Using docker containers to supplement my CLI usage or set up a VM?


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I'm coming to Unraid from my previous solution which was an Ubuntu box that mounted a synology via SMB. 

 

Not being a linux expert, I found it pretty easy to install anything I wanted with 'apt'. 

 

I don't think the Slackware that Unraid uses has anything like 'apt' built in, so I was planning on relying on Docker containers to help supplement the kinds of stuff I like to do on the command line. For example, 'megatools' lets me download links from mega.co.nz easily, youtube-dl and handbrakeCLI are useful as well. 

 

But it's kind of sloppy having to run 'docker exec' commands into the containers, and I still haven't figured out how to echo the output into my terminal. 

 

Is what I'm trying to do something that makes sense? Or should I just set up a VM and use that for all my miscellaneous CLI stuff I'd want to do?

 

The only concern I have is that I'd have to assign dedicated resources from my system to a VM instance which I'd really rather not do. Don't I have to assign a CPU core and set aside an amount of RAM just for the VM? Or is this pretty much a non-issue?

 

Any advice?

 

 

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I don't really understand why you would need to use the youtube-dl cli if you can install a jdownloader docker on your nas and let it just do its job more comfortably for you. For me, the workflow is like this:

  1. Startup my local jdownloader (on the notebook etc.)
  2. collect all the links i want (clipboard function in jd)
  3. export all links together in a dlc container to a share which my notebook and the jd docker on the nas have access
  4. startup the jd docker
  5. webaccess to the jd docker
  6. load dlc container
  7. let it do its thing
  8. be happy (more like sort in all the music stuff......)

For your handbrake needs, there is also a ready made unraid docker image. Maybe its enough for you?

 

One more thing: Docker Containers and Docker for Unraid are two slightly different things. Docker for Unraid Images come with a template xml, which enables you to configure stuff like ports or folders for your app (mostly "big" applications like plex, letsencrypt etc.). With "normal" docker containers you have to search/input the corresponding parameters in the unraid ui yourself (which is great for more esoteric stuff).

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1 hour ago, xxlbug said:

With "normal" docker containers you have to search/input the corresponding parameters in the unraid ui yourself (which is great for more esoteric stuff)

Next update for CA has a major change to its dockerHub searches which basically results in a perfect template being created for the vast majority of containers available on dockerHub

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18 minutes ago, Squid said:

Next update for CA has a major change to its dockerHub searches which basically results in a perfect template being created for the vast majority of containers available on dockerHub

 

Wow, I didn't know that, thank you for the info. This would be extremely helpful with a bunch of more advanced applications. Will read into it!

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I installed Jdownloader and poked around a bit but didn't really care for it. Why is its UI so damn busy? it's tacky as hell.

Does it have all the flexibility of youtube-dl? Youtube-dl has a ton of options. 

Can it download Mega.co.nz links? 

 

I use HandbrakeCLI because it supports scripting. I rarely use any handbrake GUI. I like using the CLI because I'm comfortable there for certain things. 

 

 

 

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Just to be sure, download jdownloader 2. Still tacky ui, but is actively developed.

 

JDownloader is to downloads as VLC is to media files, it's the Swiss army knife of downloads. Just for youtube stuff, you can look at all options in the plugin section and then search for youtube. You can choose types (video or only audio etc.), formats (mp4 etc.) and bitrates etc. Mega is also supported (I just looked it up). The ui is very bad, but the functions are great. And with the described workflow, I can put the interaction to a minimum.

 

Maybe you can explain your use case a little bit for handbrake. For me, I want to convert everything into the optimal format for my plex server. So configure the handbrake docker with the autowatch feature, choose/configure my desired conversion profile and from this point on, you only need to put the original file in a special "toBeConverted" folder and wait for it to be done. Then another application can pick it up and put it in your media server folders. The setup is a one time operation and then you don't need to care about anymore.

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