OrcaSlicer noVNC (NVIDIA + VirtualGL)

Overview

This image runs OrcaSlicer in a browser via noVNC with TurboVNC + VirtualGL and NVIDIA GPU acceleration.

The container is intentionally minimal:

• Ubuntu 24.04 NVIDIA CUDA runtime base
• TurboVNC + noVNC
• Openbox (tiny WM, no full LXDE desktop)
• OrcaSlicer AppImage extracted at build time

Quick Start

Use prebuilt image

docker compose up -d

Build locally

docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d --build

To pin a specific OrcaSlicer release while building:

ORCASLICER_VERSION=v2.3.1 docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d --build

To build with broad codec support and extra debug desktop tools:

MEDIA_PROFILE=broad DEBUG_TOOLS=true docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d --build

For local-only OrcaSlicer v2.3.2 compatibility testing under noVNC, keep defaults unchanged and inject env vars only for the run you want to test:

ORCASLICER_VERSION=v2.3.2 docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d --build

Default run with the recommended X11/Openbox session hints:

docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d

Explicitly force no compatibility profile:

ORCA_COMPAT_PROFILE=none docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d

Profile 1: X11/Openbox session hints only:

ORCA_COMPAT_PROFILE=x11-hints docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d

Profile 2: X11/Openbox hints plus optional local D-Bus passthrough:

ORCA_COMPAT_PROFILE=x11-hints-dbus ORCA_DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS:-}" docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yml up -d

GPU Acceleration

Set ENABLEHWGPU=true to run OrcaSlicer through vglrun.

You can verify GPU usage on the host:

nvidia-smi -l

Expected process (when launched): /slic3r/squashfs-root/bin/orca-slicer

Environment Variables

• DISPLAY=:0
• PUID=1000
• PGID=1000
• SUPD_LOGLEVEL=INFO
• ENABLEHWGPU=false
• RECURSIVE_CHOWN=false (true recursively fixes ownership on /slic3r, /home/slic3r, /configs, and /prints at startup)
• VGL_DISPLAY=egl
• NOVNC_PORT=8080
• VNC_PORT=5900
• VNC_RESOLUTION=1280x800
• VNC_PASSWORD=
• ORCA_GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark (default dark theme, override if needed)
• ORCA_COMPAT_PROFILE=x11-hints (none, x11-hints, or x11-hints-dbus; defaults to the recommended X11/Openbox hints)
• ORCA_XDG_SESSION_TYPE=
• ORCA_XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=
• ORCA_XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=
• ORCA_GTK_CSD=
• ORCA_GDK_DISABLE=
• ORCA_DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=

Build Arguments

• CUDA_IMAGE_TAG=13.0.1-runtime-ubuntu24.04
• ORCASLICER_VERSION=latest
• VIRTUALGL_VERSION=3.1.1-20240228
• TURBOVNC_VERSION=3.1.1-20240127
• MEDIA_PROFILE=minimal (minimal or broad)
• DEBUG_TOOLS=false (true adds dbus-x11, xdg-utils, xterm)

Build/Cache Notes

The Dockerfile is optimized for faster rebuilds:

• Multi-stage build (runtime-base, orca-fetch, final)
• BuildKit apt cache mounts
• Orca download/extract isolated to a version-keyed stage
• .dockerignore excludes large local folders (data, prints, .git)

Single-Window Session Behavior

• Openbox is used only for focus/placement.
• OrcaSlicer runs as the main app process under supervisord.
• Openbox uses its default configuration; no custom home-directory .config tree is seeded by the image.

Links

• OrcaSlicer
• TurboVNC
• VirtualGL
• Supervisor