Has using a docker advantages?
In my opinion the advantages are:
- No Python pollution on Raspberry Pi OS
- No systemd pollution on Raspberry Pi OS
- Mycroft container will start automatically with the system by default
- Easy to update
- Possibility to run multiple version of Mycroft (not at the same time)
Using Mycroft without Docker will perfectly work as well, itās just a choice. 
I build an Ansible role to āoptimizeā a Raspberry Pi (this is what Iām using in combination with Docker).
Using docker is perfectly fine, yet i would preferably use it in performance critical applications. (I run a pi4 server with serveral pods managing the household data) And if you plan on orchastrating several docker -with cross communication-, itās not a straight forward task at first.
Although iām pretty curious about mycroft driven by rootless podman, but i would guess this needs additional dev time on podman to not end up in too much of a hassle.
Thanks for your feedback! And thanks for bringing that ansible-thing to notice, I didnāt know it. Iām not sure which RPi 4 I have though, will look it up later.
Thanks for your feedback too. Now I have 1 vote for and 1 vote against :-).
I donāt plan to use several docker-applications or docker on different RPiās.
And you seem a lot more savvy then me, I donāt know what a podman is, dev time and all that kind of things :-).
Podman is on my to do, last time I tried the arm64 support was not great. I tried docker-rootless and felt a performance issue mostly related to the filesystem.
@Taxicletter the best way to know will be to try different things! Enjoy 
@Taxicletter, welcome to the community 
I had the same idea and wrote a ācookbookā on how to install mycroft and a music playing stack. You can download it from mycroft-tools/smartBoombox.pdf at master Ā· mike99mac/mycroft-tools Ā· GitHub
It describes installing Ubuntu server, but Raspberry Pi OS shouldnāt be much different.
Itās still very āalphaā, but if you use it, any feedback would be appreciated. Maybe I could add a section on installing Raspberry Pi OS as an alternative.
Thanks.
-Mike M
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Thanks. Iāve installed Docker and now Iām installing Mycroft, which seems to take a long time (but everything is running, no worries).
I think everything went OK, but now Iām stuck. Iām using these instructions: Docker - Mycroft AI,
and Iām stuck on this part: āRunning Mycroft for Dockerā.
I donāt know where I should do this: " Just replace the directory_on_local_machine with the path you want the container mapped to on your local machine" and they donāt explain how to do this āSet PULSE_SERVER env variableā and āShare pulseaudioās cookieā.
I tried copying the code underneath, but somehow it doesnāt copy and copying line per line gives an error in the first line, I need to set an argumentā¦
Iāll try further, but meanwhile, if you have hints or tips 
-v directory_on_local_machine:/root/.mycroft
what reads create a volume (-v) mapping directory_on_local_machine to the one inside the container (/root/.mycroft)
the ones attributed with -e are environmental variable. ie
-e PULSE_SERVER=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native is the one talked aout
this goes along with
-v ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native
you have to check if there is something at ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native, resp. where it is to map it in.
The same would apply to the cookie.
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But my understanding is you want to docker up smartgics (microservice) docker. They have a different structure. Those are the instuctions
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That looks more complicated than I understandā¦ Thought it would be an easier process. I really donāt understand āwhat reads create a volume (-v) mapping directory_on_local_machine to the one inside the containerā Creating a volume?? Mapping??
I donāt know what smartgics or microservice are either, I didnāt think I was dockering anything up there.
I understand basic terminal commandoās and I can follow a manual, but since this manual seems to stop halfway through, Iām stuck as well :-).
The info on Network Setup ā PulseAudio is way to complicated for me. They offer choices and I have to decide on info I donāt understand.
Is the way to install Mycroft WITHOUT docker as complicated as this?
(Thanks for your feedback, by the way, I forgot to mention that 
)
Since this is kind of a new topic, I made a new topic for it. (Running Mycroft for Docker)
forget about docker and install it using the usual method
Thatās why i suggested that in the first place. You would have to dig through docker documentary otherwise to understand the syntax to be able to apply the specifics.
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Iāll do that! I didnāt know using the docker was more complicated, I thought it would be easier somehow. Thanks!
Maybe one more question: how can I now uninstall all I installed? It was quite a lot, so it would be lost space.
BUT: this doesnāt spare you the work on the sound config since youāre using āGoogle AIY Voice HATā. There are additional steps like here to perform.
I already got the speaker and mic working, but I see thereās more to it.
Thanks, Iāll bookmark your comment for later!
I usually just copy a fresh Linux image to the micro-SSD card, start from square 1 and update my notes along the way.
-Mike MThatās a very clean and wise way to work I guessā¦ Iāll try it that way next time
Oh, and I just remembered a āgotchaā - sometimes (usually?) networking is confused/slow/dropping connections when trying to build a new system on a previously used SSD card. Rebooting the home router/wifi has solved the problem. So after you re-flash the SSD, but before staring to rebuild it, a reboot of the router is recommended. My hunch is that the routing tables have values for the previous system, whereas the new system has the same macID, but different routing values, but I have no way of proving that. Hope this helps.
-Mike MThanks for the tip, but I donāt seem to have those network-troubles.