Your progress

Overview

Toradex provides minimal container images that extend the slim release of Debian with useful features for TorizonCore, limiting dependencies and packages only for the required ones.

See Debian Container for Torizon page to find more information about the available images and how to use them.

In this module you will:

• Learn a simple way to pull a Toradex container image from the server.
• Learn a simple way to start and use a container based on the pulled image.
• See how to install a simple Debian package on the container and test it.
• Learn the limitations of this method and why you need to write a Dockerfile to build your own image based on existing Toradex images.

$ Command in your PC

$$ Command inside a container in your PC

# Command in the target board, e.g. Colibri iMX6

## Command inside a container in Torizon

> Command in the Bootloader

$ Command waiting for output
Output

Prerequisites

For this Quickstart Guide:

• Development computer with Windows 10 version 2004 (a.k.a. May 2020 update) or higher.
• Successfully completed the previous lesson from this guide.

Note: Carefully read this module's cover page clicking on "Module 2: First Steps with Torizon" on the left menu bar before starting this lesson.

Step 1

On module's terminal, pull Toradex's Debian image:

# docker pull torizon/debian:$CT_TAG_DEBIAN

The command above downloads and stores a container image in its latest version to be used on the board.torizon/debian is a minimal Debian-based image intended to be used on Toradex's Computer on Modules (COMs). The $CT_TAG_DEBIAN is a Torizon-specific environment variable meant to make it easier to run containers matching the OS release version.

Step 2

Instantiate and run a new container based on the pulled image:

# docker run --rm -it -v /var/run/dbus:/var/run/dbus -v /dev:/dev torizon/debian:$CT_TAG_DEBIAN bash

The flags on this command give the container the necessary permissions to access hardware features from the host. For more information about what these flags do, see the FAQ session at the end of this article.

Step 3

Now the container is running interactively and its terminal is shown. Update the list of available packages:

## apt update

Step 4

Use the apt install command inside the container to install the nano text editor, for instance:

## apt install nano

Step 5

Check that the package you've installed is available:

## nano

You are now inside the nano text editor. Press Ctrl + x to exit it.

Step 6

You can exit the container by either typing exit on the command-line or by pressing Ctrl + d:

## exit

Takeaway

You are now ready to start working with a container. You may want to install and run applications inside this container we just created. However, note that all the applications installed and all the data modifications made after the start of a container will be lost when this container exits (i.e. stops its execution). For this reason, the method shown in this article may be useful for debugging/test, but it is not practical for development.

In the next sections of this tutorial, you will learn how to install Docker in your development PC, learn proper ways to develop applications for TorizonCore and put them inside container images.

FAQ