Running Oracle Database Free images via Docker Desktop is impossible(yet?) on new Apple M1 chipsets. Nonetheless, a solution is available through the use of COLIMA.

Follow those simple steps to get up and running

• Oracle 23c Free Database

• ORDS latest (23.1 at time of writing)

• Open JAVA 17 JDK

• APEX latest (22.2 at time of writing)

on MacOS with M1 chipsets.

1.Install BREW [5 minutes]

Open the MacOS terminal, paste it and run (you can read more about Brew here)

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Wait until you see this:

2.Install COLIMA [15-20 mins]

It's required to run docker images on MacOS with an M1 chipset (you can read more about Colima here)

Open the MacOS terminal, paste it and run

brew install colima

Wait

Until you see this:

3.Install Docker Desktop for MacOS [5 mins]

You can download it from here (version 4.17.0 when writing this article).

Be sure that docker is NOT running after installation.

4.Start COLIMA [5 mins]

Open the MacOS terminal, paste it and run (Thanks for that GVenzl!)

colima start --arch x86_64 --memory 4

5.Open Docker

6.Follow the steps provided in the tutorial for Windows users by Matt Mulvaney - start from here (steps are the same for Windows and MacOS)

If you need only Oracle Database, check this guide from G.Venzl.