A vnc-ros-gnome image with hardware acceleration support

Main components

• GNOME Desktop
• TigerVNC server
• VirtualGL
• ROS

Inspired by:

• https://github.com/darkdragon-001/Dockerfile-Ubuntu-Gnome
• https://github.com/wwwshwww/novnc-ros-desktop
• https://github.com/willkessler/nvidia-docker-novnc
• https://github.com/Open-UAV/openuav-turbovnc

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Requirements

• Docker (>=27.5.0)
• Ubuntu (>=20.04) on host for Noetic images
• Ubuntu (=24.04) on host for Jazzy images

Optional requirements

For running containers with hardware accelerated rendering of OpenGL apps like Gazebo:

• Nvidia GPU with a graphics driver compatible with CUDA >11.4 for Noetic, and >12.6.3 for Jazzy
• nvidia-ctk

Setup

Building the image

# two options available (noetic || jazzy)
bash ./build.sh --target jazzy

# or build version with cudagl support
bash ./build.sh --target jazzy --nvidia

Running the container

For running images on Ubuntu 24.04 see steps this section first.

Base image:

Noetic

docker run --rm \
	--tmpfs /run  --tmpfs /run/lock --tmpfs /tmp \
	--cap-add SYS_BOOT --cap-add SYS_ADMIN  \
	-v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup \
	--name=robo-1 \
	-p 5902:5902 \
	-e PASSWORD=remrob \
	remrob:noetic-base

# or run with compose
docker compose -f noetic/docker-compose.yaml up

Jazzy

docker run --rm \
	--tmpfs /run  --tmpfs /run/lock --tmpfs /tmp \
	--cap-add SYS_BOOT --cap-add SYS_ADMIN  \
	--security-opt apparmor=unconfined \
	-v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup \
	--name=robo-1 \
	-p 5902:5902 \
	-e PASSWORD=remrob \
	remrob:jazzy-base

# or run with compose
docker compose -f jazzy/docker-compose.yaml up

The VNC server is running on port 5902, connect to it with any VNC client you have (default password: remrob).

With nvidia-ctk:

Noetic

docker run --rm \
	--tmpfs /run  --tmpfs /run/lock --tmpfs /tmp \
	--cap-add SYS_BOOT --cap-add SYS_ADMIN  \
	-v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup \
	-v /tmp/.X11-unix/X1:/tmp/.X11-unix/X1 \
	--name=robo-1 \
	-p 5902:5902 \
	-e PASSWORD=remrob \
	-e VGL_DISPLAY=:1 \
	--runtime=nvidia \
	--gpus all \
	remrob:noetic-cudagl

# or the same with compose
docker compose -f noetic/docker-compose.cudagl.yaml up

Jazzy

docker run --rm \
	--tmpfs /run  --tmpfs /run/lock --tmpfs /tmp \
	--cap-add SYS_BOOT --cap-add SYS_ADMIN  \
	--security-opt apparmor=unconfined \
	-v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup \
	-v /tmp/.X11-unix/X0:/tmp/.X11-unix/X1 \
	--name=robo-1 \
	-p 5902:5902 \
	-e PASSWORD=remrob \
	-e VGL_DISPLAY=:1 \
	--runtime=nvidia \
	--gpus all \
	remrob:jazzy-cudagl

# or the same with compose
docker compose -f jazzy/docker-compose.cudagl.yaml up

The Nvidia GPU graphics are being tunneled through host's DISPLAY :0, but it can be switched to a different one (e.g. -v /tmp/.X11-unix/X0:/tmp/.X11-unix/X1 --> -v /tmp/.X11-unix/X1:/tmp/.X11-unix/X1).

Until sysbox has released GPU pass-through support the cgroup mounting solution remains.

Customizing the gnome GUI

Replace the user binary file (e.g. jazzy/config/user-base) with your custom binary (found at ~/.config/dconf/user) and rebuild.

!NB! For CudaGL images preserve or don't forget to add vglrun /bin/bash as the custom command in your profile, so the OpenGL apps like Gazebo are piped through VirtualGL.

Running the images under Ubuntu 24.04 (Jazzy and Noetic)

Base image:

1. Must disable unified cgroup hierarchy in the Grub loader (systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=0)

CudaGL image additional steps:

1. Switch from default Wayland to Xorg display server
2. Enable host display access

xhost +local:docker

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Limitations:

• The containers are run with --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN in order to enable systemd, which is needed for Gnome (GDM).
• Does not work with Ubuntu 22.04 due systemd incompatibilites (see this)

  

Acknowledgments

Completed with the support by IT Academy Programme of Education and Youth Board of Estonia.

Valminud Haridus- ja Noorteameti IT Akadeemia programmi toel.