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Ubuntu vs boot2docker: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting text on websites. In this task, I will format the following information about the key differences between Ubuntu and boot2docker into Markdown code that can be used on a website.

  1. Containerization Technology: Ubuntu uses LXC (Linux Containers) as its containerization technology, which provides lightweight virtualization by utilizing the host kernel. On the other hand, boot2docker is based on Docker, which uses containerization technology to create and manage isolated environments, known as containers, for running applications.

  2. Host Operating System Support: Ubuntu is a full-fledged operating system and can be installed on physical machines or virtual machines as a host operating system. It provides all the necessary features and capabilities required for hosting applications. In contrast, boot2docker is a lightweight Linux distribution built specifically for running Docker containers only. It is primarily meant to be used as a minimal host operating system in the context of Docker.

  3. Package Management: Ubuntu uses the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) as its package management system. APT allows users to easily install, update, and remove software packages from the Ubuntu repositories. On the other hand, boot2docker relies on Docker's containerization technology, which encapsulates applications and their dependencies within container images. These images can be pulled from Docker registries and deployed directly without the need for traditional package management.

  4. Community and Support: Ubuntu is a widely adopted and community-driven operating system with a large user base. It has an active community that provides support, documentation, and regular updates. Boot2docker, being a more specialized and niche tool, has a relatively smaller community and support compared to Ubuntu. It may not have the same level of comprehensive documentation and community-driven resources as Ubuntu.

  5. Resource Efficiency: Ubuntu is a feature-rich operating system that provides a complete set of tools and services. It tends to consume more system resources compared to boot2docker, which is designed to be lightweight and focuses on running Docker containers efficiently. Boot2docker, being a minimal host operating system, requires less disk space and memory, making it a better choice for resource-constrained environments.

  6. Ease of Setup and Deployment: Ubuntu requires a complete installation process, which involves downloading the ISO image, creating bootable media, and performing the installation on the target machine. It also requires configuration and setup steps before it can be used. In contrast, boot2docker is designed for quick and easy setup. It comes as a pre-packaged virtual machine image that can be deployed on supported virtualization platforms, requiring minimal setup or configuration steps.

In summary, Ubuntu and boot2docker differ in containerization technology, host operating system support, package management, community and support, resource efficiency, and ease of setup and deployment. While Ubuntu is a full-fledged operating system offering versatility and extensive community support, boot2docker is a lightweight Linux distribution tailored specifically for running Docker containers efficiently.

Decisions about boot2docker and Ubuntu

Ubuntu is much more faster over Windows and helps to get software and other utilities easier and within a short span of time compared to Windows.

Ubuntu helps to get robustness and resiliency over Windows. Ubuntu runs faster than Windows on every computer that I have ever tested. LibreOffice (Ubuntu's default office suite) runs much faster than Microsoft Office on every computer that I have ever tested.

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Jerome/Zen Quah
Chose
UbuntuUbuntu
over
CentOSCentOS

Global familiarity, free, widely used, and as a debian distro feels more comfortable when rapidly switching between local macOS and remote command lines.

CentOS does boast quite a few security/stability improvements, however as a RHEL-based distro, differs quite significantly in the command line and suffers from slightly less frequent package updates. (Could be a good or bad thing depending on your use-case and if it is public facing)

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Simon Aronsson
Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact · | 7 upvotes · 264.7K views

At the moment of the decision, my desktop was the primary place I did work. Due to this, I can't have it blow up on me while I work. While Arch is interesting and powerful, Ubuntu offers (at least for me) a lot more stability and lets me focus on other things than maintaining my own OS installation.

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Pros of boot2docker
Pros of Ubuntu
  • 43
    Lightweight
  • 35
    Use docker when it's not natively possible
  • 11
    Use it for fast demo without big image
  • 3
    Easy to use
  • 3
    Containers
  • 230
    Free to use
  • 96
    Easy setup for testing discord bot
  • 57
    Gateway Linux Distro
  • 54
    Simple interface
  • 9
    Don't need driver installation in most cases
  • 6
    Open Source
  • 6
    Many active communities
  • 3
    Software Availability
  • 3
    Easy to custom
  • 2
    Many flavors/distros based on ubuntu
  • 1
    Lightweight container base OS
  • 1
    Great OotB Linux Shell Experience

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Cons of boot2docker
Cons of Ubuntu
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 5
      Demanding system requirements
    • 4
      Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian
    • 2
      Snapd installed by default
    • 1
      Systemd

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    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is boot2docker?

    boot2docker is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Tiny Core Linux made specifically to run Docker containers. It runs completely from RAM, weighs ~27MB and boots in ~5s (YMMV).

    What is Ubuntu?

    Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

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    What companies use boot2docker?
    What companies use Ubuntu?
    See which teams inside your own company are using boot2docker or Ubuntu.
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    What tools integrate with boot2docker?
    What tools integrate with Ubuntu?

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    What are some alternatives to boot2docker and Ubuntu?
    Docker Machine
    Machine lets you create Docker hosts on your computer, on cloud providers, and inside your own data center. It creates servers, installs Docker on them, then configures the Docker client to talk to them.
    Photon
    The fastest way to build beautiful Electron apps using simple HTML and CSS. Underneath it all is Electron. Originally built for GitHub's Atom text editor, Electron is the easiest way to build cross-platform desktop applications.
    Docker
    The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere
    RancherOS
    It makes it simple to run containers at scale in development, test and production. By containerizing system services and leveraging Docker for management, the operating system provides a very reliable and easy to manage containers.
    CoreOS
    It is designed for security, consistency, and reliability. Instead of installing packages via yum or apt, it uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. A single service's code and all dependencies are packaged within a container that can be run on one or many machines.
    See all alternatives