… but OK, for a place to start playing I can live with that. I can see a need for initial isolation of the Docker test station until learning more about how Docker Hub secures itself… and eventually I’d want to learn how to create my own images. Clearly a lot more to learn about the infrastructure of Docker, whenever I get started.

What I find appealing about this is the potential to, for example, build an image with the GHCN data loaded into a MySQL database and packaged with a few report and graph generator examples; then gift it to anyone who wants to download it. So for me, actually trying this will come after I’ve got that stuff built, polished, and running.

So there you have it. A quick and easy way to get a Linux image running on a Windows PC (provided it is the right kind / big enough…) without a lot of pain and suffering. I presume there are ways to do the usual “apt-get install” to add software to the image and some way to save it, so the initial small system image ought not be limiting.

For those wanting more, this is a 1 hour “Docker, FROM scratch” of a fast paced presentation at NDC {Sydney}:

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