I'm used to using Linux from the terminal. I have a new machine which I plan to use mostly headless but would occasionally like to run a desktop environment and play games with GPU acceleration. I know I don't have to launch the desktop environment on startup, but I was wondering if it's possible to have that entire portion containerized, like an instance in LXD.

I am trying Bazzite right now, I really like the idea of layering on top an immutable base. That's close to what I want. If I understand correctly, I could have a different layer for the headless part to keep them totally separate, but I'd have to do restarts to switch from one to the other.

I also think NixOS could also be what I want, just with a steeper learning curve.

I'm wondering if anyone has already set something like this up? It would be helpful to read about what software people have for this and their experiences using that.

  • GravitySpoiled@lemmy.ml
    ·
    9 months ago

    Like this? https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/posts/run_latest_gnome_kde_on_distrobox.md

    • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
      ·
      9 months ago

      This is really cool. I think this is very close to what I want, but am I correct in understanding the host also has an X11 server in this setup? I'll have to check out distrobox, that's an interesting tool.

  • Evans@lemmy.ml
    ·
    9 months ago

    At work the only option I had was to get a Macbook, but I don't like MacOS, so I installed UTM and I run Arch Linux (ALARM for aarch64) as my desktop. It's functional, but of course I'd rather have a beat up, 5 year old Dell or Thinkpad so I could just run Arch natively.

  • matcha_addict@lemy.lol
    ·
    9 months ago

    What are your goals? What's the motive to containerize? Is it security?

    Do you specifically need a full DE, or are you okay with something more lightweight like a window manager or kiosk mode display?

    • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
      ·
      9 months ago

      That's a good question. Security is a factor. I like the idea of a containerized DE so I can easily back up and restore changes independently of the distro beneath. Or like totally abandon one, try something new, and still have the first setup available. I think a container could be portable from system to system, maybe less of a burden migrating to a new machine?

      I also think it would be interesting :)

      My objective with the DE is to be able to play GPU accelerated games and browse the web. I'd be fine with a simpler software than a full DE if I could do that.