this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Retro Computing

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Hello!, I was wondering (sorry about this, i'm no Einstein) what can one do with a virtual machine? what I mean by that is what cool things could one do? maybe use it to play older games, perhaps even make it a storage medium?. I personally like to use applications/games on vm's (im also love customizing the whole thing, artist impulse). Do any of you have any suggestions? thank you for your input.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does docker count?

I have jellyfin, navidrome, slskd and others running in little docker virtual instances.

I tend to use qemu kvm's just for testing out novel operating systems, trying out package managers or just somewhere I can break stuff without worry.

Arcade Punks builds might be worth it...I just use them on an rpi.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

may I ask, from what i've seen jellyfin and navidrome appear to be file transfer network applications? and docker looks like a application workflow type deal? what makes it useful for media? (im not sure what it does exactly so i'd like to know how it works?) thank you

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Docker is similar to a VM. It's a vilitualized container. They are used very heavily in enterprise stuff afaik.

I can run:

docker pull ubuntu

And have a virtual Ubuntu server up and running in seconds. Or Arch, Alpine or whatever.

Beyond just OS images many applications are packaged as docker containers as it comes with all the libraries, databases and underlying OS all set up, ready to go and easy to update.

I have Jellyfin & Navidrome docker instances so I can stream my video & music collection around my house and to my phone or laptop when away from home. They are a bit like Plex. Navidrome + Symfonium beats Spotify imo. Slskd means I can use my Android device away from home to download albums to my music collection and then stream them right back to the phone.