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This looks … impossible? Has anyone used it?

paulgb 3y ago
What strikes you as impossible about it? Feature-wise, most of the top-line features are things that Docker Desktop provides, but as a DD user it doesn't strike me as surprising that a more lightweight version is possible.
- darkteflon 3y ago
  Yeah I was shooting from the hip a bit - but mainly I was just working on an assumption that the long-standing complaints against Docker on Apple Silicon Macs are well-known. Scrolling down the landing page, they seem to be claiming they’ve solved most of them. After watching Docker fail to do that year after year, it seems extraordinary. “No more battery drain or complicated VMs… Less than 0.1% background CPU usage on Apple Silicon… Less than 10 MB of disk space is used… 2 sec startup time… Works without admin” Seems like a laundry list of absolutely everything you would fix with Docker Desktop if you had a magic wand? If this is the real deal, it sounds absolutely amazing. Genuinely curious to hear from people who have used it extensively.
c7DJTLrn 3y ago
If you're referring to the claim that you can say goodbye to VMs, it's false/misleading advertising. It still runs a VM, just like Docker Desktop does.
- anderspitman 3y ago
  Running all your instances in separate VMs vs using a single VM to host containers is a completely different paradigm, especially when it comes to performance. This is even more true for performance between instances. So I personally don't find "say goodbye to VMs" to be misleading.
  - c7DJTLrn 3y ago
    >Running all your instances in separate VMs But Docker Desktop doesn't create a VM per container. Or have I misunderstood?
    - kdrag0n 3y ago
      Correct, and neither does OrbStack. Clarification here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35743597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35743597
- kdrag0n 3y ago
  (dev here) Hey, to clarify: "Say goodbye to slow, clunky containers and VMs" refers to the fact that we support running both Docker containers and Linux machines, not that the Docker engine doesn't use a VM under the hood. And yes, there is still a VM, but the experience and architecture are very different from traditional full Linux VMs that we're describing with "slow, clunky".
kdrag0n 3y ago
(Dev here) If you're interested in what makes it possible: https://docs.orbstack.dev/architecture https://docs.orbstack.dev/architecture Happy to go over a specific feature — obviously can't share too many internal details though.
- darkteflon 3y ago
  Thanks, that’s helpful. I read in another comment that you’re like 18?! Incredible work - keep at it and best of luck! I, for one, will certainly be keeping an eye on this.

What strikes you as impossible about it? Feature-wise, most of the top-line features are things that Docker Desktop provides, but as a DD user it doesn't strike me as surprising that a more lightweight version is possible.

darkteflon 3y ago
Yeah I was shooting from the hip a bit - but mainly I was just working on an assumption that the long-standing complaints against Docker on Apple Silicon Macs are well-known. Scrolling down the landing page, they seem to be claiming they’ve solved most of them. After watching Docker fail to do that year after year, it seems extraordinary. “No more battery drain or complicated VMs… Less than 0.1% background CPU usage on Apple Silicon… Less than 10 MB of disk space is used… 2 sec startup time… Works without admin” Seems like a laundry list of absolutely everything you would fix with Docker Desktop if you had a magic wand? If this is the real deal, it sounds absolutely amazing. Genuinely curious to hear from people who have used it extensively.

c7DJTLrn 3y ago

If you're referring to the claim that you can say goodbye to VMs, it's false/misleading advertising. It still runs a VM, just like Docker Desktop does.

anderspitman 3y ago
Running all your instances in separate VMs vs using a single VM to host containers is a completely different paradigm, especially when it comes to performance. This is even more true for performance between instances. So I personally don't find "say goodbye to VMs" to be misleading.
- c7DJTLrn 3y ago
  >Running all your instances in separate VMs But Docker Desktop doesn't create a VM per container. Or have I misunderstood?
  - kdrag0n 3y ago
    Correct, and neither does OrbStack. Clarification here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35743597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35743597
kdrag0n 3y ago
(dev here) Hey, to clarify: "Say goodbye to slow, clunky containers and VMs" refers to the fact that we support running both Docker containers and Linux machines, not that the Docker engine doesn't use a VM under the hood. And yes, there is still a VM, but the experience and architecture are very different from traditional full Linux VMs that we're describing with "slow, clunky".

kdrag0n 3y ago

(Dev here) If you're interested in what makes it possible: https://docs.orbstack.dev/architecture https://docs.orbstack.dev/architecture Happy to go over a specific feature — obviously can't share too many internal details though.

darkteflon 3y ago
Thanks, that’s helpful. I read in another comment that you’re like 18?! Incredible work - keep at it and best of luck! I, for one, will certainly be keeping an eye on this.