I use Arch btw
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Well let's see if it is worth it or if I go back to debian.
Please use it for at least one week, as it's a learning experience and not meant for everyone. It took me around a week to become familiar with Nix and Flakes, but I believe it was worth it since now I have to tweak things less often and my configuration's decently organized.
Also try out Home Manager
I will. I could already fall in love with it I think.
Still some minor issues but for example I installed timeshift and wanted to set up a root backup when it hit me: i don't need that on nixos XD.
The only thing I still need to figure out is how do I automatically backup my nix configuration. But maybe sth. Like Dropbox will do.
I don't want to publish it to git unsanitzed.
I don’t want to publish it to git unsanitzed.
You could make a private repo and set up an SSH key to access it. For example, I have my dotfiles hosted on Codeberg but it's a private repo so only I have access to it (although I would not recommend putting unencrypted passwords, even in a private repository)
Although I understand if you mean not publishing to GitHub as I guess there has been some controversy and it's owned by Microsoft.
Well I just don't want to know everybody what software I have. Nobody needs know that I have installed furry sex with Hitler.
That's not a meme
Correct. But I thought Nixos is a meme by itself. And it fits this community better than the Linux one
I would post it there, this will likely get removed in a few hours :D
So just for fun I'll document how everything goes.
Making a new user with fresh home folder fixed most of my issues.
I managed to get iscsi working.
Vlc settings can be changed in the new home folder too, but for some reason this vlc version shows ssa subtitles wrong. Probably not nixos fault.
Me: *declares an app*\
nixpkgs: Oh what's that, you wanted an entire extra desktop stack inside a separate closure? Yes, sir!
Me: plz no
Try installing a cinnamon app on a gnome distro and you get the same dependencies pulled in, but also put in PATH
This is my problem, perhaps not with nixpkgs, but nixpkgs:nixos-{stable|unstable}. Throughout history the call to fame for distribution is not all the fancy bells and whistles, but the cohesiveness and stability of the stack - the entire stack.
I'm not saying this is a flaw of nixpkgs, but rather a fair amount of technical debt on the of part NixOS maintainers and developers. It's a vast movable system of modules, while being immutable at the same time. It ain't easy. So more contribution is needed.
I'm happy that people join and help with that. I'll still use NixOS and nixpkgs for embedded, specialised cases, even as servers, but I'm not going to run it on a workstation. But, I'm hopeful for the future. I'd like to run it, but not yet.
It's not really necessary anyways, nix can run on any system... now onto my adventures of bringing nix to an immutable Fedora system without a container or VM lol
I 💜 NixOS
I will give it an honest try but so far I am upset by the software not working as expected.
And hell your documentation is lacking.
There is a single software center currently in beta to install software with gui. And the nix-env version does work well actually but the configuration.nix install is hardly documented and not intuitive.
You need to think about NixOS backwards. It's like learning a new operating system. It's extremely stable, hell it won't let you update if something breaks, but it does feel like whac a mole at times
I could fix most of my issues by purging kde settings. And fixing the ownership of the home folder.
I could get working iscsi. And now I think I am happy with what is working. Screen tearing is a bit of a issue thanks to Nvidia and my 2 monitor setup, but it isn't as bad as on other oses.
And the nix-env version does work well actually
Nice. The only usable tool is using non unique naming.
NixOS vs Mint anyone?
One's the worst idea to suggest to a beginner, the other is not so bad. Mix them up and you've got the best of both worlds.
I love NixOS! Been using it on all my devices since January and probably never going back :)
It all sinply just works™! Don't worry about configuration :) As long as you're not using relatively obscure software, you'll be more than fine reading the docs/manual :)
If you still want to use obsure stuff though, the community on matrix is very active and helpful! Plus most (interesting) projects have at least one or two very dedicated Nix fanatics (/maintainers) willing to help others :D
It all sinply just works™! Don't worry about configuration :)
And how goes your gpu acceleration?
I didn't know they upgraded from the user having to accidentally find out that they need nixgl, which isn't even in nixpkgs, and then dig through open issues to find a solution that might enable them to automatically start programs with it.
As long as you're not using relatively obscure software, you'll be more than fine reading the docs/manual :)
Are alacritty and kitty obscure or have a manual entry? I couldn't get either of them running.
And as for the manual itself, it's so trash that the only instructions for declarative package management use nix-env and aren't actually declarative.
GPU acceleration
All the needed AMD stuff is pretty well documented in the manual. I'm gaming on NixOS with even my "relatively old" AMD GPU.
nixgl
The only time I heard about needing that was when using plain "nix" (not NixOS), as in using Nix under any other OS, to run graphical applications. I haven't touched nixgl at all, and don't see the need for it.
alacritty and kitty
Literally my terminals (kitty is my main) + foot. Both working easily either under main NixOS config or Home-Manager. What's supposed to not be working there?
Literally don't know what your problems are/where they lie. I'm a Linux noob (don't even have the patience for Arch Wiki + install), coming from Pop_OS to NixOS and I'm happy it's all so easy. I've installed it on my main PC and two separate laptops and so happy to just share (basically) the same config on all of them.
Thanks, good to know.
I’m a Linux noob (don’t even have the patience for Arch Wiki + install), coming from Pop_OS to NixOS and I’m happy it’s all so easy. I’ve installed it on my main PC and two separate laptops and so happy to just share (basically) the same config on all of them.
I'm far from a Linux noob, and I gave up on the whole idea before even getting to GPU acceleration, because it was giving me too many issues. Different requirements I guess.
Fwiw I used nixos on my desktop for about 2 years and had zero issues regarding GPU acceleration. That said, I did have a modern AMD GPU, generally the easiest GPU to get acceleration working on.
Have you used it with Debian? Much better that way IMO
Gonna try that next. Probably. Nixos isn't really working if I don't know how to do stuff.
For example I can't change settings in vlc because it is read only.
It's a whole different story when it's just a package manager and not a distro. I made this comment to help people get started.
I'd only use nixos if there was a specific reason. Otherwise it's too much trouble for practically no benefits.
The benefit would be: changing stuff doesn't break it. And if it does you can easily roll back. Keeping the config file sets up a new installation like the old one without trouble. Somehow I don't think you really need it if you aren't distro hopping but I need it way too much.
Currently the trade offs are too big I think. Programs don't work because of the atomic behaviour.
And the learning curve is steep even for Linux veterans.
Try bazzite.
Mhh fedora.
I liked it and I liked nobara.
However I liked debian more somehow.
But I could consider going back for his.
I second Bazzite, it's really good. And more promising than the Nix monstrosity
My heart is always with Debian, but Bazzite is a surprisingly useable immutable OS. I would suggest using it for your core suite then use Distrobox w/ Debian for any apps outside of that. It's so snappy!
You don't need nixos for that. The only thing you lose is rolling back system configuration, unless you use system-manager.
Unless you're doing scientific computing, or being a sysadmin for a company, you don't actually need nixos. It's at that scale that system reproducibility becomes important enough to offset the downsides. For everyone else, home-manager and a list of packages are more than enough.
The learning curve is not that bad, it's just that the resources are a pile of burning garbage.
Also, idk what you're doing with VLC, but ~/.config should still work AFAIK.
I did install vlc. I started vlc. I noticed completely wrong subtitle size. I went to settings and tried to change some and save. Vlc throws an error it can't save the file, permission error.
I install vlc with flatpak. Same subtitle error. I go to the settings, I don't get an error but the settings don't change anything.
Also almost anything i do in the plasma settings doesn't get saved.
And that shit should only be saved in the home folder.
I think I have to clean my home folder.
But then I have to do the setup of plasma again.
Damn, that sucks.
I gave up on nixos long before getting to that point. On Debian I use apt for to install a few user packages like alacritty because of Nix issues. Everything else is pretty much the same linux experience.
Ok can confirm. 90% of my problems went away on a new home directory.
However I still don't know how to iscsi.
The concept is a great idea.
The documentation is rare and the atomic behaviour seems to break my whole Linux work flow.
Which is a good thing I guess. But I can't Google "how to do x on nixos" and get a reasonable answer. I get nothing. Or some weird forums where I don't know what they are talking about.
Nix, Debian, and Arch ftw
Welcome to the fold!
If you get a chance check out guix as well.
sick OS